[NbanflguyParticipant]

Well 82 games later we have reached the finish line and only 1 team could finish last………. The Minnesota Timberwolves! With a record of 17-65, they truly were the worst of the worst. Be it by 30 points or by 1 point, a loss is a loss and no team had more of than that loveable team from Minnesota. Lets look at some of the players that made this season possible:

PG: Jonny Flynn- With the Wolves sitting at 6-18 but showing signs of improvement, Flynn returned from offseason hip surgey and immediatly made his presence felt, helping to guide the wolves on a 6 game losing streak. Since his return, no Point Guard was worse than Jonny.

Michael Beasley’s left ankle: Anytime Michael got on a hot streak his ankle brought the wolves back down to earth. Michael missed 10 games and had to leave many more after his ankle noticed that the wolves were being to competitve or that Beasley was playing defense.

Eddy Curry- Though he never played for the team, his weight provided a nice anchor to bring the team down to the bottom of the standings.

Once again Congrats Timberwolves! You earned it!

[KayjayParticipant]

Lol the irony is, Rubio could possibly be an upgrade from Flynn.

[Lotto StudParticipant]

LOL The future is bright for yall in the rebuilding stage so I wouldn’t be too disappointed. You may finally get the chance you all been waiting for to dump Rubio.

[OldSkoolBasketballParticipant]

The team with the worst record has an all star. How often does that happen?

[GlenTaylorSucksParticipant]

Can Glen Taylor please sell the team to somebody who has even a slight bit of interest in winning basketball? 

[omphalosParticipant]

Yeah I think the final record of the T-Wolves shows the foolishness that was Kevin Love’s All-Star selection. Aldridge is shaking his head somewhere still.

[apb540Participant]

I wish I could run the T-Wolves.  They have talent and just need a defensive head coach. 

[thunderbear82Participant]

 I can’t believe people are congratulating a team for being the worst. This is amazing.

[JBrace19Participant]

That’s becuase Love was the only CONSISTANT one out there! Sure Beasley could go off for 40, but Love showed up pretty much every game with 20 and 15. If Beasley would put in the effort Love did, he could redeem himself and prove he was worth a 2nd overall pick, the dude is still only 21. And Wes was kind  of disappointing, but i dont think he really thought he fit in, and he didnt shoot nearly as much as he should have…

[STATnMeloParticipant]

The T’Wolves allowed 2 teams out East to get significantly better

Taking on Beasley so the Heat can get James, Wade, Bosh, Miller and Haslem

Then taking on Eddy Curry Goat and Mr. Potential so the Knicks can get STATnMelo STATnMelo

[butidonthavemoney]

Now watch the Timberwolves fall to 4 in the lottery…

[omphalosParticipant]

Being consistent on the worst team in the League does not an All-Star make, in my opinion.

I do hope this lockout doesn’t prevent Rubio coming over, I’m very interested to see what will happen with a pure passing PG. Wouldn’t mind seeing a more defensive minded coach also. I’m still not sure who they should take in the draft, maybe a C to serve under Darko and eventually replace him. There aren’t any top-flight SGs either… bad year to be Minny.

[TeamShowtimeLakersParticipant]

Hey Kevin Love did his best!

[Lotto StudParticipant]

"I can’t believe people are congratulating a team for being the worst. This is amazing."

Dude you just don’t know how much this is a sigh of relief for Minny fans, hell!!!!! It’s a sigh of relief for me & everyone else who is tired of hearing about Rubio coming over or not coming over. I PRAY Minny gets the #1 overall to draft Irving.

[kngojcParticipant]

 Rubio won’t play for the Wolves. With two straight seasons of winning basketball, he doesn’t want to come to a team that can’t even get a better record than the LeBron-less Cavs. We need to trade him to get the most value now before he comes over and shows anything, whether it be flashes of brilliance or bust. We need to give him the opportunity to win in a big market place like LA(Clips) or NYC.

I still have faith in Johnny Flynn, I might be the only one out there that still does, but I think that if we fire Rambis, hire a head coach that is like Thibs with a defense first approach, and open up the pick and roll game with Love and Flynn/Ridnour, I think he could develop better. I mean what have we got to lose? Oh no another losing season! Minnesota fans are getting quite accustomed to those losing traditions. 

