Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Their organization is a member of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Television broadcasters for the Minnesota Timberwolves are Tom Hanneman and Jim Petersen.

They are almost always associated with their superstar franchise player, versatile ten-time NBA all-star and 2004 MVP Kevin Garnett. Every failed effort on building a championship title contender has been centered around this veteran superstar.

After a very successful season in 2003-04 in which the Wolves advanced far into the playoffs (due in part to the all-star standout trio of Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell, and Kevin Garnett) and almost earned a championship berth as major one of the league's top title contenders, the franchise suffered three sour seasons in which they failed to make the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade.

The team has since been struggling to reclaim its status as one of the league's top teams. Team vice president and GM Kevin McHale has been criticized by everybody in the state, and most knowledgable NBA fans, for his management, or lack thereof, of the team.

The Timberwolves franchise also are looking forward to a future all-star duo of current standout rookies Craig Smith and Randy Foye, drafted over the summer of 2006, to carry the load of the franchise after KG departs.

Franchise history

Early Ineptitude

Professional basketball returned to the Twin Cities in 1987, when the NBA granted one of its two new expansion teams (the other being Orlando) to original owners Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner to begin play for the 1989-90 season. Known as the Timberwolves, they made their debut on November 3, 1989 losing to the Seattle SuperSonics on the road 106-94. Five days later they would make their home debut at the Metrodome losing to the Chicago Bulls 96-84. Just two nights later the Wolves would get their first win, beating the Philadelphia 76ers at home 125-118 on November 10th. The Timberwolves, led by Tony Campbell with 23.2 ppg, went on to a 22-60 record, finishing in 6th place in the Midwest Division. Playing in the cavernous Metrodome, the expansion Timberwolves drew over 1 million fans including the 3rd-largest crowd in NBA history at 49,551 on April 17, 1990 that saw the Timberwolves lose to the Denver Nuggets 99-88 in the final home game of the season.

The next season the team moved into the Target Center and won 29 games, however they fired their head coach Bill Musselman. They didn't fare much better under Mussleman's successor, ex-Celtics coach Jimmy Rodgers finishing with an NBA-worst 15-67 record. Over the next several years, the franchise encountered mediocrity and even a near relocation in 1994 before NBA owners rejected the team's move to New Orleans. Glen Taylor bought the team and named Kevin McHale general manager.

Building a Contender

In 1995, the Timberwolves selected Kevin Garnett in the draft, and Flip Saunders became coach. Christian Laettner was traded along with Sean Rooks to the Atlanta Hawks for Andrew Lang and Spud Webb. Also, first-round pick Donyell Marshall was traded the previous season for Golden State Warriors' forward Tom Gugliotta, who was earlier traded himself from Washington for Chris Webber. These trades paved the way for rookie Kevin Garnett to become the go-to player inside. Garnett went on to average 10.4 ppg in his rookie season as the T-Wolves finished in 5th place in the Midwest Division, with a 26-56 record.

In 1996, the T-Wolves added another star player in the draft, swapping Ray Allen to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to Stephon Marbury, the 4th overall pick. The addition of Marbury had a positive effect on the entire team, as Kevin Garnett and Tom Gugliotta became the first Wolves to be selected to the All-Star team. Gugliotta and Garnett led the Timberwolves in scoring as the team made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with a record of 40-42. However, in the playoffs the Timberwolves made a quick exit as they were swept by the Houston Rockets in 3 straight games. The T-Wolves also decided to change their image by changing their team logo and colors, adding black to the team colors and replacing the original logo with a logo featuring a snarling wolf looming over a field of trees. While at the time the new logo was roundly criticized in the Twin Cities sports media, its appearance accompanied a much improved product on the court, so criticism was relatively short-lived.

In 1997 Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury established themselves as two of the brightest rising stars in the NBA. Garnett averaged 18.5 ppg and 9.6 rebounds per game, while Marbury averaged 17.7 ppg and dished out 8.6 assists per game. Despite losing leading scorer Tom Gugliotta for half the season the Timberwolves went on to post their first winning season at 45-37 making the playoffs for the 2nd straight season. After dropping Game 1 on the road to the Seattle Supersonics in the playoffs the Timberwolves earned their first postseason win in Game 2 winning in Seattle 98-93. As the series shifted to Minnesota the Timberwolves had an opportunity to pull off the upset as they won Game 3 by a score of 98-90. However, the Wolves dropped Game 4 at home as the Sonics went on to win the series in 5 games. In 1998, a year after signing Kevin Garnett to an unprecedented 6-year, $126 million contract, the Timberwolves were used as the poster child of irresponsible spending as the NBA endured a 4-month lockout that wiped out the season. With an already cap-heavy payroll the Wolves were forced to let Tom Gugliotta walk away and trade Stephon Marbury fearing both would seek deals similar to Garnett's. In the 3-team midseason deal that sent Marbury to the New Jersey Nets the Wolves got Terrell Brandon in return. The Wolves made the playoffs for the 3rd straight season by finishing in 4th place with a 25-25 record. In the playoffs the Timberwolves were beaten by the San Antonio Spurs in 4 games.

1999-2000

In 1999, the Timberwolves drafted Wally Szczerbiak. He had a solid season finishing 3rd on the team in scoring with 11.6 ppg. Led by Kevin Garnett, who averaged 22.9 ppg and 11.8 rebounds per game, the Timberwolves enjoyed their first 50-win season finishing in 3rd place with a solid record of 50-32. However, in the playoffs the Wolves fell in the first round again, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers in 4 games.

2000-2001

Guard Malik Sealy was killed in a car accident in the summer of 2000. Also in that season, a free agent deal signed by Joe Smith was voided by the NBA, who ruled that the Timberwolves violated proper procedure in signing the contract. The league stripped the T-Wolves of five draft picks, fined them $3.5 million and suspended general manager Kevin McHale for one year. (Smith would eventually sign with the Detroit Pistons before re-signing with the T-wolves in 2001.) Despite the trouble the Wolves made the playoffs for the 5th straight season with a 47-35 record. In the playoffs the Wolves were eliminated in the first round again by the San Antonio Spurs in 4 games in the spring of 2001.

2002-03 seemed to look up for the Wolves. Kevin Garnett had a great season, finishing second in MVP voting while averaging a solid 23.0 ppg and 13.4 rebounds per game as the Timberwolves finish in 3rd place with a 51-31 record. With home court advantage for the first time facing the three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. After being blown out at home in Game 1 the Timberwolves had a chance to take a 3-1 series lead as they led heading into the 4th quarter of Game 4 in Los Angeles. However, the Lakers came back to win the game on the way to winning the series in six games, as the Timberwolves were eliminated in the first round for the 7th straight year.

In 2003, the Timberwolves made two strong offseason moves, trading away forward Joe Smith and injured guard Terrell Brandon in a multi-player deal for Ervin Johnson, Sam Cassell and embattled guard Latrell Sprewell.

During the 2003-04 NBA season, the Timberwolves became the team to beat in the Western Conference. They finished the season as the top seed in the Western Conference with a record of 58-24, and beat the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings in the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs before losing to the Lakers, the previous Minnesota franchise, in the Western Conference Finals. Kevin Garnett finally earned his first MVP award with 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.

2004-2005

In the 2004-05 season, the Wolves kept the same team from the previous season. The team was plagued with contract disputes and the complaining of key players Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell, and Troy Hudson. Coach Flip Saunders was replaced in midseason by GM Kevin McHale, who took over the team for the rest of the season. The Timberwolves finished 44-38, and missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

During the 2005 offseason, Kevin McHale and the Wolves started their search for a head coach. McHale interviewed Seattle assistant coach Dwane Casey, San Antonio Spurs assistant P.J. Carlesimo, former coach John Lucas and Wolves assistants Randy Wittman, Sidney Lowe and Jerry Sichting, among others.

On June 17, 2005, the Timberwolves hired Dwane Casey as the new head coach. This was Casey's first head coaching job. He will be the Wolves' 7th head coach in their 16-year history.

In the 2005 Draft, the Timberwolves selected Rashad McCants, a shooting guard from North Carolina with the 14th overall pick of the 1st round. The Timberwolves also selected Bracey Wright, a guard from Indiana with the 17th pick of the 2nd round (47th overall).

During the offseason, they traded All-Star Sam Cassell and a protected future first-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for Marko Jaric and Lionel Chalmers. They also signed free agent Nikoloz Tskitishvili.

On January 26, 2006 the Wolves traded forward Wally Szczerbiak, centers Dwayne Jones and Michael Olowokandi, and a future first-round draft pick to the Boston Celtics. In return they received forward/guard Ricky Davis, center Mark Blount, forward Justin Reed, guard Marcus Banks, and two second-round draft picks. In a separate trade on the same day, the Timberwolves traded Nikoloz Tskitishvili to the Phoenix Suns for a 2006 second-round draft pick.

2006-2007

The Timberwolves selected future Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy with the 6th pick in the 2006 NBA draft. They then traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers for the seventh pick, Randy Foye as well as cash. They also selected Craig Smith with the 36th pick, Bobby Jones with the 37th pick, and center Loukas Mavrokefalidis with the 57th pick, and looked likely to repeat the 2003-2004 dynasty season. On January 23, 2007 Dwane Casey was fired as head coach by GM McHale. McHale explained in a news conference that it was inconsistency by Casey that led to the firing. In his one-and-a-half seasons as head coach, Casey had complied a losing record of 53-69. They finished the 2006-07 season with a losing record of 32-50, partly by Casey (20-20) and assistant coach Randy Wittman, allowing them to keep their 2007 first-round pick. Despite fan protests, KG and McHale are returning for the 2007-08 season.

The Timberwolves will have the seventh pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

On June 14, 2007 it was officially announced that the Timberwolves traded PG Mike James and F Justin Reed to the Houston Rockets for Juwan Howard].

Team Accomplishments

8 Playoff Appearances (1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004)

Division Titles 1- 2004 (Midwest Division)

Players of note

Retired numbers