The Timberwolves have missed the postseason every year since 2004, and the rebuilding efforts have not proven worthwhile up to this point. There is no doubt that Minnesota has talented players, but they have not yet been able to piece together a full season to creep into the playoffs.
This year that changes. It's early, but the T-Wolves have played well enough to warrant a closer look as a playoff contender. While they lack the talent and attention that Golden State, Oklahoma City, and the Los Angeles Clippers have and most likely won't be in the conversation for championship contention, Minnesota certainly looks like a quality playoff team.
While Minnesota did lose by 13 to Golden State on Nov. 6, their only other loss was by 1 point at Cleveland on the second night of a back-to-back. Interestingly, these are also the only two games that Minnesota failed to score 100 points. Normally, it would be a concern if a team has to score 100 points to have a chance to win the game, but in the West, 8 of the 15 teams are averaging over 100 points against. There are only 2 teams in the entire conference giving up less than 96. Most teams are running high-temp offenses focused on piling on points. Minnesota fits in very well with this style of play, and has the scorers to keep pace with just about any team in the league. They lead the West in point differential, at +7.1 per game. Scoring is not a problem for the Timberwolves this season.
Currently, the T-Wolves are 5-2 and have the 3rd best record in the Western Conference. Chances are this won’t be where they end up at the end of the regular season, though, and that ranking could drop in the coming weeks. At the end of November and beginning of December, Minnesota will play a 7 game stretch that includes matchups with Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Miami, Houston, Dallas, and Indiana; all teams with winning records.
However, Utah and Denver have each yet to be played, meaning there are 8 games left against opponents who thus far have a combined 1 win. There are winnable games left on the schedule for the Timberwolves, despite the depth of the Western Conference.
The key to Minnesota’s success will be their health. Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love have yet to play a full season together, but each appear to be healed from their previous injuries. Love’s twice-fractured right hand is not bothering him anymore, and Rubio came back from ACL surgery last December after injuring it near the end of the 2011-2012 season.
While their two stars are healthy, injuries to backup center Ronny Turiaf and projected starting small forward Chase Budinger have already occurred. Budinger had arthroscopic knee surgery at the beginning of October, and hasn’t been given a timetable for a return. Turiaf fractured his right elbow going up for a rebound against Oklahoma City earlier this month, and, like Budinger, has no timetable for a return.
Injuries are never good news for a team, but, in this case, the T-Wolves are deep enough at these spots to afford them. Corey Brewer has stepped in for Budinger and has reached double digit points in each game this year. Starting center Nikola Pekovic has played well given his increase in minutes, though his shooting percentage is nearly 12 points lower than it was last year. Derrick Williams has provided enough flexibility to comfortably play either forward position with Love playing well as a center for extended periods of time.
If the Timberwolves are able to weather through these injuries like they have already, they would be in a great position once these players are able to return.
The reason this team has been able to get off to such a hot start is simple. They have two starters named Kevin, and each have played tremendously well to start the year.
Minnesota knew it needed a second scorer to complement Love on offense, so they signed Kevin Martin during the offseason. Martin ranks 6th in the league in scoring at 23.9 points per game, and his 3-point percentage of 57% is tops among all players with at least 5 attempts per game. His value as a reliable scoring option is critical as teams are no longer capable of focusing on just Kevin Love anymore, and Love is certainly reaping the benefits.
Kevin Love is having an MVP-caliber year. Over the weekend, he barely missed out on a triple-double against Dallas last Friday (35 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists) only to have Rubio reach that mark against the Lakers two days later (12-10-14). Rubio’s efforts could be a sign of things to come, but his play this year is largely overshadowed by what Love is doing.
Love leads the league in rebounding at 14.4 per game, and is second in scoring at 26.9 per game. He also leads all power forwards with 4.7 assists per game. In fact, that's even more than Jeremy Lin and Derrick Rose both have this season. Love’s shooting percentage is at 47%, the highest in his career, and is making contributions all over the floor. Not surprisingly, he again is leading the league in double-doubles, and has gotten one in each game this year.
Love's PER of 29.96 would be the highest for any player not named LeBron James since the end of the 2010 season. Obviously, the MVP award is LeBron’s to lose, but given Minnesota’s run of mediocrity over the past decade, Love should garner serious consideration for the award at the end of the year for the award.
His case for MVP will only be strengthened by Minnesota reaching the playoffs. It’s hard to dethrone King James any season, and if Paul George can lead Indiana to the number 1 overall seed, he could steal some votes away. But if Love is able to lead the Timberwolves to the playoffs for the first time since 2004, and plays at or near this level for the remainder of the season, the award should be his.
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