Timberwolves As The Most-Improved Team In The NBA
Everyone thought the Timberwolves would take a huge leap this season. The NBA general managers voted that way in the aforementioned yearly survey, ESPN had them winning 10 more games this season than last, while Las Vegas had an even more optimistic view at 42 wins for the season. Some even believed they would make the playoffs and be bothersome for the Golden State Warriors in a potential playoff match-up with Karl-Anthony Towns in the middle. At the very least, people thought they’d be close to the .500 mark.
It’s very easy to understand why people were so optimistic. The Timberwolves have an athletic young core full of potential including the last two Rookies of the Year award-winners, player development was expected. They also had the perfect veteran point in Ricky Rubio who would help keep it all together putting the young wolves in positions to thrive.
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Additionally, and perhaps most importantly in this context, Tom Thibodeau joined the franchise as head coach and with all the raw athleticism at his disposal, we thought he could easily implement his defensive philosophies and turn the defense into one of the league’s best. Add a fifth-overall draft pick in Kris Dunn coming off the bench and you have what looks like a team ready to turn some heads in the regular season.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t have been more wrong. The Timberwolves are on pace to win 32 games this season — just four more than last year and a far cry from the most modest of predictions. The team has been extremely inconsistent, and for the most part, putrid defensively, ranking 24th in defensive efficiency.
As it turns out, one can’t turn a defense around in one season — not even Tom Thibodeau. While the players have improved for the most part, they’ve not been able to translate it to wins due to their inexperience and the lack of veteran leadership on the team, which has led to many blown leads and overall ineffectiveness in the second half of games.
This doesn’t mean that the future of this team isn’t as bright as when we made those predictions. This is still one of the youngest teams in the league and is one with a lot of potential. Karl-Anthony Towns is already a superstar and one of the best big men in the league.
However, our collective prediction of their emergence was definitely premature. We also underestimated the impact of losing veterans like Kevin Garnett and even Tayshaun Prince as this team has lacked discipline on the court at times. Nevertheless, the team’s improvement, while nowhere near as large as expected, still occurred. And while this season turned out to be a disappointment, we should only blame ourselves for expecting the Timberwolves to develop so quickly.
Next: Does Zach LaVine Have A Future In Minnesota?
Hopefully, this season serves as a lesson to be patient as this young team learns how to be successful in the NBA.