Minnesota Timberwolves
Vegas Over/Under: 48.5
The Record Projection: 44-38 of fromal The Bet: Beneath with marginal confidence The Minnesota Timberwolves are likely to be vastly superior to previous iterations this past year.
They can count on internal advancement as Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins learn how to fill defensive roles more efficiently. They are bringing Jimmy Butler into the fold after participating in a blockbuster trade with the Chicago Bulls.
Replacing Ricky Rubio with Jeff Teague is, at worst, a movement. Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford are in town to supply greater depth, and any generation from Justin Patton–that the group’s first-round selection–would be gravy on top.
However, Vegas’ over/under lineup is egregiously high.
Winning 49 games would be 18 more successes than the Timberwolves earned while moving 31-51. That’s an astronomical leap for a team that only added a single enduring All-Star throughout the offseason, forfeited a key contributor in Zach LaVine and is incorporating a new starting point guard.
Internal advancement may only do this much, and Minnesota will be dealing with the ill effects of missing roster continuity.
Only 59 teams in NBA history have experienced year-to-year increases of 18 games, therefore the chances are not just in Minnesota’s favor. But despite projecting the Timberwolves to finish beneath the over/under line, exercise caution.
A lot of talent is present in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, along with the shooting woes are somewhat overblown because so many distinct players are better at spot-up situations than off the rebound.
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