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The Minnesota Timberwolves first took the court in 1989. The team struggled to find its way and its identity through the first few seasons. A roster full of NBA castoffs and little wanted free agents took the team directly to the lottery year after year. The Timberwolves tried to find a young talent to become the focus of the team.
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About The Minnesota Timberwolves
In 1992 they drafted Christina Laettner and in 1993 they drafted Isaiah Rider. The draft picks were an effort to recreate the Bad Boys from Detroit. The experiment failed and the team continued to struggle. Laettner was solid player, but not a star player and Rider was a talented player without any self-control. The Minnesota Timberwolves situation would not change until Glen Taylor bought the team and Kevin McHale became the general manager.
The new front office team for the Minnesota Timberwolves struck gold in 1995. The team drafted Kevin Garnett with the fifth over all pick. Garnett was the first player in 21 years to come directly out of high school and enter the NBA. His talent and his potential were too great for a struggling franchise to pass up. The Timberwolves also picked up Tom Gugliotta in a trade. The two struggled to turn things around in their first season together. The next season McHale thought he found the last piece when he traded the draft rights for Ray Allen to the Bucks for the draft rights to Stephon Marbury. Marbury was to be the point guard who threw lbs to Garnett and found Gugliotta open for jumpers after penetrating.
This arrangement worked wonders for the Minnesota Timberwolves for a couple years. For the first time the Minnesota Timberwolves were in the postseason, and even threatened to advance past the first round. Garnett was developing into an all around great player and was able to pick up the slack for Guggliota, who was hampered by injuries. The clear superstardom of Garnett forced the Timberwolves to sign him to a six year, $126 million contract.
The tension in the locker room eventually spilled out onto the floor and into the media, as the Minnesota Timberwolves plans came apart. First Guggliota was let go. His leaving was supposed to allow the team to have more money to sign Marbury to a long term contract, and he preferred to play elsewhere because of Marbury anyway. Marbury, though, saw himself as the star of the team and forced the Minnesota Timberwolves to trade him in the middle of the 1998 season.
Garnett was able to take the limping team into the postseason for another first round loss. Terrell Brandon became the new point guard and the draft pick from the trade was used on Wally Szczerbiak to give Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves a shooter to extend the defense. The plan worked in the regular season at the Target Center. The team won 50 games for the first time, but the young team still lost in the first round.
Tragedy struck in the 2000 offseason, as Malik Sealy died in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. The team quickly tried to recover from the loss, but ended with an illegal signing of Joe Smith that became void and cost the club five draft picks. Once again the Minnesota Timberwolves made it to the postseason thanks to Garnett with a help from Szczerbiak, who ha emerged as a major scoring threat as a spot up shooter. However, once again the Timberwolves lost in the first round.
The next year the Minnesota Timberwolves promising follow up season was destroyed by players’ complaints and a coaching change. The team missed the first time in eight seasons and would continue to miss the playoffs as ill-fated trades and a roster void of players thanks to the lost five draft picks left the team a mess. The Minnesota Timberwolves tried teams with Ricky Davis, Marko Jaric, and Rashad McCants, but could not return to the postseason.
Finally in the 2007 offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves started over, trading Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics for Al Jefferson, hoping that the young big man could develop into the next star.
The Minnesota Timberwolves come into the 2008-09 season with hopes to get the young team experience. Al Jefferson continues his develop as the post player of the future and he is joined in the front court by Kevin Lowe. Lowe is the big man out of UCLA that is noted for his basketball smarts and his outlet pass. With Rodney Carney at small forward, the team is lacking experience but not talent in the front court.
Randy Foye is the point guard by default, which does not bode well for the team. Sebastian Telfair could take over as starting point guard. He has always had the potential, but has not yet made good on that promise. The addition of Mike Miller at shooting guard gives the team a player who can spread the floor. Love can shoot too, Miller is the real deep threat now for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The bench is thin. Corey Brewer is a defensive specialist, but an offensive liability. Rashad McCants has the potential to be a scoring boost off the bench, but whether or not he has recovered fully from the microfracture surgery and if he will be the same is yet to be known. The bench is otherwise full of player who are more likely to foul than put the ball it the hole. The Minnesota Timberwolves will be another interesting and tough season.
