The Timberwolves cruised to a 119-100 win over the Pistons in Detroit on Tuesday. They've won their last two games by a combined 51 points and are climbing up the standings at a time when they have no hope for the playoffs, and could potentially improve their draft odds with a loss.
Those draft odds matter because if they don't land a Top 3 pick, the selection goes to the Golden State Warriors — the Wolves included the draft pick when they traded Andrew Wiggins for D'Angelo Russell.
But what matters more? Winning now or losing to have a better shot at winning in the future?
Our readers shared their thoughts:
Ibd3rd: Win all we can. End our depressing history by playing hard defense at last. Show pride. Build self-respect. This team can compete with most NBA teams now even with one top scorer injured.
Analysis: Perhaps the biggest argument for the Wolves continuing to succeed is that the roster is showing they have the talent to compete next season. The Wolves are 8-5 over their last 13 games with wins over dregs like the Magic and Pistons but also over solid competition like Utah, Golden State and Miami. In that time they rank seventh in the NBA in offensive efficiency (116.1 points per 100 possessions) and 14th in defensive efficiency (112.2) — that's a net efficiency of 3.9 points, the sixth best mark in the Western Conference.
TimKell: The Wolves already have 3 top two draft picks on their roster, 7 players under age 22 and 7 players with less than 2 full years of playing experience in the NBA, That's a lot of raw young talent to develop and those guys are only going to continue to get better over the next 2 or three years. Let the pong balls fall where they may.
Analysis: A crucial element of tanking is trying to accumulate young, star players with high draft picks. But in many ways the Timberwolves have already done that. The current roster features No. 1 picks Anthony Edwards (2020 NBA Draft) and Karl-Anthony Towns (2015). No. 2 pick D'Angelo Russell (2015). No. 6 pick Jarrett Culver (2019). No. 19 pick Malik Beasley (2016). No. 20 pick Josh Okogie (2018). And No. 28 pick Jaden mcDaniels (2020).