http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=5457


30. Minnesota Timberwolves

LIKE: The Timberwolves waited a year too long to deal Kevin Garnett and now they will have to pay the price for it. And it will be a steep one. This team will take lots of lumps, especially if it also tries to sell off Ricky Davis, Juwan Howard and Marco Jaric.

DISLIKE: It's going to take fans in Minnesota a long time to ever forgive Kevin McHale for the errors he's made with this franchise.

College Wolf wrote:
Wow. Last in two polls...that's impressive!! HAHA! I don't get it?!? Both the like and dislike are negatives...

Ah, just wait. I think we're going to surprise some people Guys like Foye, Jefferson, Smith, Gomes, and Brewer all have great attitudes. A team that wants to work hard and play together can go a long way in this league primarily made up of the selfish and lazy.

DeROK wrote:
That is true, we have to go out and play hard every night to have a shot at winning. There will be very few nights where we have the most talent...

I think they just put us last because of the KG trade. These national writers simply don't know about the talent (and potentially great team chemistry amongst our youngsters) that we actually do have. At least, they most likely aren't as aware as us Wolves fans. I could be wrong, and we could suck completely... I dunno. We won't be great, but I also don't think that we will be the worst team in the league either.

Yeah, if you just glanced at the Wolves roster, you'll be hard-pressed to find a name who's accomplished anything in this league. (Madsen and Ratliff are the exceptions, but they'll be lucky to play) But there are simply too many guys on this team with potential to think that there won't be 2-3 of them who won't be elite NBA players.

Jefferson, Gomes, and Green are all at the point in there careers where they shouldn't be viewed as inexperienced any longer. And I think Foye is going to surprise a lot of people with how much his stats will increase.

Basically, all these people saying that the Wolves are going to finish dead last are just fueling the fire inside this young team. I personally think it's a positive for us. These guys have a lot of pride and don't want to be viewed as a team who can't accomplish anything because they're \"too young\". Hopefully they'll get a giant chip on their shoulder and an \"us vs. the world\" mentality that will cause them to bring it every night.

The NBA regular season is a complete joke. Most teams sleepwalk through it and don't play with focus and effort on a consistent basis. The fact that these young guys have such great attitudes and we'll likely not be dysfunctional puts us ahead of 40-50% of our competitors right off the bat. I don't think getting an 8th seed requires talent, it only takes a team committed to playing the right way. For me personally, the biggest question mark I have about this team making the playoffs is the length of time it will take all these players to gel and get some chemistry going. I think it will have to happen nearly right away if we're going to win enough games. But it's not a question of if we've got the talent.

DeROK wrote:
I hope you're right. I don't blame the media for thinking we're gonna be bad though. We finished with 32 wins last year and then traded away our best player, if you didn't have a vested interest in this team what would you think?? Hopefully this team can play with a chip on their shoulder and outperform current expectations to reach the playoffs. But someone would have to give me pretty good odds to bet on that one...

What are the odds for the Twolves to make the playoffs?? CW, you know??

I don't blame them for the ranking either. I'm sure they're as ignorant about this team as I am about the state of the Washington Wizards or the Milwaukee Bucks.

Maybe the Wolves will act like your typical NBA team and play half-hearted like the rest of the league. But if they don't, there's no reason why the playoffs are out of grasp. Any team in this league that truly WANTS it and brings it every night should do no worse than an 8th seed. The true problem is finding a group of 12 guys who actually want it more than the late-night partying, fame, and money.

I hope our Wolves buck that trend. They certainly seem like a bunch of guys who are willing to work hard. Time will only tell if they mean what they say or if it's just words and they're like all the rest of the spoiled NBA players.

whiskeydizzy wrote:

Well... our odds to win the NBA Finals are 100 to 1 or so (depending on where you wager.) So, I'd guess our odds to make the playoffs are somewhere between prolly 60 to 1 and around 30 to 1... give or take.

DeROK wrote:

I agree with your first bolded sentence. I agree that 8th seed is achievable for most teams, if they put their best efforts and energies forth.

About your second bolded sentence, do you think that is more fact or wishful thinking? I'm not sure Blount, Ricky, Jaric, McCants, or Telfair necessarily fall under that assumption.

College Wolf wrote:

Apropos of this, the Wolves are also 100 to 1 odds to win the Western Conference (and just *make* it to the Finals.) The next worst odds in the entire league are the Grizzlies at 90 to 1 to win the West, and then the Pacers at 60 to 1 to win the Eastern Conference. Quite odd....

College Wolf wrote:
Wow. So I'd put some $$ down if I could find somebody to take just a playoff appearance...

College Wolf wrote:
No those guys definitely don't. But I do think that Foye, Jefferson, Gomes, Smith, and Brewer definitely do. I'm not 100% sold on Green in that category. Jaric, McCants, and Telfair are going to be seeing minimal time, so I'm not overly concerned with their attitudes.

My hope is this: Those five guys I mention set the tone through their hard work and good attitudes. Ricky D is then faced with the choice of doing the same so he can be the team's leader or continuing his ways and punching his ticket off this team and killing his next contract. Hopefully Ricky chooses option #1. That really leaves us with only Blount as a major contributor with a questionable attitude. I think you can get by with one bad apple. It's when you start collecting a whole bunch that things turn sour.

Like I said, that's my hope.

College Wolf wrote:

Good points. The good thing is the 8th seed is always up for grabs if we can stay in the hunt early. As Derok said, the key is how fast this team can gel and stay in the hunt. I don't know how comfortable I would feel about the Wolves trying to make up a lot of ground on WC foes in April.

I believe if the wolves make it to the play offs i can drink da daddy under the table, bets on if da daddy will take it;0:laugh: