The Wolves have media day Friday, and I look forward to asking players this question: "Do you play for the NBA's seventh-best team?
If the NBA season was a weekend in Vegas, right now is the part where you've checked into your hotel, it's 7 p.m. Friday and you're about to go have dinner and drinks before hitting the tables. Nothing bad has happened. The only things you can imagine happening are good things.
All that said, the Wolves are looking fresh and ready as they check the mirror one last time. The latest heap of preseason praise to come their way: ESPN put out its Basketball Power Index preseason rankings this week, ordering teams 1-30 based on a formula.
It starts with the Warriors (duh). Then Houston, San Antonio, Boston, Oklahoma City and Cleveland. And then, at number seven, is the franchise with the longest current playoff drought (13 years) in the NBA: the Timberwolves.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