[OldSkoolBasketballParticipant]

you know its bad when a team loses 26 games in a row and still finish with a better record than you.

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

Good posts so far. It was certainly a painful year. But I am going to point out a few positives that came from what otherwise was a bismal season.

1. Obviously Kevin Love established himself as an icon for this team and a foundation piece that we can at least build around. He isnt going to be the number 1 option for a playoff team, but he could be a good 2nd option or a really good 3rd. He still needs to play better defense, but he rebounds the hell out of the ball and can score on a low volume of attempts.

2. Young players showing potential- Mike Beasley showed an ability to be a dominant scorer at times this year. Somebody above mentioned the ankle injury that slowed him for a while. He definitly needs to improve his defensive intensity and his shot selection, I would also like to see him at the FT line alot more, but theres a lot of potential for Beas. Anthony Randolph ended the year strongly as well. I dont expect him to be a 15 and 10 type of player, but I could easily see and 8 and 8 with a couple blocks, and a steal. I dont think he can be a starting PF or C, but could be a very good 3rd big in a rotational scheme. He has alot of length, alot of athleticism, and he uses it. Other young players like Wes Johnson, Pekovic, and Ellington showed solid role playing potential.

I really think this team is an alpha dog, a smart PG, and a defensive minded head coach away from being a team that could scare people. And they could easily fill all 3 of those needs in this offseason without any trades or big time free agent signings. If Ricky Rubio can be 3/4 of what people expect him to be, that fills one need. If Harrison Barnes declares and we dont get screwed in the lottery, we have a chance to fill another, and a defensive minded head coach may be more realistic with Rambis feeling the heat lately. I could easily see the Wolves pursuing a coach like Mike Brown who if I’m correct was an assistant when Khan was with the Pacers.

[OhCanada-Participant]

Remember last year when noone wanted to play for the Wolves…Could that happen again this year if they dont get the 1st round pick. I mean would Kyrie Irving, or Derrick Williams really want to go play in that organization.

Also whats the odds of Wes and Johnny convincing Kris Joseph to declare to get the Syracuse Alumni in Minni lol. Wolves got picks all over the board again, stupidly.

[OhCanada-Participant]

Didnt Sam Mitchell play for the Wolves, he is with the Nets but I thnk he would also be a good fit, Im not sure about his contract. Brown should get a job this year, whether its with the Kings, Wolves, Pistons or whoever. he has some good coaching skills, if he can go to a young team with good offensive skills particularly in the iso, and athletisism it would be a nice fit.

[scootover7Participant]

I agree get a defensive minded coach.  I also think that I should get my shot at being GM.  I wouldn’t have two years ago took  three point guards only to trade one of them to Denver who ended up hitting ten three pointers a week ago against the T-Wolves.  I have heard that the Dallas Mavericks are interested in Rubio services.  I would see if i could pull off a trade of Ricky Rubio, Darko and 18th pick to get either Shawn Marion or Jason Terry.  I feel that the T-Wolves need a decent veteran on this team to try and have a shot at making some noise or improving there record.  I would prefer to get Jason Terry to have a SG.  I would also try and draft Kyrie Irving.  So my starting would be

 

C- Kevin Love

 

PF- Michael Beasley

 

SF- Anthony Randolph

 

SG-  Jason Terry

 

PG-  Kyrie Irving

 

 

tell me does that sound like a team who could improve there record at least by ten wins or more.

[koppa33Participant]

Kevin Love had a great season but he is no defensive stopper so they cant play him at center. Love can be a big piece of the puzzle for this team but if he is your best player, that means the Wolves are always in the lotto. Beasley is a cancer to any team he plays on. He has tremendous talent but he is a nut case. Should trade him and get best offer. Flynn is not a NBA starting pg, he is ok defensively but he cant shoot consitently and he will always be hurt because they way he plays. Wesley Johnson didnt really impress at all, and not really his fault. No pg play to help him and dealing with Beasley who plays the same position cant be fun.

