The Timberwolves own a 15-11 record, sit atop their division and hold the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference standings. Assuming they don't drive off a cliff, the Wolves will end the NBA's longest active playoff drought this spring.
Offer that exact scenario to Wolves fans any time in the past decade-plus and they would have whistled down First Avenue while wearing sunglasses to block the glorious rays of sunlight.
Instead, everybody is cranky.
Tom Thibodeau wears a perpetual scowl. Jimmy Butler has ripped the team's lack of defensive focus multiple times. Karl-Anthony Towns spends an inordinate amount of time flailing his arms in disgust at the officials. Andrew Wiggins continues to employ a strange shot selection.
And fans are justifiably annoyed by the start of a season that promised to be the time of our lives.
This has been quintessential Wolves weirdness. Paint a mental picture that looks rosy before the season, the team wins at a decent clip, but reality jolts with a bucket of cold water over the head.
The Wolves have alternated between encouraging performances and maddening letdowns. Their rhythm the past few weeks has been herky-jerky: Win one, lose one, win one, lose one, win one, lose one.
It's been exhausting trying to predict which team will show up from one game to the next.