Wolves 2013-14: Dark Horse and a Playoff Spot

Wizards v/s Timberwolves 03/05/11 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Though you wouldn't have known it from their record, the Minnesota Timberwolves are actually in the hunt for the last playoff spot in the NBA Western Conference.  All they have to do is to get past the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets for the right to get blown out of the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

With a 25-28 record after the All Star break, the Wolves would have been shoo-ins for an Eastern Conference playoff spot, where only four teams are above the .500 mark.  In the West, there are nine teams.  The Wolves right now are the darkest of horses.

Otherwise it's the same old problems:  Injuries to key players that leave the Wolves short handed.  The ineffectiveness of Ricky Rubio, J.J. Barea and other draft picks from the David Kahn era.  The inability to put away opponents in the fourth quarter.  The lack of a decent bench.  And the lingering questions about the futures of coach Rick Adelman and Kevin Love.

Love made the most of his turn as a starter for the West at the recent NBA All Star Game in New Orleans, scoring 13 points in 33 minutes.  It has become increasingly obvious that Love is not going to be a Timberwolf much longer, with his stock rising to the point where it would no longer make sense for him to remain in the Twin Cities.  So instead of the Wolves waiting for Love to turn into a free agent and getting nothing in return, they should do him (and us) a favor by trading him elsewhere.

The Wolves do plan on sticking around downtown Minneapolis for the foreseeable future, whether Love does the same or not.  Target Center, now considered one of the oldest NBA arenas, is getting a makeover.  The team and the WNBA Lynx are also moving their practice facility to the much-maligned Block E, which will be renamed Mayo Clinic Square.  It seems the world-famous Mayo is getting into the sports medicine business.

What the Timberwolves would really like to do in the final few weeks of the regular season is to break from the five-team logjam and secure their first playoff spot in a decade.  It won't be easy--nothing about this team ever is.  If they somehow make it, it could go a long way toward keeping Kevin Love in Minnesota.  Not to mention ending a decade of bad basketball.