The revamped Timberwolves open their season Wednesday with the potential to become one of the two best teams in franchise history in terms of talent.
Their roster includes two top-20 NBA players in Karl-Anthony Towns and Jimmy Butler; a proven scorer in Andrew Wiggins; a former All-Star point guard in Jeff Teague; a three-time Sixth Man of the Year winner in Jamal Crawford; and a defensive whiz in power forward Taj Gibson.
In the age of NBA superteams, the Wolves reconstructed their roster in accordance with this trend, or at least with a tacit admission that a 13-year playoff drought must end, pronto.
The sum of their upgrades raised expectations to levels foreign to this organization. Yet even with that narrative change, the Wolves belong no higher than No. 5 in predicting the NBA's varsity division, the Western Conference.
That's assuming the Wolves learn to play defense this season.
The West is more loaded than Bill Gates' money clip. The collection of top-tier talent on that side of the NBA makes it feel like LeBron James vs. Everybody Else.
"I thought it was a juggernaut five years ago," said Crawford, who has spent seven of his 17 NBA seasons in the Western Conference. "It's really a juggernaut now."
Everything starts with the Golden State Warriors. They will continue to win championships until they become old, injured or bored. They went 16-1 in the postseason last season. That's an awfully wide gap to close.