T-Wolf Talk: Playing Well Makes Up For Losses

To start the new year, the Wolves lost to the Magic by 12. This brings them to a 3 game loosing streak. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though.

The Timberwolves are in a rebuilding year, and everyone knows it. And despite this, losing is hard, and is never fun for players or fans.

So let's pick out some good things.

Kevin Love and Al Jefferson both in double figures

This is a good sign for the future. The two big men who really shouldn't play together (they are both 6'10'') are playing well together. They each put up a double double tonight, and it's encouraging to see that.

Playing well in general is nice for the Wolves fans to see. Last year was a rebuilding year, but we really didn't see a whole lot of improvement. Randy Foye still struggled to play point guard, Craig Smith still struggled to play post because of his height, and Sebastian Telfair struggled to find his game.

You don't see this with the Wolves this year.

Nowadays you could point out that Corey Brewer is really starting to find his shot to add to his solid perimeter defense. You could add that Love is the second best rebounder in the league in only his second year. You could also point out how well Jonny Flynn is doing compared to the past few years of Wolves rookies (none of whom have made the All-Rookie 1st team in a while...).

The Wolves are showing clear improvement.

The Timberwolves don't need to win

Let's say that the Timberwolves win half of the games they have left in the season. That would put them at 31-51, and still not really in the playoff race. Is it really worth it then to win all the time?

The Wolves have had some impressive wins over Denver and Utah, and for the fan base, those types of games are really encouraging to see. A nice four or five game winning streak would be good too. But this isn't a year to win.

This is a year to lose.

The Wolves need to get a high draft pick, simply put. The Wolves have added enough pieces to get by, but they haven't added enough to win. They are missing a third of the starting lineup: Wing players (something I've emphasized in around five articles).

And if the Wolves loose at their current rate, the lowest possible draft pick they could receive was the fifth overall pick (assuming both New Jersey and Minnesota loose the lottery).

Although winning would improve their image. New Jersey is the butt of jokes in the NBA, the Clippers aren't in the playoffs, so they're still the butt of jokes everywhere, the Pacers have lost eight straight, and Gilbert's new gun crisis is just setting up too many "Washington Bullets" jokes. So the Wolves aren't in too bad of shape there, but 7-27 isn't exactly impressive .

Kahn is still being Kahn

We know from last year's off-season that Kahn is a guy who is going to make some moves, and with very few exceptions, those decisions usually prove pretty effective.

Next year Minnesota will have a lot of cap room to sign free agents, and we all can rely on the fact that Kahn will have some kind of trick up his sleeve.

Plus, the newest Timberwolf Alando Tucker is some more proof of Kahn's Kahness. He's going to make more deals than you can possibly do on ESPN's Trade Machine, and each one is completely unexpected and it takes a while for it to sink in, and then you think, "Oh yeah, I can see how that would work. Ok."

I'll take it any day over Kevin McHale's questionable moves.

So before the Wolves can put this entire season in the books, and think that Minnesota's season is only as good as it's 20.6 winning percentage, just step back and look at what's been so encouraging lately.