# T-Wolves for real?



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

I finally got to see the T-Wolves last night with their new coach and new roster. I must say I'm pretty impressed. Going against the Thunder, whom I consider to have by far the best roster in the West (if not the entire NBA), they could've won that game pretty easily. Kevin Love isn't even recognizable anymore due to his physique. He looks like he lost 50 lbs or better. Still productive on the glass, hit a 3, a sweet behind the back pass to Barea, etc. Beasley looked good, and appeared to have much better body language. Idk if that's the result of the new coach or what. Looks much more respectable with his head shaved too. Darko looks more assertive, and even knocked Perkins to the ground and taunted him once. Pretty surprising there. Johnson and Ridnour were the other 2 starters, and looked pretty good. Then you get to the bench. Derrick Williams looks like a baller for sure. Good pickup and he'll help a lot. Too bad he's buried behind Love and Beasley. Then you get to the spark plug that is really fun to watch, JJ Barea. Adding him for his fire and drive was huge for a team with a bunch of passive, young, inexperienced guys. The team was like a new team when he was on the court. Then of course Rubio. He looks kinda slow and unexplosive, but he's so smooth and has such good court vision that it isn't an issue at all. He had a handful of great passes that got the crowd going. One of them he whipped right by Collison's head, missing it by inches, for a layup in the post. He hit Williams for a 2-hand reverse slam on the break....again, whipping it right between 2 guys to get it there. He drew a foul on his first shot attempt. He even made his first shot (that he wasn't fouled on), a high banker. 6 assists, no turnovers, and there should've been more assists if not for mishandled balls by the guys he passed to. Anthony Tolliver was useless, aside from 1 good block. Anthony Randolph's minutes apparently got stolen by Derrick Williams, which is too bad since he looked good at times last year. He only played 3 minutes. Pekovic, who got a lot of burn last year, didn't even play at all. Nor did Ellington (Barea got his minutes, good choice even though I like Wayne) or Lee (who I have no clue who he even is). 

The reason they lost? Stupid shot selection. 3-22 from 3-point land. You had guys like Anthony Tolliver going 0-3, Derrick Williams 0-4, Ridnour 0-2, Beasley 0-3, and then Love was 1-3 (one was an attempted buzzer beater if I remember correctly), Johnson 1-3, Barea 1-3. They also allowed a few bad "and 1s" later in the game which hurt big time. 

Overall, they're a pretty fun team to watch. If they keep up the play like this, I'll likely make the drive to MN to watch them play in person later in the year after they've gelled more and the rooks are playing more.


----------



## RollWithEm (Jul 16, 2002)

Ridnour/Wes are a good pair as starters, but Barea and Rubio will be on the floor in the clutch most of the season. This team really has a surplus of young talent. They could easily move 2 or 3 young guys for an unhappy star and get much better really fast. I know it's a pipe dream because Dwight would never agree to an extension, but wouldn't Orlando consider this?

Beasley
Randolph
Williams
Ellington
Pekovic
2013 First

for 

Dwight Howard


----------



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

RollWithEm said:


> Ridnour/Wes are a good pair as starters, but Barea and Rubio will be on the floor in the clutch most of the season. This team really has a surplus of young talent. They could easily move 2 or 3 young guys for an unhappy star and get much better really fast. I know it's a pipe dream because Dwight would never agree to an extension, but wouldn't Orlando consider this?
> 
> Beasley
> Randolph
> ...


You'd have to keep one of Beasley and Williams, or they'd have no SF. 

Right now their DC looks like this, more or less:

Ridnour, Rubio, Lee
Johnson, Barea, Ellington
Beasley, Williams
Love, Tolliver, Randolph
Milocic, Pekovic

With that trade, you'd have to move Johnson to SF & they'd be down to:

Ridnour, Rubio, Lee
Barea, Ellington
Johnson
Love, Tolliver
Howard, Milocic

That actually isn't bad, but that's giving up a TON if Dwight doesn't resign. I think they could be a playoff team this year already if they stay healthy and the chemistry comes around. I'm a HUGE Dwight Howard fan, but Idk if I do that trade or not, even if he'll resign. A large part of that is you'll be losing your size at SG and SF both due to losing all your SFs and having to move your big SG to SF, where he would go from being very good sized to undersized in a hurry. I do really like the idea of Rubio, Barea, Love and Howard all out there, aside from Barea being a liability defensively against SGs.


----------



## RollWithEm (Jul 16, 2002)

Johnson's natural position is SF. He has been forced into a SG role due to all the SFs assembled on this roster. Martell Webster would still be a solid back-up SF on that team, by the way.


----------



## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

The excitement here in MSP over the Wolves is pretty darn good right now. There has not been this much buzz around the team since 04. I think the Wolves are headed in the right direction. This team is one draft or trade away from being legitimate playoff contenders. 

This team is going places, they just need a couple more moves to really solidify themselves.


----------



## DaBabyBullz (May 26, 2006)

I think they're a playoff team as is. They'd be .500 if not for the refs blowing the Heat game. They could be 4-0, and SHOULD be 3-1 (should've beat Bucks). Considering they have a brand new coach, no real offseason, and a bunch of young talent/rookies, I think if they're not gelling already, they will be soon. They've already shown they can play with, and beat, the best. I'd say they easily have a top 10 roster in the NBA, maybe top 5, when you look at all the depth and assuming Rubio keeps playing as he has been or better, and Love keeps dominating, as he did all year last year and has so far this year.


----------

