Minnesota Timberwolves

Team Creation

NBA basketball reappeared in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in 1989, after the 1960 Minneapolis Lakers team relocated to Los Angeles and became famous as the Los Angeles Lakers . The NBA agreed to join the new club on April 22, 1987, along with three others ( Orlando Magic , Charlotte Hornets , and Miami Heat ). The first owners of the club, Harvey Ratner and Marv Wolfensson announced the team in the 1989–90 season . At that time, there were two local basketball franchises that played in the ABA - the Minnesota Maskes (1967-68) and the Minnesota Pipers (1968-69). The name for the new team was chosen as a result of the vote, which took place in December 1986 ^[1] . As a result of the competition, two names were presented in the final, namely Timberwolves and Polars. Local municipalities voted for the name, and the name Timberwolves won ^{[2] [3]} . The club received its official name "Minnesota Timberwolves" on January 23, 1987. So the state is considered the largest wolf population among the rest of the US states ^[4] .

1989-1995: Beginning

The club made its debut in the NBA on November 3, 1989, losing in a guest opening match of the Seattle Supersonics with a score of 106-94. Five days later, the Huber Humphrey Metrodome home team received the Chicago Bulls and lost again - 96-84. Two days later, the “wolves” won their first victory - on November 10, the Philadelphia Sixers - 125-118 were defeated on the home site. Team leader was quarterback Tony Campbell with an average performance of 22.3 points per game. The team finished the season in sixth place in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference with 22 wins and 60 losses for the season. In the Metrodome, a record number of fans gathered for the season - 1 million ^[5] . On April 17, 1990, in the match against the Denver Nuggets , a record was recorded for this arena - 49,551 people, which was the third result in attendance in the NBA history. In the last match of the season, the Timberwolves lost 99–88 ^[6] .

1995-2007: Era of Garnett

1999-2003

2003-2007

2007-2010: After Garnett left

On July 31, 2007, Minnesota Timberwolves reached an agreement to exchange Kevin Garnett at the Boston Celtics for Al Jefferson , Theo Ratliff , Gerald Green , Sebastian Telfier, Ryan Gomez , two first-round picks and cash compensation. This exchange has become the largest in the history of the NBA. Never before have so many players been offered and pick picks per player. After the transition, Garnett, along with Boston, reached the NBA Finals, where they defeated a club from Los Angeles in 6 games.

That same summer, the Timberwolves traded Mike James and Justin Reed at Houston Rockets for Juvan Howard . However, in October, Minnesota refused him and bought his contract worth $ 14.25 million for 10 million. The team also exchanged and in Miami Heat for Antoine Walker , , and the right to choose in the first round of 2008.

In the 2007 NBA Draft, Timberwolves chose Corey Brewer and Chris Richard, who played for the two-time NCAA Florida Gates champion.

Minnesota began preparations for the season by playing two games in London and Istanbul , which were part of NBA Europe Live 2007. On October 10, the Wolves lost to the new Boston Celtics Garnett team with a score of 92:81. The club started the season unsuccessfully, having lost the first 5 games. The first win this season was a home game against the Sacramento Kings . The youngest team in the NBA began to learn to play without its long-time leader Garnett. Due to an injury, Randy Foy was also forced to miss the first half of the season. Instead, in the starting five there were two other point guard: Sebastian Telfier and Marco Jaric. Timberwolves season ended with a score of 22-60. Despite the unsuccessful result, in the games against the championship leaders the team showed a good game and was often very close to victory. The Timberwolves coach called the deal: “a deal we couldn't refuse.”

In 2008, the club celebrated its 20th anniversary. In connection with this event, the club updated its logo and form. For the first time in a new form, players entered the preseason game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on October 14, 2008. The club also repainted the site at the Target Center , returning to the traditional parquet coloring.

2010–2014: Kevin Love era

On July 12, 2010, Minnesota traded striker Michael Beasley for the second pick of the 2008 draft at Miami Heat . On November 12, 2010, Kevin Love in a local game that was not shown on television was able to make 31 rebounds and score 31 points, thereby setting a club record.

For his success, Love was included in the team of the West to participate in the match of all the NBA stars. On February 8, 2011, Love managed to surpass Kevin Garnett's accomplishments in 37 double-doubles in a row. And already on March 8, 2011 Love made a double-double for 52 games in a row, breaking the record of Moses Malone in the number of double-doubles made in a row from the moment the ABA and the NBA merged.

On February 21, 2011, Corey Brewer and Costa Kufos were traded to the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets for Anthony Randolph and Eddie Curry ($ 3 million from New York and the second pick in the 2015 NBA draft from Denver ”) as part of a big deal in which Carmelo Anthony moved from Denver to Knicks.

In the 2010/11 season, the Timberwolves were able to win just 17 wins with 65 defeats, finishing the championship in last place at the Western Conference for the second year in a row.

In the 2011 NBA draft , the club selected Darrick Williams from the University of Arizona at number two.

Before the start of the 2012/13 season , two Russian players from CSKA Moscow came to the team: Andrey Kirilenko (previously played in the NBA for Utah Jazz ) and Alexey Shved . Chase Badinger and Lou Amundson also joined the team.

