As one of the foremost experts in thinking — incorrectly or at least prematurely almost always — that the Timberwolves have turned a corner, I feel it is my duty to gently apply the brakes to what I sense is runaway optimism for this team based on one decent sustained stretch of basketball.
Minnesota went 16-20 after the All-Star break, a marked improvement from their 7-29 effort before the break. Perhaps more importantly, they went 11-9 post-break when Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell both played (and 13-11 overall this year when they shared the court).
Anthony Edwards took major strides in his rookie season, averaging 23.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists with respectable efficiency in 36 games after the break.
But as I discussed with Chris Hine on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast, there is also a major danger in merely extrapolating what happened down the stretch and applying it to next season.
For one thing, that sort of thinking imagines that everything that was good will stay good while everything that was bad will be fixed by internal improvement and external acquisitions.
As we've seen with the Vikings, Twins and Minnesota United to varying degrees in the last eight months, sometimes the reverse happens and you get worse.
But more so, it is this: The 2020-21 NBA season was even stranger than most, with enough teams resting players to position themselves for the playoffs or tanking to set up better lottery odds that it's hard to get a true read on just what the Wolves accomplished.
Their wins over Miami, Portland, New York, Phoenix and Utah (twice) were legit. That's six out of 36. Their win over Golden State, a fringe playoff team, and the win in the finale over Dallas were both half-legit as the Mavs eased up with their starters knowing their playoff slot was more or less determined.
