The Timberwolves now sit at 13-4, the current #1 seed in the Western Conference, almost 1/4 through the season.
Rudy Gobert defensive rating: 102.3 (#1 in the league)
KAT defensive rating: 104 (#2 in the league this year / averaged 109 historically)
Timberwolves: 106.6 (#1 in the league)
If they make the finals this year; are we still saying it was an overpay?
Nah look at Banchero. He was in a losing environment and is developing great.
He has Joe Ingles on his team.
Generally speaking, one year likely isn’t that damaging (in OPs example, Ant was also on a bad team year 1). It’s the sustained losing that kills you, especially when the games get feel meaningless from the jump.
I’d also argue that Orlando wasn’t that bad last year. They had that horrid start (what was it, 5-20) but then were competitive the rest of the year and played like .500 ball and won 34 games (with a few tank games down the stretch to suppress that number).
But who knows. Some dudes come out of bad situations no worse for wear. Other dudes can never shake the bad habits. And the one must also wonder whether the bad habits were the cause of the sustained losing rather than the other way around.