David Kahn (GM) and Kurt Rambis (Coach) really like Darko’s game think he can be a really good center for years to come. They said that, not exact quote but close to it. REALLY DARKO.

[theyoungfreshoneParticipant]

I’ve been enamored with Minnesota since the offseason. It was the first time David Kahn really had a chance to put his stamp on the team and ultimately dispose of any of the remnants of Kevin McHale’s piss poor attempt at a rebuild. I don’t know what you guys are talking about Kahn is a great GM for a first-timer he’s gotten talented young players on the cheap (Beasley for two 2nd rounders and Randolph for eating the remainder of Eddy Curry’s salary) albeit they’ve had some issues at times during their stints with previous teams. But when you think about it Beasley never really got a chance to play his game in Miami they wanted him to be defender and a rebounder which of course he isn’t he’s a pure scorer and he needs the ball to be effective which was rarely the case in Miami. To me this season was his rookie year because he finally got a chance to do what he does best which is score and he had a career year. It’s only the beginning though he’ll take what he learned this year and improve on it and also he’s maturing so the future is bright. Also he is a perfect fit for the triangle so he’ll thrive and if you’ll notice they are trying to emulate the lakers with the Rambis connection and the triangle that’s why they got Randolph because he’s very similar to Lamar Odom (in fact Odom even said so himself) but of course he’s still raw because he hasn’t had the luxury of getting meaningful game action and developing his game this season in order to take the next step so this season is a wash for him. He’s also maturing. Darko is a very capable center who can block shots and good passing big man in the triangle he’s just had bad luck with injuries this season. But then again he might be an injury prone player for the remainder of this newly inked contract so not much should be expected of him. I think if they are in an opportunity to draft Kyrie Irving or Enes Kanter they should do it and by doing so they’d be locking up an impact player. I’m a big time Rubio fan but with the potential lockout there is just too much risk for him to come over next season so he might wait another year sadly. If there isn’t a lockout (fingers crossed) and he does come over then they should at least be exciting to watch next season. He will help Wes Johnson a lot by finding him for open jumpers and playing uptempo. Trade Jonny Flynn this offseason (I was yelling at the tv for them to draft Steph Curry with that pick btw). But needless to say the future is bright in minny. Just be patient Wolves fans.

[JoeWolf1]

 Funny thing is the top two prospects in this draft wouldn’t really be impact players for their team.  Derrick Williams would play behind Beasley and Love and I feel with all the woo-ing of Rubio the past two years they wouldn’t bring him over to play behind Kyrie Irving.  If Minne does get the #1 or #2 pick,…I’d trade it

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

It would be great if Ricky Rubio came over, I would LOVE to see Derrick Rose break Wilt’s scoring record.

[koppa33Participant]

theyoungfreshone The Randolph / Odom comparison is way off. Not the same type of player. Randolph is strictly a 4, no matter what anybody says. He cant handle the ball like Odom and he is no were near the passer.  Randolph is Stromile Swift that is who plays like and that is who he will be.

Here is a comparison of Odom and Randolph first 3 years in the league.  

Rk	Player	From	To	G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
1	Lamar Odom	2000	2002	181	169	36.5	6.0	13.4	.445	0.9	2.8	.309	3.5	5.0	.695	1.7	5.9	7.5	4.9	1.0	1.4	3.4	3.4	16.3

2

Anthony Randolph

2009

2011

136

33

18.1

3.4

7.4

.457

0.0

0.1

.154

2.0

2.7

.738

1.8

3.6

5.4

0.9

0.7

1.1

1.3

2.2

8.7

 

 

Here is a comparison of Randolph and Swift first 3 years in the league.

Rk	Player	From	To	G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
1	Anthony Randolph	2009	2011	136	33	18.1	3.4	7.4	.457	0.0	0.1	.154	2.0	2.7	.738	1.8	3.6	5.4	0.9	0.7	1.1	1.3	2.2	8.7
2	Stromile Swift	2001	2003	215	46	21.4	3.2	6.7	.473	0.0	0.0	.000	2.2	3.2	.693	1.8	3.3	5.1	0.6	0.8	1.4	1.3	2.3	8.6

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