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Originally posted by <b>bball251</b>!
I've alredy said right now the Spurs are the better team. Look at last year, the Wolves were better then, and they've improved more (getting back Walyl and Hudson healthy) than the Spurs. If we can get used to playing with each other and get a solid rotation down, then the Wolves are a better team. If not, the Spurs are. And in the playoffs Spree is better than Ginobili. And Wally is definately better than Barry. There's also Hudson who before last season was our 2nd best player, and Hoiberg too who is extremely valuable.
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Your only looking at hte surface of both teams.
First off, the Spurs were better than the T'Wolves last year, and they will be better this year. You are delusional if you think that if the Wolves had met the Spurs in the second round that they wouldn't have lost. They almost lost to the Kings. The Lakers after beating the Spurs toyed with the Timberwolves. The Spurs also had one weakness last year, which was there weren't enough consistent shooters on the outside other than Ginobli (who was a streaky guy to begin with), the second that the Lakers cut off Tony Parker's dribble penetration, the Spurs struggled because guys on the perimeter were not dependable enough to beat the Lakers shooting from outside. The T'Wolves problems were a bit deeper. First off, Spree looked terrible trying to contain Kobe, even had Cassell been a factor, he would not have made up for their poor defensive presence on the outside. Payton had a lot of trouble with Parker because Parker was so quick and he looked even worse when he and Duncan ran a high post screen and roll and Shaq didn't come out of hte low post to cover leaving Parker an open lane to penetrate with absurd ease. Billups would also come across the pick and step out to the perimeter and bomb a 3 pointer. Cassell is mainly a jumpshooter up to about 20 feet out, Cassell is old, Payton would not have as much trouble with him as he would Parker or Billups. Now for the interior. Olowokandi is a joke of an NBA player, Earvin Johnson was their best center, but even he is mediocre. Now to match the Spurs against the Wolves, if Garnett guards Duncan and Johnson guards Rasho, the Spurs are going to pummel the Wolves in the post. Rasho is a perimeter threat that can draw Johnson out of hte paint, if it leads to Duncan playing Garnett one on one down low, Duncan is probably 30 lbs heavier than Garnett and will destroy him. Garnett as a one on one defender is nothing special, he is good on coming from the weakside and blocking some shots but put him one on one with probably the best low post player in the NBA, your interior will fall apart. Duncan on the other hand is a good one on one defender in the post. Garnett is NOT a dominant force down low. He is a forward that operates on the midrange on offense more often than not. He doesn't have the bulk or strength to dominate in the low post. The only thing that will seperate Duncan and Garnett is KG's quickness and his shot from midrange could give Duncan problems if he doesn't come out of the paint to guard him. In a 7 game series, last years Spurs would win in 5.
Edit: and saying htat improving more htan the Spurs by having Hudson and Wally back is just dumb. This is like the Mavs getting Walker and Jamison. The last thing hte T'Wolves need are more jumpshooters. They need a guy inside who will play defense and crash the boards. They still don't have one. The Spurs needed a guy who could hit from outside consistently when a defense would collapse on Duncan or Parker, and they got that in Barry.