Minnesota Timberwolves ranked as ‘JV’ play-in candidates by ESPN’s Zach Lowe

At this stage in the re-rebuild, the consensus surrounding the Minnesota Timberwolves centers on them as a play-in team, a squad that will probably land somewhere from No. 9 to No. 12 in the Western Conference.

The consensus is also subscribed to by ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who released his annual NBA tiers column.

Where do the Minnesota Timberwolves rank in Zach Lowe’s tiers?

Each year, Lowe ranks all 30 NBA teams in tiers (subscription required) before the season begins. It’s basically a replacement for traditional power rankings, allowing for a bit of nuance surrounding where teams are slotted.

This year’s rankings start out, rather unsurprisingly, with the retooled and healthy Brooklyn Nets and defending champion Milwaukee Bucks.

The next tiers are teams basically guaranteed to be in the playoff picture without much danger of falling out of the top six seeds in their respective conferences, which of course would mean a slot in the play-in rounds.

Then, Lowe breaks down five teams who he considers to be the “West morass”, which includes three teams who would avoid the play-in but two of whom could potentially fall into that group: the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Dallas Mavericks, and Golden State Warriors.

Following that, there’s the “Threats to break out of the play-in: varsity division”. There’s four teams here: the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Hornets, and the Memphis Grizzlies.

If you’re scoring at home, we’re now at 18 teams listed, including nine from each conference.

After listing his play-in candidates in the Eastern Conference, Lowe turns to the West, and we finally see where the Timberwolves landed.

Minnesota Timberwolves ranked as ‘JV’ play-in candidates by ESPN’s Zach Lowe

The Wolves are included in the “Threats to break out of the play-in: junior varsity division”, along with the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, and San Antonio Spurs.

While Lowe goes out of his way early in the column to note that the teams are ranked in no particular order within their tiers, he notes here that he would rank them in the following order: Pelicans, Kings, Wolves, Spurs, although he waffled on the order of Kings-Wolves several times.

A couple of things to note:

• First, this puts the Wolves between No. 10 and No. 13 in the West, although Lowe basically says that he’d rank them No. 12 with some consideration for No. 11.
• A finish at No. 11 or No. 12 would, of course, mean no play-in game for the Wolves once again.

The immediate reaction that we should all have is, why on earth does everyone still think that the Kings will be better than the Wolves? That’s a tough one to figure out.

Other than that, it isn’t surprising to see the Wolves in this range. There are at least eight teams that we could confidently rank ahead of the Wolves as of today, but I’d give Minnesota the benefit of the doubt over the Pelicans, Kings, and maybe even the Grizzlies of the world.

Obviously, a lot can change. The firm belief here is that Wolves have the roster talent to rise above the play-in mess in the West and threaten to land as high as the No. 6 seed. But, clearly, they have a lot to prove.