Sixers See What Could Have Been in Minnesota

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Coming off what was equal parts their best and most frustrating performance of the season Saturday night, the 0-14 Philadelphia 76ers are back in action Monday once again looking to avoid the wrong side of history. At the moment, they are just 2 games away from the all-time-worst mark of 26 straight losses (a record they already own a share of dating back to the 2013-14 season), and 4 losses from tying the record for consecutive losses to start a season (18). In order to finally rip the monkey off their backs, the Sixers will need to face a Minnesota Timberwolves team who has, with one or two minor, Sliding Doors-esque changes, the players who could have easily been the core of Philadelphia’s franchise.

The Wolves have bungled their way into two of the best young players in the league. First, they mishandled the Kevin Love contract situation years ago, leading to his wanting out of Minnesota. It just so happened that LeBron James was heading to Cleveland and wanted to play with Love right as Cleveland had a high lottery pick available as a trade chip. Enter Andrew Wiggins.

Then, Minnesota misguidedly thought they could compete for a playoff spot last season, even giving up a draft pick for Thad Young. However, an avalanche of injuries left them with the worst record in the league and some kindly ping pong balls granted them Karl-Anthony Towns.

Both the Sixers and Wolves have top-3 picks from the past two drafts on their roster, the Sixers having worked solely to achieve that goal and the Wolves obtaining them in spite of themselves. But while Philadelphia has an injured big man who has yet to take the court and another center who could very well be a liability on the defensive end, Minnesota has the most promising young tandem of two-way players in the NBA. Oh, the lottery gods are not kind, my friends.

The Timberwolves are already starting to get that ‘team on the rise’ whiff to them. Although they’re just 5-8 on the year, 3 of those wins have come against the Bulls, Hawks, and Heat. Minnesota has also played most of the season without injured starting point guard Ricky Rubio, who is now back in the lineup.

Despite being less than 15 games into his NBA career, Towns has already emerged as one of the best players in the league. He is averaging 16.0 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks, while showing both the size to defend the paint and the quickness to guard the pick-and-roll on the perimeter. Offensively, Towns projects to be able to both score in the paint and from the outside. Although he’s only attempted 6 threes on the season, you can see his great stroke translating at the free throw line, where he has shot 90.7% thus far. Basically, there’s no hole in the first overall pick’s game.

Meanwhile, Wiggins leads the team at 21.5 points per game, and while he isn’t totally efficient yet, you can see it almost about to all come together for him. He is getting to the free throw line almost 8 times per game, a big reason the Wolves are the 3rd-best team in the league at getting to the free throw line. Wiggins also continues to make strides to reach his potential as one of the best wing defenders in the league.

All that being said, the Wolves are still young and eminently beatable. The Sixers will need to protect the paint without fouling and try to force Minnesota to beat them from the outside. The Wolves are a bottom-five team in the NBA at shooting the three, just ahead of the Sixers at 31.0%. Philadelphia will also have to protect the basketball, something they did a better job of Saturday night against Miami. Rubio, in particular, is very adept at getting his hands on errant passes. If he gets out on the break with these young guys filling the wings, it will be a long night for the Sixers.

Currently, Philadelphia is a 7.5-point underdog for tonight’s contest. With slightly more difficult games upcoming against Boston, Houston, and Memphis, let’s hope tonight is the night for Sixers nation to finally break out in celebration.