Even though were not in season mode, Dunking With Wolves will take a sharp look at who has a realistic chance of making the Western Conference playoffs this year over the next few weeks.
The Minnesota Timberwolves made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years last season and you could say that all of Minnesota was ecstatic about that. But, the chances of them making the playoffs two years in a row aren’t promising due to the fact the Western Conference is insanely good.
Last years standings going into the playoffs looked like this:
- Houston Rockets (65-17)
- Golden State Warriors (58-24)
- Portland Trailblazers (49-33)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (48-34)
- Utah Jazz (48-34)
- New Orleans Pelicans (48-34)
- San Antonio Spurs (47-35)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (47-35)
The remaining teams who have a chance of making a splash in the playoffs this year that couldn’t quite make it last year are most likely the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, so we’ll be taking a look at them too. The Nuggets finished last season with a record of 46-36 and the Lakers finished with a poor 35-47.
I should shout out the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers who will have the chance to surprise some teams with a couple good wins against great opponents this year.
As we get closer to the beginning of the NBA season, we’ll be making an in depth analysis for each possible playoff team to see if the Timberwolves have a chance or not in the 2018-19 season.
First up we have the Houston Rockets, can the Minnesota Timberwolves pass them in the upcoming season?
Minnesota Timberwolves compared to the Houston Rockets
After losing to the Houston Rockets in a disgusting playoff series this past year, the Minnesota Timberwolves came back this offseason and added youth in the draft and a sharp shooter in Anthony Tolliver. But is that enough to stop the historic Rockets team from last season?
Simple answer: No
Well-thought out answer: No, but with a nicer tone in my voice
The Rockets didn’t get better and made mainly parallel moves, but who knows what’s in store for them when their second best player is injury prone. The issue is, the Wolves are in a similar injury riddled situation with Jimmy Butler. So if Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler equal each other out, then the Wolves are in trouble with the remaining talent.
If both teams played like they did during last years playoffs, then you have to just hope for a two-win series for the Wolves. Unless, of course, Head Coach Tom Thibodeau finds the right lineups against the Rockets.
In the playoffs last year, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins played some of their worst basketball in their careers, which is saying a lot for how promising they’ve looked over the past few years, especially Towns. Futhermore, Jimmy Butler was at about 80 percent, so there wasn’t much he could do.
The only savior for the Timberwolves was … Derrick Rose?
Unbeknownst to most of the Minnesota Timberwolves fans, Rose was really the only consistent contributor in the starting lineup and bench with a true shooting percentage of 59 percent. With Wiggins, Butler, and Towns averaging 16 points per game and under, you won’t get much out of the rest of the team.
Overall, you have to hope that the Timberwolves can out board Clint Capela, out shoot Harden, and out pass CP3 – and all of this is impossible.
Unless, Karl-Anthony Towns becomes the MVP he is capable of becoming, or even Butler or Wiggins becoming better players – which is definitely a possibility. You can always hope for improvement, but it’s a tough situation.
The Houston Rockets will most likely end up besting the Timberwolves unless something crazy happens to their roster, but there is a slight chance that a new and improved Towns and Wiggins could emerge with Jimmy Butler at the helm.
Just don’t forget that the Rockets still have MVP James Harden, who can easily turn out another MVP performance next season – expect the Rockets to finish 2nd in the Western Conference. Our prediction for the no.1 team in the West is next …