NBA Power Rankings: Hoopsworld Has Wolves Near The Basement

The Hoopsworld NBA Power Rankings for this week are out as well, and the Timberwolves are once again second from the bottom, sitting at number 29 in the Hoopsworld rankings.

In their commentary, they present us a simple question with a simple answer.

Does the team's record diminish the amazing individual season that Kevin Love is having?

Like I said, a simple question, so I will give a simple answer.

No. No, it does not. To suggest that it does is ridiculous.

To borrow a phrase from Drew Rosenhaus, "Next question."

NBA Power Rankings: Fox Sports Keeps Timberwolves Low

Fox Sports' NBA Power Rankings are hot off the press, and just like everyone else, they place the Timberwolves down towards the bottom of the league, putting them at number 27.

They take the easy way out with their commentary, telling people something they already know if they've been reading SB Nation Minnesota on a regular basis.

Bravo, Kevin Love. His 51st straight double-double came Monday night against the Mavs and tied Moses Malone in 1978-79 for the longest streak since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. Malone had his streak over two seasons, so Love's is the longest single-season streak. Not much else to say about the Wolves.

Yeah, that Kevin Love guy. . .he's very good at basketball, isn't he?

Then again, the Fox Sports folks are right, as sad as that is. All they need is Love, because that's really all the Wolves have at this point. Hopefully that will change in the near future. . .but it won't happen this year.

NBA Power Rankings: NBA.com Continues The Trend

Ah, now this is more along the lines of what I was expecting. NBA.com has their new Power Rankings available, and they have the team with the second-fewest wins in the NBA in the second-lowest spot on the board, placing the Timberwolves at number 29 out of 30 teams.

Rather than focus completely on Kevin Love, NBA.com has another Timberwolf whose performance they feel merits highlighting.

Kevin Love has four 20-20 performances in his last five games and will tie Moses Malone's streak of 51 straight double-doubles with one against the Mavs on Monday. But it's time again to say "Free Anthony Tolliver," who is somehow a plus-12 on a team that's been outscored by 375 points this season.

I would have to agree with the NBA.com folks on this one. Tolliver deserves a lot more time than he's getting, but whose expense are those minutes going to come at? I would like to have faith that Kurt Rambis could get it figured out, but then I remember that he's Kurt Rambis, and that I'm not sure if he even knows what his team's rotation is going to be from one night to the next.

NBA Power Rankings: ESPN Has Minnesota Slightly Higher

The folks at ESPN have put out their latest Power Rankings, and they have the Timberwolves a little bit higher than I would expect them to be, as they put them at number 25 out of the 30 NBA teams. However, ESPN does give us a pretty amazing stat about the one member of the Timberwolves that has been making positive news this season.

This should give you a feel for the load Kevin Love has to carry: 'Sota is only 3-8 when Love rumbles for 20 points and 20 rebounds ... including 1-2 last week when he somehow did it in three straight road games.

Yes, Love has 11 games this season where he has put up 20 points and 20 rebounds, and the Timberwolves have managed to come out on the winning end of those games three times. However, that's not really that far out of line with the rest of the NBA.

The rest of the NBA has combined for 17 performances of 20 points and 20 rebounds this season, according to Basketball Reference. The team with the player that went for at least 20 points and 20 rebounds has only won eight out of those 17 contests. Combine Love's record with the rest of the league, and 20/20 players are 11-17 in 2010-11.

You would think that when a player puts together an individual performance like that, their team would be having a good enough night to pull out a victory. Apparently, that's not the case.

NBA Power Rankings: Wolves Right Where You'd Expect

Only one team in the NBA has fewer victories than the Minnesota Timberwolves. In all likelihood, you knew that already. Not surprisingly, you will find the Timberwolves at the bottom of pretty much every set of NBA Power Rankings that the internet has to offer.

SB Nation's latest NBA Power Rankings are no exception, as they have the Timberwolves ranked at number 27 out of 30 NBA teams. Here's what they have to say about Minnesota.

The best-case scenario would involve Ricky Rubio coming over next year and immediately acclimating to the NBA. But that's a pipe dream for reasons discussed at great length by yours truly. A more realistic best-case scenario is one of those wings -- Wes Johnson, hopefully -- becoming a magic man to balance the floor with Kevin Love and what-should-be No. 3 scorer Michael Beasley.

To be quite honest, I'm one of the many that's pretty sure that Ricky Rubio will never play a game in a Minnesota uniform, and will probably get traded to a team like New York or Miami or one of those other destination that everybody wants to gather together to try to win a championship. It would be nice if the young Spaniard would decide that Minnesota was worthy of him, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.