A franchise that routinely lets fans down and fails to achieve even the most modest of goals is doing the opposite this year.
Timberwolves at the break: Can a nice little story become something more?
They should comfortably hit some markers of progress. The final 23 games — and then some more — will tell us just how far they go.
February 17, 2022 at 3:28PM
That sounded a lot meaner than it was intended to be, but ladies and gentlemen that is the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
When you think they'll be really good, they're only OK. When you think they might be OK, they're bad. And when you think they'll merely be bad, they are awful.
The contrast through 59 games — technically the All-Star break after Wednesday's loss to Toronto, but nearly the three-quarters mark instead of the halfway point of the season — is striking when considering contrary historical evidence.
That was a key theme of Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast, with ample help from guest Dane Moore — host of the aptly named Timberwolves themed "The Dane Moore NBA Podcast."
Let's take a spin through an ascending list of goals:
*Beat the over-under: The mark was 34.5 wins at the start of the season. If that was your baseline for modest success — understandable since the Wolves finished "over" their Vegas win total only three times in the previous 17 seasons — Minnesota is virtually guaranteed to do that this season with an 31-28 mark at the break. If they don't at least go 4-19 to get there over the final 23 games? Fold it all up and move it to Seattle or Las Vegas, A-Rod.
*Finish in the top-10 to qualify for the play-in tournament: A quick look at the West standings shows the Wolves well clear of this. Only an epic collapse would keep them from finishing in the top 10. Basketball Reference has a top-10 finish as a 99.9% likelihood right now.
*Finish in the top-8 to make the actual playoffs: There is still work to be done here, particularly considering veteran teams like the Lakers and Clippers could loom in a play-in round. The Wolves would probably be better off in the old system if simply making the playoffs was the goal. But this is still very attainable.
*Finish in the top-6, avoid the play-in, and have a real chance in the first round: Here's the goal that would take this from a nice little story — a building block season — into a big leap. If the Wolves can move past either Denver or Dallas, they would avoid the play-in round and potentially set up a first-round matchup with Memphis. The Grizzlies are a great story, but they are also a good match-up for the Wolves and don't have the same pedigree as likely top-two seeds Phoenix and Golden State.
Even small steps are important for the Wolves after several years of missteps. But with many minimum goals near-certainties to be met, it's time to think bigger.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
