http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/basketball/15875249.htm 1. New point guard Mike James provides swagger and confidence, much-needed three-point shooting and another capable scorer to take pressure off Kevin Garnett. If he plays as well as he did last season, this team could go far. 2. In his second season, coach Dwane Casey learns how to handle his personnel better, sticks to a rotation and a style of play and gets better help from his new assistant coaches. A year of experience should help him. 3. The deep guard rotation proves to be a potent combination and gives the team the scoring, ball distribution and playmaking it needs. James, Troy Hudson, Trenton Hassell, Randy Foye and swingman Ricky Davis play up to their potential. 4. Garnett is still one of the best players in the NBA, and although his stats dipped a tad in some areas last season, he has shown no major signs of diminishing skills. 5. Many of the Wolves spent much of the summer playing together during informal workouts in August and September. The thought is that accelerated their chemistry development. A closer team makes a better team. reasons they won't 1. New point guard James doesn't live up to expectations after a big season in 2005-06, when he was playing for a new contract. Before last season's 20.3 points, his career-high scoring average was 11.8 points a game. 2. Casey is still just in his second season as an NBA head coach and has yet to prove he can get it done at this level. The pressure is on, and how will Casey respond? 3. The Wolves ranked among the NBA's leaders with an average of 20.8 turnovers a game during the preseason and had similar issues last season. It's only the preseason, but why didn't all that time spent together this summer help? 4. The Wolves were a poor rebounding team and yet failed to sign a banger/rebounder this summer to help Kevin Garnett down low. Can rookie Craig Smith help fill that void? All the upgrades on the perimeter may not matter much if no one steps up in the frontcourt. 5. The supposedly deep guard rotation falters. Does Hudson stay healthy? Is rookie Foye ready to contribute? Has Hassell hit his ceiling? Will Rashad McCants (knee injury) and Bracey Wright (inexperience) contribute anything this season? --

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