NBA Talent Rankings: How the Timberwolves stack up against other young teams (Part One)
Feb 3, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards point guard John Wall (2) celebrates with Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal (3) against the Portland Trail Blazers in the fourth quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 100-90. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
There’s been a lot of speculation as to how good the Wolves will be this season now that we’re back in rebuilding mode for the 3rd time since Kevin Garnett left town in 2007.
ESPN thinks the Wolves be the worst NBA team in the Western Conference, while the eternal optimists believe they have a puncher’s chance at pulling a Phoenix Suns-like season together and making the playoffs. For the cats who hang out on the sunny side of the street it’s kind of like that the tune from Damn Yankees! (I’m referencing the ultra-masculine musical about baseball, not the crappy hair band.)
Yep, Wolves fans are suddenly filled with heart and hope, and this boom in positivity is showing in the huge boost in season ticket sales. Folks haven’t been this excited since Ricky Rubio decided to join the team for the 2011-12 season. The #Eyes on the Rise campaign may be contrived, but our fan enthusiasm certainly is not. We are genuinely pumped, psyched, and stoked for what’s coming.
Even if it doesn’t happen this year.
The realist in me is taking over now, and he believes the Timberwolves’ marketing and promotions team should steal a line from San Dee-ah-go legend, Ron Burgundy, and put up billboards that read, “Come get a taste”, since that’s all we’re likely to get next season.
Don’t get me wrong, it will be a very tasty taste. Like State Fair food, we’ll get a little sample of everything, and when it’s over we’ll be stuffed to the gills with enthusiasm–even if we’re left wanting a little more in the win column. Ricky Rubio passes, Andrew Wiggins jams, and Nik Pekovic bear wrestling will all be a part of the scheduled programming. The void will be filled, existentially speaking.
But what about the future, man?
Ah, yes, the future. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the future of the NBA and the Wolves’ place in it. We pretty much know which teams runs the show right now, but what about the teams of tomorrow? Who will be the next wave of NBA contenders? Do the Wolves have a place at that table?
My curiosity on the topic got the best of me these past few days, and it led me into a deep dark internet dive. Like Poltergeist deep. I was lost in depths of the World Wide Web and it pretty much took Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams to get me out of it. Definitely some scary stuff, but don’t worry, I’m fine now. I drank some coffee and watched an episode Trailer Park Boys, so it’s all good.
Yep, I survived the journey, and I’m happy to say that I’ve returned bearing good news. The dive affirmed what I thought I already knew, which is that the Wolves’ future looks very bright in comparison to the other 29 NBA teams. One could even say our future looks great, but I’ll just say that it looks prih-teeh… prih-teeeeh…pretty good. Larry David knows what I’m talking about:
In the research I examined the rosters of every single NBA team, looking up and down the depth charts for young up-and-coming talent. The goal was to come up with a comprehensive list of the best young ballers and best young potential ballers in the NBA.
I only had one rule: All players on the list must be 25 years or younger on January 1st, 2015. I did this because it eliminates the likes Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, and other players who have dominated the 25 and under lists for years. These players “arrived” years ago, and are for the most part lording over today’s NBA. Like I said before, I’m looking for the next wave.
After studying each roster I’ve determined that there are roughly 20 NBA teams with nice cores of under 25 talent, and of those 20 teams, ten of them have truly great young talent. Once I got down to the top ten teams, the only logical thing to do was to rank them.
It wasn’t easy because A) I’m not a scientist, and B) I’m an unabashed Wolves fan, but I gave it the good ol’ college try and believe I’ve found a nice balance between the objective and the subjective, if that’s even possible. At the end of it all, I’m thrilled to say that the Wolves made the top ten list.
Before we go all The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou on this trip, know that these rankings are based on a combination of quality and quantity. For instance, Blake Griffin with all his talents wasn’t enough to get his Clippers into the top ten simply because there aren’t enough other talented 25 and under players on the Clippers’ roster. DeAndre Jordan doesn’t help the cause either, being that he was born in 1988.
Okay, I think that takes care of all the house cleaning, so let’s get to it.
Scroll through the pages for the teams ranked from #10 down to #6 with the most 25 and under talent. Stay tuned for Part Two on Wednesday afternoon.