Wolves at Thanksgiving: Flip Saunders has his work cut out for himself

First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Be thankful, spend time with family, eat turkey, and watch football.

As for the Wolves, well, we’ve seen another season lost by the first holiday of the holiday season. It’s come to be expected, save for the slow, painful death that was the 40-win, playoff-less, 2013-14 campaign.

Things started out promisingly enough this year, and the Timberwolves could have easily been 5-0 after beating Detroit and Brooklyn and having contests against Memphis, Chicago, and Orlando come down to the final minute.

In the loss to the Magic, Ricky Rubio severely rolled his ankle, starting the proverbial snowball rolling down the ever steepening hill. Nikola Pekovic was knocked out with a variety of ailments, Thaddeus Young‘s mother passed away, and Kevin Martin suddenly had a fracture in his shooting wrist during/after dropping 37 points in a feel-good win over the New York Knicks.

And that’s a wrap on the season, folks. Any hope of a Phoenix Suns-esque run at a playoff spot went out the window when Rubio’s timeline was announced as “indefinite”. Nearly three weeks later, he’s still in a walking boot. He’s mentioned that he hopes he’ll be on the court by Christmas, which would put his absence at around seven weeks. That seems about right, but it’s the timing of the injury that’s so disappointing.

Rubio was coming on after making Deron Williams look foolish in Brooklyn in the contest prior to his injury, and even his jump shot was rounding into shape. Confidence on both ends of the court was sky high, and the Wolves were fun to watch.

But in the absence of the floor general, all hell has predictably broken loose. Heck, after Mo Williams came down with some Petri dish of an illness (strep throat and pink eye, simultaneously, apparently), the whirling dervish that is Corey Brewer was the backup point guard in a deflating home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks last night. That’s not a recipe to look like a respectable, functioning franchise, much less for winning an NBA game.

Alas, the Wolves have the future for which to be thankful. Yes, it’s tiresome and we’re seemingly always at this point — we’re almost there. Almost there. Almost there.

And this time, I don’t actually think that we’re almost there. But while the playoffs will be a pipe dream even a year from now, respectability is oh so close with Rubio at the helm. A strong January through mid-April run for the tandem of Rubio and Andrew Wiggins would be encouraging, and exactly what Flip Saunders is looking to see from his young core. Health from Nikola Pekovic would make a trade of either he or Gorgui Dieng more likely, and the Wolves could acquire some more assets for the upcoming off-season.

The Wolves will have a couple chances to win their fourth game of the season coming up with a road contest against the Lakers this Friday and a home date with the embarrassment that is Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, December 3rd. (Although the combination of the Sixers circling their date with the Wolves as their most likely upcoming win and the Alexey Shved revenge game is dangerous, so who knows.)

Until then, enjoy your holiday weekend and look forward to brighter days for the Wolves. They’re coming, someday.

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