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The Timberwolves followed the rule of a young team

By Chris Barnewall

Mar 14, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine (8), center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and guard Andrew Wiggins (22) against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The Suns defeated the Timberwolves 107-104. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine (8), center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and guard Andrew Wiggins (22) against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The Suns defeated the Timberwolves 107-104. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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Few teams enter a season with as much hype the Timberwolves had entering 2016-17. They were going to be the next big thing in the NBA. Karl-Anthony Towns was coming off a dominant rookie of the year campaign, Andrew Wiggins was primed to reach his sky high potential and Zach LaVine finished the previous season on a tear from 3-point range. Minnesota hired a former coach of the year in Tom Thibodeau. They had Ricky Rubio running the show. They were primed to dominate this league in a few years and this season was going to be their jump off point.

Individually, that’s sort of what happened. Zach LaVine broke out to become one of the NBA’s best young sharpshooters. He might be more well known for his emphatic dunks, but the 22-year-old out of UCLA really came into his own this season before an injury struck him down far too soon. LaVine shot an insane 38 percent from 3-point range on 6.6 attempts per game. His scoring rose to 18.9 points a game and now that he’s not tasked with point guard duties, he’s free to focus on a singular role. It’s benefited him well.

READ MORE: Tom Thibodeau still preaching discipline to young Wolves

Andrew Wiggins has continued to evolve as a scoring wing. He’s shooting more, he’s scoring more and he’s doing it more efficiently than ever before. The former number one overall pick hasn’t quite met the expectations set for him coming out of college, but to say he hasn’t been a bright spot for Minnesota would be ignoring the improvements he has made. Wiggins is still getting better, he’s only 22, and there has been no reason yet to doubt his potential.

Then there’s Karl-Anthony Towns. How does one of the best rookies ever top being rookie of the year? By improving in almost every single way. All of Towns’ numbers are up from the year before, and while some of this is attributed to an increase in minutes, he’s still the best young big man available right now. He’s consistently healthy, productive and hasn’t lost a step at all from last season. There’s concern about his defense taking a dip this season in comparison to last year, but he’s young and has plenty of time to figure out how NBA defense works.

All of the Minnesota core pieces are having phenomenal seasons. Are there still holes in their games? Of course, because they are barely been old enough to drink and winning in the NBA is hard. Yet, the Wolves have been considered one of this year’s most disappointing NBA teams. Why is that? They’re 30-44 with a top-10 offense and showing growth. This is not out of the ordinary for a young team. Most of Minnesota’s issues this year such as not playing well on the road, struggling to hold on to leads and playing solid team defense, are problems every young team goes through. If anything Minnesota has met expectations and set up what should be a pretty good season next year.

So, what is the reason for there to be a feeling of disappointment surrounding the Wovles? The reality is expectations were wildly misplaced with them this season, and this is a trend existing with loads of young teams. Let’s call it Thunder syndrome. When Oklahoma City first started out they had an unprecedented growth curve. They did the typical collection of assets every model follows now, but their rebuild only took two years. After two 20-win seasons the Thunder won 50 games and made the playoffs as an 8 seed. The following year they made the Western Conference Finals. The year after that it was an NBA Finals trip. Youth succeeding this quickly is extremely rare and it took three generational talents being put together on one team to make it happen. Unfortunately, the Thunder’s success has led to a belief this is how it should work for everybody.

When young teams like Minnesota form there’s an immediate excitement. This is something new, something that hasn’t been seen before and everybody wants them to be the best they can as fast as possible. The problem is when they fail to reach these expectations, then they’re labeled as a disappointment. This year’s Wolves were not a disappointment. Could they have been better this year? Probably. Had they not been allergic to the second half early in the season they might be comfortably in the eight spot right now in a weak bottom of the west. However, nothing about them this year was particularly surprising. They’re a young team with no bench and a first year head coach.

Next: Taj Gibson enjoying change of pace with Thunder

These teams are supposed to struggle with consistency and defense and that’s what Minnesota did. They didn’t disappoint. They followed the rule of what a young team should do, lose. Winning is hard in the NBA no matter who you are.

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