Predicted record: 25-57
TWO DARTS
A standard dartboard has 20 pie slices numbered 1-20. I closed my eyes and threw two darts, figuring that 20 would be average, 2 the low and 40 the high. First toss – 9. Second toss – 16. I predict 25 wins for the Timberwolves in 2009-2010.
What I hope for the Timberwolves is a positive narrative arc from now ’til April. Rambis and his staff passing the sniff test. Consistent effort and enjoyable brand of ball. Ability to identify keepers on the roster. Increased local enthusiasm for team. My bar is pretty low. Go get over it Wolves!
Predicted record: 26-56
My sense is that early on, while the Wolves are getting adjusted to a new system and to each other, and also waiting for Kevin Love and Al Jefferson to get healthy, things are going to get a little ugly. They are going to give up an staggering amount of points. But it also seems like Flynn will be pretty dynamic, and I think that Sessions is probably the best pure point guard the Wolves have had in years. If they can get even the vaguest grasp of the triangle offense, I think there will be nights when Sessions, Flynn and Big Al will be able to outscore some people. Call me an optimist, but I’m gonna say 26-56.
Predicted record: 25-57
I’d put the win total higher, but Kevin Love wearing a suit rather than a uniform on gamenights until December and a questionable Al Jefferson to start the season does this team no good. Minnesota will miss Love’s rebounds big time. His injury is going to make the first half of the year a trying one. I’m intrigued by Ramon Sessions and Jonny Flynn in the backcourt; there is lots of promise there. If anything else, this coaching staff will be fun to watch and work with this season.
Predicted record: 22-60
A lot of people have (higher) hopes for this season, but with KLove missing at least a month, Al’s potential new injury, Al and Brewer’s recovery from injuries, and a TON of new faces… I just don’t see it. I hate to be pessimistic, but I think we’ll finish slightly worse off than last season. On the bright side, we should be a far more exciting team to watch, but I just don’t think it will translate to more wins yet. But here’s to hoping!
Darren Wolfson/Star Tribune’s Your Voices
Predicted record: 24-58
Who wins more games: The Wolves or the Gophers? I’m being serious. That being said, this is the most enjoyment I’ve had as a Wolves fan since the start of the ’05-’06 season. I truly believe David Kahn has a plan. However, get to know Kentucky’s John Wall. He is the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft and a guy the Wolves could end up with (I know, insert your own no luck in the lottery — EVER joke). The Wolves will, like last year, win 24-games. Kevin Love’s injury, Jonny Flynn’s adjustment, Kurt Rambis learning to run the show (why not play Flynn & Ramon Sessions together in the preseason?), Al Jefferson & Corey Brewer still in recovery mode — those are just a few of the issues. The question marks/negatives outweigh the positives by a wide margin.
Predicted record: 28-54
What’s up everybody – I’ve got the Timberwolves marked down for 28 wins in 2009-10. Looks to me like they’re going to struggle quite a bit to hold down opposing big men yet again, and that leads to all whole world of problems. Namely, they’ll get killed on the glass till Love gets back and it’s possible they’ll commit too many defenders to double teams and get killed on kick-outs. On top of that, our post defense isn’t great to start with.
But I love our young core of players, and could see them winning upwards of 35 games in 2010-11. Here’s to an exciting season!
Predicted record: 25-57
These guys have me stumped. I’m trying to figure out if this is a 28-32 victory team or, if KLove’s injury and Al’s Achilles are signs of what to come, whether we’re talking 17, 18 wins. I think there’s going to be enough intrigue — Jonny Flynn is going to be fun to watch, Hollins will interesting if infuriating at times, I think in time Rambis can get this team playing competitively — to keep this from feeling like a lost year. But they’re also going to struggle shooting the ball and defend, so I’ll split the difference somewhat and predict…25-57.
Predicted Record: 30-52
Wolves record: 30-52. I originally put a target for wins between 28 and 32 this season. But the significant injury to Kevin Love, and Al Jefferson’s nagging minor nicks, could make it difficult for them to exceed that range. Still, I think it will be an entertaining season to watch how so many young players take to coach Kurt Rambis’s uptempo style. It might not be pretty at times this season, but it sure looks like better days are ahead for a franchise that sorely needs them.
Jon Marthaler/TNABACG and Twolves Blog
Predicted record: 25-57
I’d like to believe that the Wolves won’t slump to a similar season to last year, where one exciting month covered up for a season of failure. That said… new coach, a bunch of new players, Kevin Love will miss two months, there’s no guarantee Al Jefferson will be healthy at any point, the team can’t figure out how to get Ramon Sessions and Jonny Flynn on the floor at the same time, and Corey Brewer may be the team’s best shooter, which means the Timberwolves will make three-pointers only by accident. That’s a lot of question marks to predict anything drastically different from last year’s 24-58 mark.
Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site
The Wolves will feature one of the youngest lineups in the league this year and only return five players from last season. In the midst of learning a complex triangle offense, expect this Minnesota squad to display maximum effort under new head coach Kurt Rambis. The Wolves have depth at the point guard spot and Al Jefferson is an offensive machine inside the post. To compete against the loaded Western Conference, Minnesota must improve on its interior defense while finding a scoring option from the perimeter. As this team begins its journey back to the postseason, fans will enjoy the new up-tempo style of offense in 2009-10.
