I wrote about it as the weekend was unfolding. After a couple of wins last week, the Timberwolves had put themselves in the middle of a pack of rabid tankers. They were in serious jeopardy of falling from the #2 spot in April’s NBA Draft Lottery, all the way down to #8 or worse, if the winning continued.

Luckily, it didn’t. The Wolves have now lost two straight games (Fri vs ORL | Sun vs NO) and looked terrible in both. Meanwhile, the teams around them were pulling superman upsets to help the cause. Timberwolves fans couldn’t have asked for the weekend to go much better.

Saturday:

• The Hornets def. the Rockets
• The Cavaliers def. the Nuggets…
• The Warriors def. the 76ers

Sunday:

The Wolves jumped back up to the #4 spot in the lottery (top-3 have same 14% chance at #1 pick) and could jump into a tie for 3rd, if Atlanta can beat Charlotte tonight. Both teams are bad so this is another win/win matchup but a Hawks win would be preferable.

The Timberwolves are off tonight, but will return tomorrow, to play a struggling Houston Rockets team. Harden, Westbrook & Co. have lost 4-straight and those losses include games to the Hornets and Knicks. Yikes…

Hopefully we can set them straight. Then tomorrow, while the Wolves are getting the Rockets back on track, we have multiple “win/win” games playing out simultaneously (preferred winners in bold).

• Knicks (6) @ Wizards (9)
• Cavaliers (3) @ Bulls (7)

Those are the only “win/win” games happening tomorrow but all teams battling for the bottom-3 will be in action. Any other wins from bottom teams, would be bonus chips to rake in. All the Timberwolves can do, is their part. Make sure you take the “L” vs the Rockets and let the other chips fall where they may.

As long as we do that, we could very-well find ourselves back in the top-3, with the best chance in the league, at snagging the #1 pick.

With the move back up to #4, the Wolves have extended their lead in the NBA Draft Power Rankings, from 20 points to 25 points. Tankathon.com has the Wolves with 130.07 PTS. The Warriors are in second with 105.71. Keeping the Nets in the playoffs so we secure their 2020 first round pick is so massive to the offseason plans, it makes all of the unrest in Brooklyn nerve racking…

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Last night’s loss to the Orlando Magic wasn’t just a winning-skid stopper, it was a necessity for the Minnesota Timberwolves. After two straight victories last week, we were facing a precipitous fall down the draft board.

The Wolves had already fallen from 3 down to 5, since the last time I updated the TWolves Tank, last weekend. I tried to warn everyone then, just how important every single loss is…

You enjoyed two losses while the Wolves fell out of the top-3 and are now in danger of losing their place in the top-5.

I’m disappointed in the coverage this team is getting. How are fans supposed to get excited about a tank or possibility of the #1 pick, if the media doesn’t update them on where we stand or who we might want to take with a top pick.

So like we will often do at Minnesota Sports Fan going forward, we’re going to change the game. Consider this the start to a series…. the turning of a Timberwolves leaf…. MinnesotaSportsFan.com is the new home of “Tracking the T-Wolves Tank”.

When prudent (at least a couple of times/week) until the season ends, I will be writing blogs that will keep Timberwolves fans updated on the TWolves Tank. The series will include blogs like this one, that show movement in our lottery position. It will also include some breakdowns of players the Wolves might be interested in, come draft time.

It’s way more exciting to track something that you are at the top of, anyway. Tankathon.com has a NBA Draft Power Rankings, which assigns values to each pick and then ranks teams based on total value of the draft picks they hold.

Guess which team is at the top of that power rankings? The Minnesota Timberwolves.

There is one team in this draft that wields more power and has more flexibility than all of the others… and that’s us, as long as the Nets make the playoffs (we think they will even after the turmoil of firing Kenny Atkinson today).

If we can get the top pick…. we might be able to take over the world.

I just cannot get enough of this Tankathon.com website… They also let you know which games are happening tonight, that are important to draft lottery position.

The Wolves don’t play tonight but there is plenty to watch, if you start caring about the T-Wolves Tank as if it were a playoff spot (p.s.: this is more important than being a shit-on-me 8-seed in the West.) Again, the Wolves are currently grasping to the (5) position.

The tanking teams are in bold, with their draft position next to them in parenthesis.

• Houston @ Charlotte (8) | 4:00 PM | The Wolves are only 2 games ahead of Charlotte, who currently holds the #8 (6% chance) lottery position. Last week, the Wolves were #3 (14% chance).
• Denver @ Cleveland (2) | 6:30 PM | Denver is the 3rd-best team in the West right now so Cleveland helping the Wolves out tonight would be a miracle.
• Utah @ Detroit (6) | 6:00 PM | We’d be lucky to get help in this one too… Utah is favored by 8 points and they’ve won their last 4 games, most recently against an actual good team in the east, in Boston.
• Atlanta (3) @ Memphis | 7:00 PM | Don’t expect help here either. Memphis is favored by 6 and DEMOLISHED the Hawks just 2 games ago.
• Philly @ Golden State (1) | 7:30 PM | With Steph Curry back, you never know what could happen to the Warriors Tank but it’s nearly impossible for them to fall out of the top-3 at this point… especially with Andrew Wiggins on roster.

Let’s hope for an upset or two and pray for the Timberwolves to push their losing streak to 2, tomorrow when they host the Pelicans. Bookmark MinnesotaSportsFan.com and become a member HERE to follow along.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan