Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves (also commonly known as the Wolves or T-Wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Northwest Division. The team, founded in 1989, is owned by Glen Taylor, who also owns the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. The Timberwolves play their home games at Target Center, their home since 1990.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Like most expansion teams, the Timberwolves struggled in their early years, but after acquiring Kevin Garnett in the 1995 NBA draft, the team qualified for the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons from 1997 to 2004. Despite losing in the first round in their first seven attempts, the Timberwolves won their first division title in 2004 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals that same season. Garnett was also named NBA Most Valuable Player for that season. The team then spent more than a decade in rebuilding mode after missing the 'postseason' in 2005 and trading Garnett to the Boston Celtics in 2007. Garnett returned to the Timberwolves in February 2015 and finished his career there, retiring in the 2016 offseason.
Kevin Garnett
Years with the Minnesota Timberwolves: 1995-2007 (12 seasons)
Achievements
- 2004 NBA MVP
- Ten-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA selection, eight-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection
- Timberwolves’ all-time leader in games, points, free throws, rebounds, assists, blocks & steals
Kevin Garnett was the Timberwolves. He was the perfect combination of desire and craziness, expressed in a wiry, athletic 7'0 frame that redefined the NBA. Garnett’s transcendent abilities as an all-around player changed the NBA forever. From day one, as a lanky kid from Mauldin, South Carolina, Garnett was a legend. With the fifth pick in the 1995 draft, Minnesota made him the first draftee to jump straight from high school since 1975. Garnett was an overwhelming presence on the court. His ferocity and will to win rubbed off on his teammates. He combined a dizzying array of post moves with an automatic mid-range jumper. He was an incredible passer and rarely missed a game due to injury. On defense? He was a nightmare for opponents. He constantly barked orders at his teammates and had the rare ability to jump passing lanes to start fast breaks, while also being able to shoot in traffic. During his 12 seasons in Minnesota, the only thing he failed to achieve was an NBA title. He came close only once, in 2003-04, when management was finally able to put together a balanced roster around him that could go deep into the playoffs. If Sam Cassell hadn’t succumbed to a hip injury, the Timberwolves might have beaten the Lakers and reached the Finals. If you had to sum up his career in one game, it would be this performance in Game 7 of the 2004 Western Conference Semifinals against the Sacramento Kings, where he dropped 32 points, 21 rebounds, five blocks, four assists and two steals on his 28th birthday. He put the team on his back and dragged them into the next round with a performance for the ages.
In a league that becomes more point guard-friendly every year, it will be a very long time before we see the kind of dominant two-way force that Garnett is. His seething desire to win every night is a lost art in this era.
Kevin Love
Years with the Minnesota Timberwolves: 2008-present (five seasons)
Achievements
- Two-time All-Star
- 2011 NBA Most Improved Player, one-time All-NBA Team
- 53 consecutive double-doubles
- 2012 Olympic gold medalist
As a lifelong fan of the team, to this day my worst moment as a fan came the day after the 2008 NBA Draft. In case you forgot, the Timberwolves drafted OJ Mayo with the third pick that year. I went to sleep dreaming of Al Jefferson leading this team to playoff success alongside the man paired with him as the next Kobe Bryant. I woke up to the unsettling news that Mayo had been traded for an overweight UCLA product named Kevin Love, whose best attributes at the time were his half-court skills and his sexy outlet passes. Fast-forward a few years to 2011, and Love had turned himself into the league’s best rebounder and a pesky three-point shooter. The 2010-11 season is the season in which he finally found his way into the starting lineup and developed into a star. He won the Most Improved Player award, recorded 53 consecutive double-doubles and had the NBA’s first 30-point, 30-rebound game in nearly 30 years. In Love’s rookie season, he made a grand total of two three-pointers. Two years later, he found himself shooting 42 percent from downtown, proof of how hard he works on his craft. During the 2012-13 season, he improved even more. He finished in the top five in the league in both scoring and rebounding with 26 points and 13.3 rebounds per game. He also won the three-point contest during All-Star Weekend. It will be the season that ushered in his reign as a superstar, highlighted by this 51-point, 14-rebound masterpiece in Oklahoma City and this cold-blooded buzzer beater in Los Angeles. Love at No. 2 on this list is debatable, but he takes the spot because of his overall skill. He hasn’t yet brought the team the level of success we’re all hoping for, but he hasn’t always had the help needed to do so. This coming season, provided he doesn’t break his hand doing more knuckle push-ups, the T-Wolves are poised to end this nine-year playoff drought behind Love. Kevin Love gets the second spot because he is the only player this franchise has had who is also considered a superstar.
History of the Minnesota Timberwolves
NBA basketball returned to the Twin Cities in 1989 for the first time since the Minneapolis Lakers left for Los Angeles in 1960. On 22 April 1987, the NBA had awarded one of four new expansion teams (the others being the Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets, and the Miami Heat) to original owners Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfenson, to begin play in the 1989-1990 season. There had been two American Basketball Association franchises, the Minnesota Muskies in 1967 and 1968 and the Minnesota Pipers in 1968 and 1969. The franchise held a 'name the team' contest and eventually selected two finalists, "Timberwolves" and "Polars", in December 1986. The team then asked the 842 city councils in Minnesota to select the winner, and "Timberwolves" won by nearly 2-1.