Timberwolves started the 2012/13 season quite successfully, even though the players suffered injuries in the first few games, so key player Kevin Love was forced to watch the game from the stands (appeared only in the 10th game against Denver ) , point guard Ricky Rubio did not take part, missed matches Nikola Pekovich and JJ Barea . In January 2013, the team began to pursue injuries again, until the end of March Kevin Love left, ^{[7] [8]} , Malcolm Lee missed the rest of the season ^[9] . Badinger , Roy were injured , and Aleksey Shved and Nikola Pekovich missed matches.

As a result, by the end of January the ratio of victories and defeats was 17-20, and the team was rapidly moving away from the playoff zone.

To solve the problems, the Timberwolves signed a ten-day contract with the French striker Michael Zhelabal ^[10] , and the center Chris Johnson ^{[11] [12]} was invited to replace Pekovich.

In addition, due to his wife’s illness, Rick Adelman was absent from the coaching bridge for most of January.

Good matches alternated with failures, only by the end of the season Chase Badinger was restored, but his efforts and efforts of Ricky Rubio , who became the team leader, were not enough to get into the playoffs. One of the few joyful moments was the 1000th victory of Rick Adelman as a coach ^[13] . Also, Minnesota for the first time since 2004 managed to beat San Antonio Spurs , and Ricky Rubio scored a triple double in this match. However, it should be noted that due to injuries, the leaders Tony Parker and Tim Duncan did not take part in the game. In general, the season could be considered successful - the team with a catastrophic series of injuries for the first time after Garnett left won more than 30 wins in a season with a win-loss ratio of 31-51.

In the 2013 NBA draft, the team in the first round chose Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgi Dyeng ^[14] . A number of players left the team during the offseason, including Andrei Kirilenko (transferred to Brooklyn Nets ), Greg Stimsma ( New Orleans Pelicans ), Derrick Williams ( Sacramento Kings ) and Luke Ridnur ( Milwaukee Bucks ). Instead, Kevin Martin (came from the Oklahoma City Thunder ), AJ Price ( Washington Wizards ), Corey Brewer ( Denver Nuggets ), Luke Mba a Mute ( Sacramento Kings ) and Ronnie Thuriaf joined the team ( Los Angeles Clippers ).

On March 29, 2014, Timberwolves set a club record for the number of points scored in the regular season, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers with a score of 143-107. The victory over the Lakers of the season was the first victory over the Lakers after the 2005-06 season ^[15] . The team won 40 victories in the season for the first time since 2005, but for the tenth consecutive year they missed a series of playoffs ^[16] . On April 21, 2014, Rick Adelman announced the end of his NBA coach career. For three seasons with the team Adelman achieved 97 wins with 133 defeats. The team was headed by Flip Saunders, who had already trained the “wolves” from 1995 to 2005.

2014: New Perestroika and the arrival of Towns

On August 23, 2014, the team sold Kevin Love , who refused to renew the contract with the Wolves, to the Cleveland Cavaliers . From the Cavaliers, the team received the first two picks of the draft Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett . In addition, a Thaddeus Young transition was added to the deal ^[17] . In turn, Philadelphia received the Swede , Luke Mba a Mute and the right to choose in the first round of the 2015 draft from the Miami Heat ^[17] .

On October 31, 2014, Ricky Rubio signed a four-year contract worth $ 56 million ^{[18] [19]} , and on November 8, 2014, the player dropped out indefinitely due to an injury received in the match against Orlando ^[20] . As a result, the team began the 2014/15 season in the absence of leaders.

On November 12, the team played one of their home matches against Houston Rockets at the New Mexico Arena .

By early January 2015, Minnesota suffered 15 defeats in a row ^[21] .

Arrival of Tom Thibodeau

On April 20, 2016, the Timberwolves agreed to invite Tom Thibodeau to the position of head coach and president of basketball operations. Previously, he already worked with the team as an assistant head coach (1989-1991) ^[22] . On September 23, 2016, a retirement statement was made by Kevin Garnett , for whom the season became 21st in the NBA. He expressed a desire to spend another season on the team, but knee injuries did not allow him to count on him for the full season. Timberwolves finished the season with a 31-51 victory and loss difference, gaining only two more wins than in the previous season.

On June 22, 2017, the club received Jimmy Butler and the 16th draft pick of 2017 , in exchange were given to Zach Lavigne , Chris Dunn and the 7th peak in the draft (under which Lauri Markkanen was chosen) ^[23] .

Timberwolves Home Arenas List

• Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (1989-1990)
• Target Center (1990 - present)

Minnesota Timberwolves games are featured on WFTC My 29 and Fox Sports North . Comment on the games of Tom Hanneman and Jim Petersen.

B = Wins, P = Losses, P% = Percentage of matches won

see Minnesota Timberwolves Players

Current squad

• 2 - Malik Seeley , forward (1999-2000)

• Unsuccessful relocation of Minnesota Timberwolves to New Orleans in 1994

• Team official website