The past three seasons for the Minnesota Timberwolves have been wildly successful, especially given their lackluster history. They've advanced past the first round in all three years and made it to the conference finals in two of them. Despite this, the regular seasons have left a bit to be desired.
The only regular season I would deem a success was in the 2023-2024 season, when they finished as the third seed, but were in the mix for the first seed all season, finishing only one game back of that. In the other two seasons, they finished sixth and barely escaped the Play-In.
I get it; playoffs are playoffs, and the Wolves have proven time and time again that in the playoffs, they turn into a different beast. But they are too talented to be barely squeaking into the top six every year. All it takes is a significant injury to Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, or LaMelo Ball, and they could easily be in the Play-In picture if they don't start taking the regular season more seriously.
The NBA is going to me more competitive than ever this season
With the NBA's new lottery reform, which punishes teams with lower lottery odds for being in the bottom of the conference, teams no longer have an incentive to be as bad. Teams last year, like the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, and Sacramento Kings, had a lot of talented players not suiting up in the final months of the season.
That isn't going to be happening anymore. Every team is going to want to be competitive, and while there will inevitably be bad teams, there won't be as many free wins in the latter part of the season. This means less room for error on the Wolves' part, as they won't have the luxury of facing as many teams blatantly trying to lose.
The Wolves have more than enough talent to hang with anyone in the league, but they need to start treating a Tuesday night game against the Kings like they would a primetime game against the Thunder. This will only give them an advantage come playoff time.
Playing for seeding will give them an advantage in the playoffs
This Wolves team has proven over the last couple of seasons that they're pretty firmly the third-best team in the West behind the Thunder and Spurs. With the Thunder having some key rotational players becoming cap casualties this offseason, maybe the new-look Wolves could overtake them for a top-two seed?
Being this high of a seed also means that in the last few games of the regular season, they can rest their top guys if their spot is locked up. There's no downside, and I'm sure they'd rather go against a play-in team on no rest in the first round instead of a contender.
It's not a question of whether they have the talent to win these regular games, but whether they embrace the doldrums of the NBA season and treat those "boring" games with the same seriousness that they would a playoff game. If they do this, they'll be in a better championship position, but if they don't, they could enter a danger zone, because this league will be more loaded than ever.
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