Minnesota Timberwolves: Modest win total in new over-unders

Ahead of the new NBA season, Vegas has released some early over/unders for the Western Conference. While the Minnesota Timberwolves are still listed as a playoff team, the win count and placement seem quite modest…

Anything can happen in the NBA season, as we all know, but the Westgate Las Vegas over/unders that ESPN shared on Twitter seem a little odd to me.

All the caveats apply, of course: it’s still painfully early, rosters aren’t completely set (remember, there are occasionally significant trades that go down in August), we don’t have the schedule, and so forth.

But, all that said, take a look for yourself:

The 44.5 wins have the Wolves placed in eighth, just one game behind the No. 7 Pelicans. Having the Lakers in the fourth seed with 48.5 wins, which would be a 13 game swing from last season and their best record since 2011 seems a bit hopeful to me, LeBron James or no LeBron James, but we’ll have to wait and see how the Lakers gel around The King.

Oklahoma City in third with 50.5 wins also seems a bit high. They finished last season with a record of 48-34, but were neck-and-neck with the Wolves for most of the season and lost three out of four regular season games against Minnesota.

It’s certainly going to be a tough Western Conference this season, but I wouldn’t have the Wolves boxed into the eighth seed this early. In my opinion the Wolves are still a contender for the third seed, and can quite possible finish somewhere between No. 4 and No. 6 without injury or misfortune, as our own Ben Beecken suggested.

A 44.5 over/under seems modest, considering the Wolves had a record of 47-35 last season, which would’ve been much better had Jimmy Butler avoided injury and hadn’t missed a stint of games.

It’s likely going to be a tight race for playoff contention as it was last season, but if the offseason drama and rumors surrounding Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns have no bearing over their play in season, the Wolves should be a step ahead of the fringe playoff contenders.

Without injury to Butler last season, it’s more than likely the Timberwolves would’ve finished with over 50 wins, and much higher than the eighth seed. It’s impossible to predict whether the Wolves will succumb to injury or not next season, but if they don’t undertake any serious injury then I’d predict the Wolves to finish with 45 wins or higher.

There’s a lot of buzz, both positive and negative, surrounding the Timberwolves’ offseason, but once the season begins that noise will disappear, and the team can just focus on playing good basketball. I’m predicting the Wolves finish the season with over 45 wins, and higher than last years’ 47 too.

While it’ll likely be another battle to make the playoffs, I also think the Wolves will finish in the top six.

Only time will tell how the Wolves will fare next season, but if the Vegas line settles in a similar place to where it is now, well, I’d certainly be putting my money on them.