SB Nation Reacts: NBA Power Rankings

With teams returning to the court just a few months after the end of last season, fans around the country (including Minnesota Timberwolves fans) are assessing if their favorite team made the necessary improvements to bolster their positioning in the league standings.

Despite the modified (and condensed) offseason, there was still a handful of big names changing places over the summer fall. But according to the most recent SB Nation Reacts survey (sign up here if you want to start participating in these future surveys), the biggest addition to any team over the offseason was All-Star point guard Chris Paul going to the Suns, according to fans around the country.

Despite standing just 6’1”, CP3(5) finished head and shoulders above all other offseason acquisitions, snagging just over 76% of all votes. Interesting enough, from a Minnesota perspective, our very own Anthony Edwards finished fourth in the Reacts survey with a whopping 4% of the votes going his way. Ant-Man finished behind Gordon Hayward (14%) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (6%).

Despite a productive offseason that saw not only the selection of Edwards but also the re-signing of Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, and the acquisition of Ed Davis and (Hall of Fame candidate) Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, many fans still believe the Timberwolves still have a difficult test ahead of them this upcoming season (no s***). The Reacts power rankings, powered by fans nationally, ranked Minnesota No. 28 in the NBA. That puts the Timberwolves last in the Western Conference.

Real talk — when I first saw these results last weekend, I was borderline offended that “outsiders” pegged the Wolves to finish behind both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings, but after watching two preseason shellacking's at the hands of the upstart Memphis Grizzlies, I don’t know what to believe anymore.

Ever the optimist, I do still hold out hope that this iteration of the Timberwolves will surprise people this year (in a good way of course), but it’s totally defensible to be souring on them after two embarrassing home (preseason) losses. As someone who is passionate about cooking, I keep coming back to the notion that this 2020-2021 roster has far more ingredients than they did in past seasons, they just need to find the right chef and construct the proper menu.

Is Ryan Saunders that chef? Does Gersson Rosas have the appropriate recipe? Only time will tell, but as these latest survey results show, the Wolves face a steep uphill battle to not only improve their standing in our little fan base but also the national audience as well.