Minnesota Timberwolves: Wolves Are Sixers’ Remedy
Sometimes there are just circumstances that align in a way that only means something to you. In sports, I could label it as superstition or “jinxing” which is my absolute favorite in dealing with my wagers. We hear it all the time, especially in next-day sports commentary with a comment like “you could see that coming.”
So when I saw that the Minnesota Timberwolves, finding wins hard to come by, and any semblance of defense even harder, had a date with a historically bad, and winless, Philadelphia 76ers team, it made sense that it was going to be a memorable showcase of something, and probably not something good.
I watched the game thinking about the state of both franchises. Both are in a reboot mode, of course, and want to accumulate young players in droves and wait to see who hits. The 76ers’ model has been a bit bolder, actively taking players who either will not play that season (Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid) or for an undetermined amount of time (Dario Saric).
But they are all, at least in scouting circles, elite guys, so it seems like a reasonably easy sell to the fan base. It’s a whole “delayed gratification will be even sweeter” kind of idea.
The Wolves are doing the same in gathering assets, even if it isn’t as strategic or even “slimy” as some commentators want to proclaim. But watching a game like that, with two teams that have a vision of grand ideas but whose reality is far from it, that was a scene.
But like that “feeling” that we have when it comes to sports, there were some strong signs emanating when I saw that the Wolves were the next team standing in way of a historic winless run. The Wolves were going to give it up. I just knew the Wolves were going to give it up.
And they did give it up. I think it proved that no matter how much optimism I can have about a team—and I have a lot—games like this offer the kind of perspective that I have to have as an observer. Youth is youth no matter how talented and exciting it is. The growing pains are going to be painful, for sure, but in the back of my mind I hoped it wouldn’t be long.
But it will be long. The idea of “the process” is sort of comforting. But it’s long. I have to remember that, and also realize that isn’t a bad thing.
I could very well be a “prisoner of the moment” after a loss like that to the Sixers. Honestly, I’ve probably been plagued with that problem for many of the years that I’ve been a sports fan and analyst.
I could wallow in a pessimism that only comes from losing to an 0-17 team or talk about the Wolves being just as far away as the Sixers. I’m not going to do that and it’s why I’m not going to go into any more detail in this column. There is no reason to talk about anything like it’s a certainty with a team this young.
At least the Wolves can see the talent they have, even if the production vacillates beyond belief. The Sixers can’t even make that claim. At least they won a game when both were firmly on the ground floor; the start of a hopeful rivalry that culminates in the 2021 NBA Finals. You can’t call me prisoner of the moment now.