The Wolves Could Have Had A Shot At the Conference Finals

The 2022-23 season was filled with a slew of what-ifs for the Minnesota Timberwolves. What if Karl-Anthony Towns never got injured? What if the Timberwolves never traded for Rudy Gobert? And what if D'Angelo Russell remained with the Wolves for the entire season? All those and more were questions that most of Minnesota’s fanbase asked themselves when they watched their team crawl to a 42-40 record.

All those quandaries were valid. However, the largest questions of them all came toward the end of the season – particularly in the first round against the Denver Nuggets. If certain events went Minnesota’s way, they could have made franchise history.

Relative Health During the Homestretch

Sometimes the most crucial part to sustain success comes from something completely out of a team's control – luck. However, “Timberwolves” and “good luck” should almost never be used in the same sentence. Looking back on the last decade, Minnesota obtained and lost star players who looked to have franchise-shifting talents. Additionally, the stars that have remained in the Twin Cities have rarely enjoyed relative health.

During their time in Minnesota, guys like Andrew Wiggins, D’Angelo Russell, Jimmy Butler, and Karl-Anthony Towns all went through a fair share of health problems. Most of them have impacted the outcome of the season. However, last season it was ultimately the lack of key rotation players that hurt their chances to make an impact in the postseason.

Sure, Towns missing 52 straight games played a huge part in Minnesota’s less-than-ideal play all season long. However, losing Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels within three weeks of each other and less than one month before the postseason started was particularly devastating.

As we’ve seen in years past, having depth is crucial to post-season success. Look at the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks, for example. They were able to win it all that season because Mike Budenholzer could have called on any guy, 1-15, and they would have contributed to winning.

The Timberwolves weren’t able to maximize their depth last year, even if I believed they had the deepest team in the NBA. On paper, the Wolves appeared to have depth. However, a lack of consistency and chemistry caused them to never reach their full potential.

“We played a lot of guys heavy minutes, went through a super short rotation,” Chris Finch said after Minnesota’s first play-in game against the Los Angeles Lakers. “Maybe I could have mixed in some bench there, just to keep guys a little bit fresh. Tried to ride it.”

The Wolves had every chance to win that game in L.A. However, when the game went into overtime and the Lakers were at full strength, Minnesota didn't have enough in key moments to secure the seventh seed – ultimately leading them to a date with the Nuggets.

Matching Up Against Any Other Team

It’s hard to think that there would be that big of a difference between the seventh and eighth seeds when talking about the probability of making it out of the first round. However, as we’ve seen this postseason, a team’s final record doesn't hold the key to how their playoff luck will go.

If Minnesota was just able to win their first play-in game, they could have had the same postseason outcome as the Lakers – going all the way to the Conference Finals.

A lot would have had to be different, like relative health and seeded matchups. However, the Wolves pushed Denver more than other teams did in the playoffs. It’s always easy to rebuttal with “what if” when talking about a team’s lack of success. But in Minnesota’s case, it seems obvious that if they had some better luck, we could be looking back on last season as one of the biggest success stories in franchise history.