The Minnesota Timberwolves are amongst the youngest, most inexperienced teams in the league. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve got great talent at every position, and a few years from now it’s very plausible that they could be a perennial playoff team. That’s in the future though. Right now, they’re coming off a 16-win season. Despite the team’s record last season, starting point guard Ricky Rubio has faith in this team.
From Sports Illustrated’s Ben Golliver:
“We know we’re young and we’re building,” Rubio told SI.com in a phone interview. “At the same time, I think we’re ready to win games. Last season we only won 16 games but it didn’t feel like we were a losing team at all. We were just lacking some things. Me personally, I have to go pull this team in the playoffs. I know it’s a big challenge, but I think we have the right assets, the right weapons to get it. I know we’re in the West side, it’s really tough, but I think we can make it happen. I have big expectations for next season.”
Those are certainly some high expectations. From 16 wins to a playoff spot in the west would be a massive leap to make. Last season, the 8th seed team in the West(New Orleans) won 45 games. So, the Timberwolves would likely have to win 29 more games than they did last season. That would be almost triple last year’s win total.
I expect the young Minnesota players to develop faster than most young players due to the impressive veteran’s on the team– Kevin Garnett and Andre Miller.
However, it’s vastly unlikely that they develop fast enough to make the playoffs in the West.
I do believe that the Timberwolves have an incredibly bright future. Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, and Karl-Anthony Towns all have the chance to be very special players. Gorgui Dieng, Adreian Payne, Shahbazz Muhammad, Tyus Jones and Anthony Bennett could all also be very good. This core group of players could bring a title to Minnesota some year. But that year is not this one, and I would be surprised to see the T-Wolves win 30 games in this Western Conference.
