2023-24 NBA Season

[JALMOND]

Wolves defeat Warriors for 6th straight win.

I've been hearing some chatter that there is no "next face" of the NBA after Bron hangs it up. I don't really agree because Giannis is around and guys like Embiid, Jokić or Doncic are around, but neither Jokić or Doncic really seem to want to be that kind of guy. The other names you might ascribe to the "face" roll are also at/nearing the end of their careers. Yes, guys like Tatum, Booker, Ja, Trae, and a few others exist but none of them seem to have the potential "it" factor right now - or have other significant issues off the court the NBA won't be willing to throw their weight behind.

Ages when LeBron seems most likely to retire
Curry - 38/39
KD - 38/39
Anthony Davis - 34/35
Butler - 37/38
Dame - 36/37
PG - 36/37
Hardin - 37/38
Even a guy like Giannis, who has a decade left at an elite level, will be 31/32 at that point.

Anyone I mentioned before that will be 25-28.

Then there is Ant who is absolutely exploding right now. He's entirely likely to be the next face/star of USA basketball. He just turned 22 years old. He as the personality to take it on and be loved and known. The mentality to run with it.

I don't know that he is the "next face" but someone young is going to have to take over in the next 2 to 4 years and right now he seems the most primed to be that guy. Now, can he do that from Minnesota? I sure as hell hope so.

The league seems to be setting up Wemby to become the next "face". I hadn't seen so much hype over one player since LeBron.

[clenz]

You're right. It's probably going to be Wemby, especially since he brings that European market, if he stays healthy and productive.

As a fan of Minnesota sports this is a discussion "we" have with all of our star players - "If they played/do what they did in New York, LA, Chicago, basically any city outside of Minnesota the national media would be on their knob 24/7".

There's just something about being in Minneapolis that makes players largely invisible to the national media and fans. If you look at the young talent in Minneapolis right now and think "Put that same group of players on teams in *insert east coast market*" the media would never shut up about what a great future that city has. Instead with MSP it's ignored, or if talked about it's frequently "Do they need to leave to solidify their careers"

JJ
Addison
Christian Darrisaw/Brian O'Niell - Legitmately a top 2 or 3 OT combo in the league
Ant
KAT
Jaden McDaniels
Kirill
Royce Lewis
Edouard Julien and Brooks Lee (two top prospects and Julien looked like a season pro in his action this year)

So there certainly is some of the "homerism" and wishful thinking on my part with it, but at 22 and after just 3 seasons he's already established himself as a bonafide top 15-20 player in the league.

[GannonFan]

You're right. It's probably going to be Wemby, especially since he brings that European market, if he stays healthy and productive.

As a fan of Minnesota sports this is a discussion "we" have with all of our star players - "If they played/do what they did in New York, LA, Chicago, basically any city outside of Minnesota the national media would be on their knob 24/7".

There's just something about being in Minneapolis that makes players largely invisible to the national media and fans. If you look at the young talent in Minneapolis right now and think "Put that same group of players on teams in *insert east coast market*" the media would never shut up about what a great future that city has. Instead with MSP it's ignored, or if talked about it's frequently "Do they need to leave to solidify their careers"

JJ
Addison
Christian Darrisaw/Brian O'Niell - Legitmately a top 2 or 3 OT combo in the league
Ant
KAT
Jaden McDaniels
Kirill
Royce Lewis
Edouard Julien and Brooks Lee (two top prospects and Julien looked like a season pro in his action this year)

So there certainly is some of the "homerism" and wishful thinking on my part with it, but at 22 and after just 3 seasons he's already established himself as a bonafide top 15-20 player in the league.

It's not so much a Minnesota thing, per se, but more of a post season thing. Unless you win in the post season when everyone is watching, then you likely have to be best or near-best at your position to have a chance to be noticed. That's why people know about Jefferson for instance, he's one of the best WR's in the league. But after him, it's the Vikings and as you know they've certainly been known as a mostly good team that doesn't win in the playoffs. And people that follow basketball know Edwards, but also to the casual basketball fan, the Twolves are KAT's team and while he's a very good player, people do see him as a soft player. When they see him, of course, as they've only been in the playoffs twice in the past five year and never made it out of the first round. I frankly had to look up the baseball guys but let's be honest, baseball's very regional anymore - if you follow baseball you really know your team - but you barely see the out of market teams unless you're a diehard. And there aren't that many diehards anymore.

Kansas City is hardly the media mecca of the world, but you get to and win a few Super Bowls and suddenly even Taylor Swift is a Chiefs fan.

[Gil Dobie]

You're right. It's probably going to be Wemby, especially since he brings that European market, if he stays healthy and productive.

As a fan of Minnesota sports this is a discussion "we" have with all of our star players - "If they played/do what they did in New York, LA, Chicago, basically any city outside of Minnesota the national media would be on their knob 24/7".

