Power Rankings Roundup: The Last Whimper

Not much point in beating around the bush, is there? The Wolves have rarely left the bottom five of any of our seven power rankings sources this year, so let's not pretend we're hoping for #1. What do our sources have to say about the end of another abysmal season in Timberwolves lore?

CBS Sports: #27 (up 3)

(full rankings here)

Matt Moore of CBS examines both sides of the coin. The snark is well deserved.

Zach LaVine showing out, Andrew Wiggins is winning Rookie of the Year ... everything's looking great for Minnesota! (No one say anything about how little faith there is in Flip Saunders to turn this into something good. Ah-ah! I said no talking!)

NBC ProBasketballTalk: #30 (no change)

(full rankings here)

Kurt Helin of NBC also has coaching questions:

Andrew Wiggins will be the Rookie of the Year. Pair him with a healthy Ricky Rubio and Zach LaVine next season — with Kevin Garnett mentoring — and they shouldn't end the season this low on the list. Well, if Flip Saunders can get these guys to defend.

NBA.com: #30 (down 1)

(full rankings here)

John Schuhmann of NBA.com (seeing a theme here?) is also looking at Flip:

Minnesota (16-64)
Pace: 96.9 (11) OffRtg: 99.7 (26) DefRtg: 109.3 (30) NetRtg: -9.6 (29)
Andrew Wiggins will be the Rookie of the Year and could be a top-five player eventually. There's no clear indication of whether or not Kevin Garnett is going to play again, but it sounds like Flip Saunders will be Wiggins' coach for at least another year. Saunders' offense has produced bad shots, but defense was obviously the bigger problem this season.
This week: vs. NOP, vs. OKC

USA Today: #29 (down 1)

(full rankings here)

USA Today brings up a point that doesn't surprise, but is one that I hadn't heard yet.

Back to backs have been a killer for this team this season, they went 3-14 in second games.

SI: #29 (down 1)

(full rankings here)

Matt Dollinger of SI has eyes on Flip too. (Aside: I missed Golliver's article last week. Good read.)

Pretty much everything went wrong in Minnesota this season with the exception of Andrew Wiggins. As SI.com's Ben Golliver wrote last week, it's up to Flip Saunders to make sure Minnesota doesn't continue the same existence into next year and beyond.

ESPN: #30 (no change)

(full rankings here)

Hey look, Marc Stein of ESPN is still looking at Kevin Garnett.

It's not worry No. 1 these days -- not with Ricky Rubio following Nikola Pekovic into surgery -- but this is when you start wondering about Kevin Garnett's future. Despite the fact KG has logged just 98 minutes in his Second Sota Act, we hear he's still leaning toward playing next season.

SBNation: #29 (down 1)

(full rankings here)

Drew Garrison of SBN, like many of us, is looking at the draft.

The Timberwolves picked a fine season to stumble into another lottery pick. Injuries to both Nikola Pekovic and Ricky Rubio have been a big part of the problem in Minnesota, and the big men (Jahlil Okafor, Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein) and point guards (D'Angelo Russell, Emmanuel Mudiay) will be prime for the picking for Flip Saunders in the draft. Which way will they go with another top pick in hand?

Summary: High - 27, Low - 30, Average 29.1 (down 0.1)

Dead last in three of the seven polls to end the year. It's somewhat reassuring to see that national writers have some of the same questions that many local denizens have about the coaching of Flip Saunders. Whether that means anything in the offseason is yet to be determined. However, go into the dark night with the potential and development of Andrew Wiggins to keep you warm.