As the Minnesota Timberwolves enter the All-star break they sit at the 13th seed in the Western conference and only 3.5 games back of the 8th seeded Denver Nuggets.
Before the season, the Timberwolves young roster paired with veteran head coach Tom Thibodeau intrigued most and thus prompted Minnesota as a sleeper team to make the playoffs. However, early on it was evident they still needed time to grow and become acclimated to coach Thibodeau’s style of play. Then just when this team started to create some traction, starting shooting guard Zach LaVine goes down with a torn ACL.
Although LaVine’s injury was detrimental to the Timberwolves, owner Glen Taylor has not given up hope and still has playoff aspirations for this season.
Following from Jon Krawczynski of Associated Press.
“We’re all of the same mind, to get in, get the experience,” Taylor told The Associated Press. “Just the winning of games to try to get there is worth it. Our guys can’t see anything positive about losing games. They must win games, and then if we can win enough to get into the playoffs, that in and of itself would be a major step for our young players.”
It’s no secret that this is a very young Minnesota Timberwolves team, but if they can squeeze their way into the playoff race then that will be a huge boost for them. Being able to get Andrew Wiggins, Karl Anthony-Towns, and Kris Dunn some playoff action would work wonders for their development moving forward.
Whether or not the Timberwolves make the playoffs or not, they will be interesting to watch in the second half of the NBA season.
