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Minnesota Timberwolves NBA Preview

By Staff

Apr 1, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; General view of Target Center before the game between the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves. Mandatory Credit: Greg Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; General view of Target Center before the game between the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves. Mandatory Credit: Greg Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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Worst Case Scenario

Oct 21, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio (9) and head coach Flip Saunders hug during a timeout in the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Target Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves win 107-89. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 21, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio (9) and head coach Flip Saunders hug during a timeout in the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Target Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves win 107-89. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

Man … things could get ugly.

Given the propensity for Nikola Pekovic to miss chunks of games and the lack of shooting on the perimeter, the 2014-15 season could easily be a perpetual brickfest if Saunders insists on running his complicated, long-two-jumper-inducing offense per his reputation.

If Rubio doesn’t progress significantly, Pekovic misses his standard 20 or so games, Wiggins can’t shoot, LaVine is not ready to contribute positively, and Budinger doesn’t rebound from knee problems, this team could legitimately only win 25 games.

The reason for such a large swing in potential outcomes is largely centered around the nature of the roster — again, half the roster is made up of first or second-year players, and the rest are established, largely league-average or slightly better NA rotation players. The floor really can’t be too low because of the chunk of minutes that will be eaten up by decent, functional NBA talent, but the unknowns of Wiggins, LaVine, Bennett, and Saunders’ influence on the offensive end drag the worst-case scenario down a bit.

Defensively, this team should be better than the 2013-14 version, hands down. Replacing Love with Young is a boon on that end of the floor, and adding Wiggins’ length and quickness to the wing should have a huge effect, too. Even replacing many of Barea’s minutes with the slightly-better Williams and possibly better LaVine could have a positive impact.

Because of the leap on defense, it’s hard to see the offense being so bad that it pulls the squad below 25 wins. Still, 25 wins would be awfully tough to stomach for the fan base at this point in time.

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