Solid mid-season
There will come a game or two somewhere on or about the 40-game mark where the Minnesota Timberwolves will find themselves. When or how? I cannot say yet. But the team will find a way to win a game that nobody thought possible. Perhaps the team will rally from a 20+ point deficit? Perhaps the team will shut down a solid scoring team to almost nothing.
Whatever the story, the game will be the catalyst to change the narrative within and surrounding the Timberwolves to a Don Quixote chasing windmills on horseback to a team that may be onto something, and some NBA teams may sit up and take notice.
The Timberwolves are trying something new, which means that data analytics and projections are very limited in what they can predict. This is a team that will need to roll up their sleeves and simply outwork, outhustle, out-defend, and outscore opponents. Somewhere on or about that 40-game mark, it will all start to click, and this roster will flip from thinking about their moves to instinctively flowing with the game.
The offense will hinge largely on PG D’Angelo Russell, SG Anthony Edwards, and PF Karl-Anthony Towns. The defense will hinge largely on C Rudy Gobert and SF Jaden McDaniels. But winning will depend on all of the starters as well as the bench synching up and contributing to all aspects of the game.
That will start to align in the heart of this upcoming season. The Timberwolves have a huge arsenal of offensive and defensive weapons, that it will take the first half of the season to fully experiment as to what plays to run, and with whom.