What has the NBA restart taught us about the Timberwolves?

I have to admit: The NBA in a bubble has been the most successful of all the return-to-play scenarios when considering atmosphere, intensity and player safety.

The playoffs, which started Monday, only figure to get even better.

Before we get too deep into the postseason, though, here are four things the NBA's bubble has told you so far if you're a Wolves fan. As with most things in life, it's a mixed bag of bad news and good news, which we will get to in a meandering way.

*If it wasn't obvious the Western Conference is stacked, the return in the bubble brought that sobering reality to the forefront.

Because of the format, only teams deemed to have a shot at the postseason were brought to Florida. And those 22 teams were not an even split. It was 13 from the West – all but the Wolves and Golden State – plus nine from the East.

Yeah, but how good are those 13 West teams? Um, an unsettling amount of good. Portland unsurprisingly got its act together to make a late charge and grab the No. 8 seed.

But the real story of the bubble was Phoenix, which went an almost unfathomable 8-0 and still couldn't even get into the play-in game. If you want to be a realist and say the Warriors' regression was likely a one-year blip brought on by injuries and other decisions, it's possible the West has 14 legit playoff contenders next season. Everyone except the Wolves. Unless …

*No, this is not where I make my annual … er, monthly … um, maybe bi-weekly … argument that the Wolves should be moved to the Eastern Conference.

Rather, this is the place where we see the Suns' rise through a lens of optimism for the Wolves. Phoenix is a young team that was seemingly stuck in a neutral gear much of this season. The recent past? The Suns didn't win more than 24 games in any of the previous four seasons.

Suddenly they put it together in a strange environment, with Devin Booker (30.5 ppg in the bubble) leading the way. Sometimes a young team gets enough reps, gets some confidence and takes off. You could see that happening with Karl-Anthony Towns, D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and co. after an actual offseason of work together. However …

*If your dream as a Wolves fan is to add Booker to a Three Best Friends team along with Towns and Russell, the bubble burst in a big way in Orlando.

In what universe would the Suns consider trading Booker – not that they probably would have anyway – after watching how he became one of the very best stories while so many eyes were on him?

Honestly, it probably didn't make a lot of sense anyway if the Wolves are committed to Russell and seem to want to sign Beasley long-term – and, you know, since none of the Three Best Friends do a whole lot on the defensive end.

But the idea of Booker getting frustrated in Phoenix was always fun fuel for future dreams. Going 8-0 against pretty good competition is the opposite of frustrating. It's something on which to build in Phoenix, not Minnesota. But …

*Let's end on a high note. Since Wolves fans are constantly expecting even improbable bad things to happen, there were at least a few who were convinced the short-handed Nets would blow their playoff spot – and avoid having to give up their lottery-protected first-round pick to the Wolves in the process.

Instead, Brooklyn had no trouble staying in the East's top eight and thrived at times during the restart. As a result, the Wolves will get the Nets' pick (No. 17 overall) and their own lottery pick – with a 14% chance that it will be the No. 1 overall pick when the order is chosen Thursday.

The Wolves had the third-worst record in the NBA. I would mention they've *never* moved up higher in the lottery than their order of finish, but we agreed I would end this on a high note.

Bottom line is the Wolves will have one very high draft pick, one pick in the middle of the first round and another near the top of the second round – three in the top 33. In what promises to be a strange offseason with a lot of different agendas, that sort of capital will allow the Wolves to do a lot of different things.