This is the thread where we make our predictions for the 2004-05 season. I want to hear everyone's thoughts and predictions on how well we will do for next season and also predictions on our line-up. As the season begins and games are played, the predictions may become more clear, but currently, we aren't sure how we will do, so let's make our predictions. <u>T-Wolves 04-05 Lineup:</u> PG: Sam Cassell/Hudson SG: Latrell Sprewell/Hoiberg SF: Trenton Hassell/Wally PF: Kevin Garnett/Madsen C: Ervin Johnson/Kandi Basically, the same lineup from last year. I don't see any problems what so ever with our lineup, except maybe we can get a more dominant center with a trade. A trade idea would be Wally and Kandi for someone but not sure who. Also, if we are certain to re-sign Hassell and Hoiberg, who will be starting at SF, Wally or Hassell? I say we keep Hassell. His defense is just to good to pass up and he is very key to our team. I'd love to keep Wally and Hoiberg as bench players so that they can come off of the bench and hit some big shots for us. We know that Hoiberg is always a 3 point threat and Wally is a good scorer. I think if Wally gets mad about being an off the bench player, then he needs to realize, the team is much more deep now and he's not the #2 option like he used to be. We also have Darrick Martin, Oliver Miller, and Gary Trent but I'm not sure what's going on with them. 1st priority for our lineup, though. We NEED to resign Hassell and Hoiberg. Them, and the rest of our role players meant too much for our team last season and we can't let them go. <u>Northwest Division:</u> Now that the conference are split into 3 divisions, we have us, the Blazers, Jazz, Nuggets, and Sonics in our division. My prediction, we win the division. Our team will be the same exact team, hopefully, if we resign Hassell and Hoiberg. Our team flow is too good and we have the big 3 doing most of the scoring. I see the Jazz and Nuggets battling it out for 2nd place. Both teams made some great additions. The Jazz added Boozer and Memo, and if they bring back a healthy Harpring, then they can be deadly. The Nuggets on the other hand have a great front court with Melo, K-Mart, and either Camby or Nene playing along with them. They also have Miller and Leonard in the backcourt. Strong starting lineup it seems. The Blazers come in fourth I think. Rounding it out, will be the Sonics finishing in last in our division. <u>Western Conference Playoffs:</u> Going to be very close between us and the Spurs I think. The Spurs made a very nice upgrade from Turk to Brent Barry. Their lineup will be very nice, with Manu most likely being their energy boost off of the bench. I'm very worried this season about them because of the addition of Barry and resigning Manu and Bowen. So how will we do in the playoffs? I think we may come short of a #1 seed and will be the #2 seed. But right now, I feel it will be very close between us and the Spurs. Can we bring in a championship this year? We seem to be the favorites. I've read many sources, they have us at #1 in the western conference. We definitely benefited from the Shaq trade. In the WCF, Shaq abused us and he put up some HUGE stats. No more Shaq on the Lakers, one less thing for us to worry about. He was the reason we fell short of the finals, maybe it was also the fact that Cassell was hurt, but Shaq out of the way is a big plus. It's going to be between us, the Spurs, and the Kings. Those 3 will be all on their own at the top I think. Let's hope for the best for the T-Wolves and maybe we can win a championship this year! So any opinions, predictions, or thoughts?
A few thoughts: I agree with your lineup. Though I have some hope that Kandi will prove us all wrong and atleast become somewhat of a reliable starting center. Nothing special, but 6-8 rpg and as many ppg combined with good defence and no stupid fouls would do it for me. I also hope that Ebi will be eased in to the team a bit more and play some more minutes. Flip will have to figure out a good rotation to keep Sam, Troy, Spree and Hoiberg effective in the backcourt. In the SF position it's pretty easy. Play Szczerbiak when we need points, and Hassell when we need to stop a good perimiter player on the opposing team. The Nuggets just made our division interesting with the addition of Kenyon Martin. They are a threat to the division crown. I'd like to see the rivalry we started with them in the first round this year grow stronger. Prediction: We'll Win the division and end up 2nd or 3rd seed. From there on in it's all a matter of being fit, playing well and having a bit of luck. We can very well go all the way.
I as well, hope that Kandi can prove us wrong. When he came here, he had high expectations, but he was a bust, of course. Everyone was saying, KG and Kandi, the Twin Towers and stuff, but in reality, Kandi didn't do much of anything. I'm not really expecting some big scoring nights from him with Sam, Spree, KG, Wally and Hoiberg all on our team, but I do expect him to do at least something significant. It pissed me off to see he was a bust. But, yes, I'd like to see him prove us wrong and have a good season. Six to Eight rebounds a game would be nice and be up at about 10 PPG would be nice too, although it will be a little hard. One thing that might be key this season, is staying healthy and fit, as you mentioned. Sam went down in the playoffs with a hip injury I believe and that costed us big time. We did manage to beat the Kings, but had Cassell been with us, playing, against the Lakers, we may have made it to the finals. That's a question that can't be awnsered, though. Wally missed a lot of the season with his injury and Hudson missed a whole lot of time as well. If we are healthy and fit throughout the whole season, we will be very effective and you can expect big things from us. And yes, the Nuggets should make it very interesting. We did struggle at time playing against Denver. In a couple of those games in the series I really did feel that we might be getting eliminated, but we pulled through. Denver really gave us a challenge. Now they sign a big name PF from the east and they move into the Northwest Division along with us. Things should be heating up and this could be a very interesting season with the additions some of the teams have made, besides the Nuggets.