There's just something about being in Minneapolis that makes players largely invisible to the national media and fans. If you look at the young talent in Minneapolis right now and think "Put that same group of players on teams in *insert east coast market*" the media would never shut up about what a great future that city has. Instead with MSP it's ignored, or if talked about it's frequently "Do they need to leave to solidify their careers"

JJ
Addison
Christian Darrisaw/Brian O'Niell - Legitmately a top 2 or 3 OT combo in the league
Ant
KAT
Jaden McDaniels
Kirill
Royce Lewis
Edouard Julien and Brooks Lee (two top prospects and Julien looked like a season pro in his action this year)

So there certainly is some of the "homerism" and wishful thinking on my part with it, but at 22 and after just 3 seasons he's already established himself as a bonafide top 15-20 player in the league.

It's not so much a Minnesota thing, per se, but more of a post season thing. Unless you win in the post season when everyone is watching, then you likely have to be best or near-best at your position to have a chance to be noticed. That's why people know about Jefferson for instance, he's one of the best WR's in the league. But after him, it's the Vikings and as you know they've certainly been known as a mostly good team that doesn't win in the playoffs. And people that follow basketball know Edwards, but also to the casual basketball fan, the Twolves are KAT's team and while he's a very good player, people do see him as a soft player. When they see him, of course, as they've only been in the playoffs twice in the past five year and never made it out of the first round. I frankly had to look up the baseball guys but let's be honest, baseball's very regional anymore - if you follow baseball you really know your team - but you barely see the out of market teams unless you're a diehard. And there aren't that many diehards anymore.

Kansas City is hardly the media mecca of the world, but you get to and win a few Super Bowls and suddenly even Taylor Swift is a Chiefs fan.

A lot of media was ignoring the Wolves before the season, saying the Gobert trade was a flop. KAT only played 20+ games last year, how can you judge a trade by that. In the playoffs, the Wolves were a stupid McDaniels self inflicted injury from giving Denver a run. They still did better against Denver than other teams in the playoffs last year. Hopefully they stay healthy and make a good run this year. They are more Ants team this year than KAT's. Ants performance for team USA, really helped his game this summer.

[dal4018]

Wemby and SA lose to Holmgren and OKC in first preseason matchup.

They are going to meet up against each other this week.

[clenz]

A lot of media was ignoring the Wolves before the season, saying the Gobert trade was a flop. KAT only played 20+ games last year, how can you judge a trade by that. In the playoffs, the Wolves were a stupid McDaniels self inflicted injury from giving Denver a run. They still did better against Denver than other teams in the playoffs last year. Hopefully they stay healthy and make a good run this year. They are more Ants team this year than KAT's. Ants performance for team USA, really helped his game this summer.

Books are still ignoring the Wolves.

They still have worse odds to win the title than the Clippers. Still early in the season and "name recognition" or whatever but that's just fucking dumb.

I agree about the writing off that trade as the worst trade of all time. It was dumb takes

KAT missed 70% of the season, of course Rudy and KAT didn't have perfect chemistry. Of course trying to work KAT into a rotation that was already set last year was a struggle. They've now had the full offseason and preseason to work together and it shows.

Are the Wolves "legit" title contenders this year? Probably not. Are they going to be a damn good damn and a difficult out come playoffs? In all likelihood.

[Gil Dobie]

Wolves Win 7th strait with back to back wins over the Warriors.

[Gil Dobie]

At least for today, the Timberwolves are in first place in the West.

[Gil Dobie]

10-3 76ers come to town Wednesday to play the 10-3 Timberwolves. One team will have 11 wins after that game.

[dal4018]

I've been hearing some chatter that there is no "next face" of the NBA after Bron hangs it up. I don't really agree because Giannis is around and guys like Embiid, Jokić or Doncic are around, but neither Jokić or Doncic really seem to want to be that kind of guy. The other names you might ascribe to the "face" roll are also at/nearing the end of their careers. Yes, guys like Tatum, Booker, Ja, Trae, and a few others exist but none of them seem to have the potential "it" factor right now - or have other significant issues off the court the NBA won't be willing to throw their weight behind.

Ages when LeBron seems most likely to retire
Curry - 38/39
KD - 38/39
Anthony Davis - 34/35
Butler - 37/38
Dame - 36/37
PG - 36/37
Hardin - 37/38
Even a guy like Giannis, who has a decade left at an elite level, will be 31/32 at that point.

Anyone I mentioned before that will be 25-28.

Then there is Ant who is absolutely exploding right now. He's entirely likely to be the next face/star of USA basketball. He just turned 22 years old. He as the personality to take it on and be loved and known. The mentality to run with it.

I don't know that he is the "next face" but someone young is going to have to take over in the next 2 to 4 years and right now he seems the most primed to be that guy. Now, can he do that from Minnesota? I sure as hell hope so.