Matthew Holmquist/Dunking With Wolves
Predicted record: 25-57
According to my power rankings, the Wolves right now are the sixth worst team in the league. However, only two of the five teams that I rate worse than them are in the west, so it will be a very tough year. I had them at 27 wins before Love’s injury, and assuming Jefferson is healthy by the season opener, losing Love should only cost them a few games. The Wolves do not have any depth to speak of, so losing any combination of Flynn, Sessions, Love, Jefferson or even Gomes/Brewer to injury could really hurt their record. Most likely this season will be great to watch in terms of player development, but wins will be hard to come by once again.
I wish I could be more optimistic about our chances, but even with Love it was going to take awhile for this team to gel. The West is, amazingly, more stacked than last year and our extreme lack of depth is going to hurt us in the 4th quarter of too many games. Patience will be key for the coaching staff and the fans, as this season will be measured by how much the youngsters improve from one game to the next, not by the totals in the win-loss column, because it could get ugly. Take solace in Al’s dominance in the post and Jonny’s brilliance with the ball. Projected finish: 23-59, 14th in the West
Predicted record: 30-52
The posters at mnsportsfans looked forward to the new season for the Wolves, and expected more success because of the upgrade at pointguard with the drafting of Jonny Flynn, and the signing of Ramon Sessions. This along with a new coaching staff, for a “fresh start” for all. However, the optimism of the off-season is now tempered with worry over injuries once again, with the loss of Kevin Love’s rebounding and passing for the first part of the season, and worries about Al Jefferson’s sore achilles. With that said the true achilles heel for the young Wolves will likely be their wing play, as Corey Brewer’s jumpshot may disappear once again, Wayne Ellington will be finding his way as a rookie, and rhe veterans at wing had their best seasons when they were able to play next to all-star players. Our prediction is that the Wolves will win 30 games.
Patrick Hodgdon/Howlin’ T-Wolf
Predicted record: 28-54.
The Wolves will have their struggles early on in ’09 with Love out and the team being led by a rookie point guard in Jonny Flynn, a situation that always brings growing pains and turnovers, along with the need for a clear cut answer in the shooting department. The Wolves will however again be toward the top of the league in rebounding and will also add a much needed advantage in free throws with the additions of Flynn and Ramon Sessions as well as the new and improved Corey Brewer that we’ve seen in the last few preseason games (assuming he sticks around). Signs of greatness should peak out though, but not until later on in the season after the all-star break when the team gets fully healthy and comfortable playing together and they start to really understand what Coach Rambis is trying to instill in them. This very well could be a year in which you see them go something like 9-32 in the first half of the season and 19-22 in the second.
Revprodeji/RealGM Wolves forum
Predicted record: +/- 28 wins.
I have a problem with making a prediction because of our injury situation and I am convinced we could make a big trade come deadline time. I think that the defensive improvement of Brewer/Flynn/Sessions over Miller/Foye/bassy will make an underated improvement. I think a real coach with a real system will make us much better in the future as well. I just do not know how long it will take for all the new players to develop chemistry and for the staff to teach its system. The triangle offense can either be very complicated, or incredibly simple. I believe Brewer will prove himself as a legit part of our future.
Scott Henneboehle/Wolves Watch
Predicted record: 14-68
I’ve got the Wolves finishing somewhere around 14-68 in 2009-10. Rambis will be trying what he claims to be a more up-and-down brand of basketball with a roster that lacks the talent to do so. The Wolves will have trouble defending virtually every team in the league and have not established a team leader that can unite this group of unknowns. With all of the moves David Kahn made this offseason, none of them really help the team this year, although the progression of draft picks Jonny Flynn and Wayne Ellington could be interesting to watch. Al Jefferson needs to show he can stay healthy, and the Wolves need to establish some sort of identity to build on in the next few years.
Predicted record: 23-59
Comment: A lot of things in the NBA are self-fulfilling, from Shaquille O’Neal’s inevitable chafing with whatever team he happens to play for to Dwyane Wade’s next Knievel crash to the hardwood, from Dwight Howard’s limitations as an offensive weapon to anything and everything Clippers-related. I’m going to assume that the meager expectations with which the Timberwolves begin 2009-10 will be self-fulfilling as well; so little is expected of this team, from inside and outside the organization, that it’s hard to envision the Wolves overachieving. Adjusting to a new coaching staff, learning the triangle wrinkles within the new offense and developing some chemistry with all those new faces are stiff tasks, likely to linger into February. With Kevin Love out until sometime around Christmas, with Al Jefferson limited at the start and with Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions divvying minutes more than sharing them, I expect to see them take heavy lumps through the season’s first half, after which the tough lessons either will click — or things will really nosedive.
Predicted record: 30-52.
David Kahn has assembled a roster stuffed with far more talent than what the team had last year. But, a new coach with a new system, 9 new players (out of 14), an average player tenure of 1.6 years and injury question marks about the team’s two best players means the Wolves’ improvement will be incremental this year. Baby steps.
UPDATE:
Predicted record: 29-53
This is a very young team trying to learn how to play together under the league’s most complicated offense in its toughest conference. There will be stretches of both inspired and infuriating play, but the success of this team will be measured in the development of the core unit, particularly Jonny Flynn. NBA fans couldn’t wait for the season to begin, Wolves fans can’t wait til next summer when this team can take another step towards relevancy.