MIN doesn't scare me - yet. They are still very, very young. It's tough to win consistently in the NBA when your three best players are 21 years old. On the flip side, their three best players are 21 years old and bound to improve. KAT is an absolute 2-way stud. They need to lock him up forever. Whenever he is available for an extension, immediately offer him the max. Don't hesitate for one second. Right now, Wiggins looks like a one dimensional gunner, but compare his season to C.J.'s. Other than 3-point shooting and assists, they are remarkably similar - and Wiggins is 4 years younger and was a one-and-done college player. He will get better, and Thibs will teach him how to play defense at the NBA level. He was all the physical tools to be an excellent defender, and that was supposed to be one of his strengths coming out of college. He will never be LeBron 2.0, but under Thibs, he has a legitimate chance to become Jimmy Butler++. In addition to their youth, it's their lack of outside shooting, especially a lack of any consistent 3-point threat, that will hold them back - for now. Last year, they were 29th in the league in made 3-pointers and 25th in 3FG% (for comparison, we were 5th in made 3-pointers and 4th in 3FG%). That doesn't cut it in today's NBA, especially in the Western Conference. You need that weapon to compete, and MIN doesn't have it. After cutting Kevin Martin, Zach LaVine and Nemanja Bjelica were their only above average 3-point shooters, and they combined to only make 171 3-pointers. They added Brandon Rush, who played almost halfway decent for GSW last year (PER = 10.1), but that was after one of the worst shooting years in NBA history (.204 FG%, .111 3FG%, .455 FT%, .255 TS%) and three straight years of -7.1, -6.3 and -6.0 BPM. Let's just say he's a bit inconsistent and doesn't generally have a positive overall impact when he's on the court. Their other big acquisition was Kris Dunn, who fell to them at 5th in the draft. He's a very solid prospect, but has poor shooting form and wasn't know as a great shooter in college. They will be better, and it will come from having a better coach and the growth of their young players, but they finished 13th in the West last year, and will need to leapfrog 5 teams to just make the playoffs and 8 teams to pass us. I think they will be in the fight for the 7th or 8th seed, but that will be their best case this year, while our best case has us fighting for HCA. They should gain ground each year, but I still think they are 3 years away from challenging for the NW Division title. BNM
Jazz, Knicks, Hawks, Pistons most severely over-rated. I think the Mavericks will suck with their ancient lineup. Wizards and Pacers should be higher. Also the Lakers have some very good young talent and decent vets.
I like this thread. It's Boob at his best, comparing something (teams, in this case) instead of bitterly butting his head against one imagined opponent (team, player, or poster) with straw man constructs and cherry-picked stats. Boob, it's the first time in awhile that I've enjoyed a long series of your posts. I actually learned from this thread. Usually the best I can hope for from any thread here is just entertainment.
I calculated and sorted the combined scores on a spreadsheet. Notice that some teams get demoted from their high starter scores by their low substitute scores. * Combined = 3 times Starters rank + Subs rank. In other words, 75% of the Combined score comes from the Starters rank, and 25% of the Combined score comes from the Subs rank. Rank..Combined*..Starters..Substitutes..Team 01 005 01 02 Golden State Warriors 02 012 02 06 Cleveland Cavaliers 03 016 05 01 Utah Jazz 04 017 04 05 San Antonio Spurs 05 022 06 04 Toronto Raptors 06 024 07 03 Boston Celtics 07 026 03 17 LA Clippers 08 040 09 13 Detroit Pistons 09 040 11 07 Portland Trail Blazers 10 045 08 21 Memphis Grizzlies 11 051 14 09 New York Knicks 12 052 10 22 Atlanta Hawks 13 053 15 08 Chicago Bulls 14 054 12 18 Minnesota Timberwolves 15 059 13 20 Dallas Mavericks 16 059 16 11 Houston Rockets 17 066 18 12 Oklahoma City Thunder 18 070 17 19 Washington Wizards 19 072 19 15 Indiana Pacers 20 080 22 14 Denver Nuggets 21 082 24 10 New Orleans Pelicans 22 087 21 24 Miami Heat 23 088 20 28 Charlotte Bobcats 24 096 23 27 Milwaukee Bucks 25 098 25 23 Orlando Magic 26 104 26 26 Phoenix Suns 27 106 30 16 Philadelphia 76ers 28 106 27 25 Sacramento Kings 29 113 28 29 LA Lakers 30 117 29 30 Brooklyn Nets
I have high expectations for Minny. The players' ages won't matter. Thibs installs a system that takes only a few weeks to learn. He coaches to win every game like it's game 7 of the finals. He developed Rose into MVP, Noah into 1st team all-NBA, late 1st round picks Butler and Gibson. He turned an uncoordinated big guy from Turkey into a starting NBA center. I think he has more talented players in Minny than he ever had in Chicago. Yeah, I'm a Thibs fan.
If you subtract sub rank minus starter rank, here is the sort by that divergence. I suppose that an ideally consistent team would be zero. (That's arguable.) 14 LA Clippers 13 Memphis Grizzlies 12 Atlanta Hawks 08 Charlotte Bobcats 07 Dallas Mavericks 06 Minnesota Timberwolves 04 Cleveland Cavaliers 04 Detroit Pistons 04 Milwaukee Bucks 03 Miami Heat 02 Washington Wizards 01 Golden State Warriors 01 San Antonio Spurs 01 LA Lakers 01 Brooklyn Nets 00 Phoenix Suns -02 Toronto Raptors -02 Orlando Magic -02 Sacramento Kings -04 Utah Jazz -04 Boston Celtics -04 Portland Trail Blazers -04 Indiana Pacers -05 New York Knicks -05 Houston Rockets -06 Oklahoma City Thunder -07 Chicago Bulls -08 Denver Nuggets -14 New Orleans Pelicans -14 Philadelphia 76ers