The league seems to be setting up Wemby to become the next "face". I hadn't seen so much hype over one player since LeBron.

Can't blame Silver if this is the idea this guy is the modern day version of RALPH SAMPSON who had the same skill set in the '80s.Holmgren looks like a young Kevin McHale in my opinion only more talent.Picture them if they were in different conferences and they met for the NBA TITLE.

[Gil Dobie]

The league seems to be setting up Wemby to become the next "face". I hadn't seen so much hype over one player since LeBron.

Can't blame Silver if this is the idea this guy is the modern day version of RALPH SAMPSON who has the same skill set in the '80s.Holmgren looks like a young Kevin McHale in my opinion only more talent.Picture them if they were in different conferences and they met for the NBA TITLE.

Holmgren is more mobile than McHale. He has a nice cross-over dribble.

[dal4018]

Can't blame Silver if this is the idea this guy is the modern day version of RALPH SAMPSON who has the same skill set in the '80s.Holmgren looks like a young Kevin McHale in my opinion only more talent.Picture them if they were in different conferences and they met for the NBA TITLE.

Holmgren is more mobile than McHale. He has a nice cross-over dribble.

Point taken a updated version of the CLOTHESLINE KING

[GannonFan]

10-3 76ers come to town Wednesday to play the 10-3 Timberwolves. One team will have 11 wins after that game.

They both could have 11 wins after that game - the Sixers have a home game tonight before finishing the back to back the following night in Minnesota.

On the bright side, Oubre is practicing again, which means they should have him back in a week or so. He was doing good things for the Sixers, be nice to have him back.

[Gil Dobie]

10-3 76ers come to town Wednesday to play the 10-3 Timberwolves. One team will have 11 wins after that game.

They both could have 11 wins after that game - the Sixers have a home game tonight before finishing the back to back the following night in Minnesota.

On the bright side, Oubre is practicing again, which means they should have him back in a week or so. He was doing good things for the Sixers, be nice to have him back.

McDaniels out 2-3 games with an ankle injury. He usually defends the best offensive player on the opposing team, that's not a center.

[GannonFan]

They both could have 11 wins after that game - the Sixers have a home game tonight before finishing the back to back the following night in Minnesota.

On the bright side, Oubre is practicing again, which means they should have him back in a week or so. He was doing good things for the Sixers, be nice to have him back.

McDaniels out 2-3 games with an ankle injury. He usually defends the best offensive player on the opposing team, that's not a center.

Back to just one team having 11 wins after this - Sixers go 0-2 on that monstrosity of a blood-red, in-season tournament court with the loss to the Cavs. Hopefully, this means that we will never see that abomination of a court again. Glad I missed the game last night, I had to avert my eyes multiple times the last time they played on that court as it was physically painful to the eyes to watch on tv. Not sure what it was like in person but it should never be seen again!

[clenz]

https://x.com/twolvesbrazil/status/1727 ... hgDXvCwx4g


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gil Dobie]

Wolves have the best record in the NBA tonight.

[Gil Dobie]

Timberwolves up 3 games in the West, 2 starters injured for a 16 game span against playoff contenders.

[dal4018]

Jalen Brunson 50 pts 9 dimes 5 rebounds he joined Michael Jordan and Rick Barry as the only players who made this accomplishment.

[dal4018]

George McGinnis,(Indiana Pacer) RIP ABA-NBA ALL STAR.

[Gil Dobie]

Wolves get Philly on the road and Lakers at home on consecutive days this week. That will be a great test for the young team

[GannonFan]

I know I've said it before, but I think Rudy Gobert gets way too much credit as a defender. I'll grant you he's a terrific off the ball, help defender. But as a primary defender, I think he's almost a fraud, especially against the few legit big guys in the NBA. Guys like Embiid and Davis routinely light him up when they play him, with Embiid's 51 points last night as just the most recent example.

[Gil Dobie]

I know I've said it before, but I think Rudy Gobert gets way too much credit as a defender. I'll grant you he's a terrific off the ball, help defender. But as a primary defender, I think he's almost a fraud, especially against the few legit big guys in the NBA. Guys like Embiid and Davis routinely light him up when they play him, with Embiid's 51 points last night as just the most recent example.

Besides going against Embid type players, Rudy has helped as a team defender. The Wolves are giving up the fewest points. Even KAT looks like a good defensive player with Rudy in there. Embid is a next level player, who stops him?

[clenz]

When the officials are going to call a game where Embiid falls down 50 times and gets a whistle for existing and trying a shot of course defenders are going to struggle.

Embiid is tremendous anyway, but when simply freight training the lane gets you a whistle no matter what, he's impossible to stop

FWIW, it's not just him that gets those whistles. The NBA in general has seen a significant shift in how fouls in the lane are called with offensive players initiating.

[AshevilleApp]

Pistons on the verge of history!