A lot of preseason predictions have the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second tier of Western Conference teams. It's the same tier as the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Denver Nuggets are in. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are the widely anticipated one and two seeds.
The Wolves faced the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs last season, and despite being ravaged by injuries, they won the series on the backs of players like Ayo Dosunmu and Terrence Shannon Jr. This offseason, the Wolves made drastic changes to their team in hopes of making that next step and vaulting themselves into title contention.
The Nuggets, on the other hand, got worse, and the Wolves shouldn't have any fear when facing them. This is largely due to the Nuggets' complete lack of a competent bench unit.
The Nuggets bench will be incredibly easy to score on, just like the starters
It was somewhat of a nightmare offseason for the Nuggets. They matched Spencer Jones' offer sheet with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which pushed them into the second apron. This then caused them to lose Peyton Watson in restricted free agency to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The significance of this move is massive. Watson wasn't just the Nuggets' sixth man, but he was their best perimeter defender and most prized young asset. All the Nuggets received in return was one first-round pick. To replace him, the Nuggets signed 37-year-old DeMar DeRozan.
DeRozan is an incredibly gifted scorer, but the Nuggets' problem was never scoring the basketball. Their defense has been bad for a long time, especially given Aaron Gordon's recent injury woes. DeRozan has been a liability on defense for his entire career, and this just further deepens their problems on that end.
Outside of DeRozan and Jones, the Nuggets' bench is filled with wildly unproven (or washed up) players. These players include Tyus Jones, Julian Strawther, Marvin Bagley, Alpha Diallo, and Trevon Brazile. While the Timberwolves' bench is unproven, Shannon, Joan Beringer, and Bones Hyland all have more upside than the guys Denver will rely on.
The Wolves are also projected to have one of the league's best offenses with the additions of LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga. Last season in Game 4, Dosunmu lit the Nuggets up for a career-high 43 points to give the Wolves a 3-1 lead in the series. Then, in the closeout Game 6, Shannon Jr. had 24 points and six rebounds to end the Nuggets' season.
As noted, neither of these guys will even be starters for the Wolves this season. The Western Conference is as tight as it's ever been, and getting worse while the teams around you get better certainly isn't a recipe for success. Jaden McDaniels said it best: they're all bad defenders!
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