After a 3-0 start to the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves looked like they had a case for the league's best team. Now, they sit at 4-3. A major reason for the slight drop-off is Anthony Edwards' sudden absence. While it may look like the sky is falling on paper, there is more reason to be optimistic than it seems.
For starters, the schedule has been absolutely brutal for the Wolves. They're coming off five games in seven days, and in that stretch they had two home-road back-to-backs. In that stretch, they've gone a respectable 2-3, and 1-2 since Edwards went down.
Once the schedule becomes slightly more favorable, with more rest between games, and the Wolves can play some easier opponents, they should be able to quickly put together some wins to keep themselves in the thick of the playoff picture.
Eventually, they'll get both Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo back, and they'll be in a good spot.
Even in the losses, the Timberwolves have fought hard this season
Currently, the Wolves sit at 10th in the Western Conference, but their point differential is a plus-11.2. That's good for fourth in the conference and in the league as well. The only teams ahead of them in that category are the Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, and Portland Trail Blazers.
The Grizzlies, if I'm being honest, feel like they're going to come back down to earth soon. They've played an incredibly easy schedule to start the season, and the Blazers point differential is carried by their opening night embarassment of the Phoenix Suns.
In every loss, shorthanded or not, the Wolves haven't rolled over. They just put up an extremely valiant effort against the San Antonio Spurs, and that was with no Edwards, no Rudy Gobert, and LaMelo Ball in foul trouble the entire game.
One of the other two losses was against the Golden State Warriors, where the Wolves came back from down by 20-plus, and if Jaden McDaniels had hit the wide-open corner 3-pointer in clutch time, the Wolves could very well have won. The last one was the two-point loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Wolves depth can keep them afloat while Anthony Edwards is out
The Wolves are showing that they have an incredibly deep roster, and even if they're shorthanded, they will still fight healthy playoff teams to the brink. Victor Wembanyama needed 43 points to beat a Wolves team down to essentially three starters, with Ball only able to play 20 minutes.
The roster is full of players who are able to scale up their games, and role players like Ayo Dosunmu, Jonathan Kuminga, and Terrence Shannon Jr. have looked fantastic this season.
The scariest part of this team is that we haven't seen the best version of Ball yet, and once he reaches that level, the Wolves have plenty of firepower to survive while Edwards rehabs. So keep your heads up Timberwolves fans because better days are ahead soon.
Add us as a preferred source on Google