Minnesota Timberwolves:
KG out of the first round but still not satisfied

The Minnesota Timberwolves are still considered one of the young pups of the National Basketball Association as far as the franchise goes. The team entered the NBA before the 1989-’90 season and didn’t enjoy a great deal of success during their first five seasons. The team then took their luck into the draft where they took a chance with their number five pick and grabbed the 6’11” skinny power forward out of Farragut Academy in Illinois Kevin Garnett. Guys like Antonio McDyess and Joe Smith had been picked before Garnett and most GMs thought the T’Wolves had taken him too early. Little did the GMs know that the kid Minnesota drafted would one day turn into “The Kid” that we see today. Garnett had an average rookie season and he didn’t fare all that well against his fellow rookies when he only finished sixth in the Rookie of the Year Award voting. Each season he’s improved his game and slowly become one of the elite players in the NBA. He’s in a very elite class of players that can dominate the game in the post with Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal. Of those three players Garnett is by far the most versatile. Garnett can handle the ball play on the perimeter and knock down a three when needed and neither Duncan nor O’Neal can step outside of the three point line. Garnett also brings a type of ferocity to the defensive end that is unparalleled in the league. He routinely sends blocks into the stands and will yell out a primal scream after he sends the ball flying. Garnett is also an athletic freak of nature. He habitually will let a player shoot a ball and then instead of blocking it he will jump into the air and bring it down with one hand. That’s easily one of the most embarrassing things that can be done to someone on the basketball court and Garnett is the only one who can do it on a regular basis in the NBA.

Since becoming and NBA superstar Garnett never had a great supporting cast. Garnett had to carry the team into the playoffs every year and every year they couldn’t make it past the first round. He would also be asked questions about why he wouldn’t try and take over games when it got into crunch time. Garnett was labeled as a player that couldn’t lift his team to the next level, but what no one realized was that the team already was playing on a higher level then they would normally be playing without Garnett. Last season the Timberwolves went out and got KG some help. They brought in veteran guards Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell to help KG and the Timberwolves get out of the first round of the playoffs. The team finished with a 58-24 record which was the best in the Western Conference and earned the number one seed in the playoffs. Conventional thinking would figure that Garnett’s numbers would suffer because he had more help but The Kid got even better and averaged 24.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.5 steals a game on his way to his first ever MVP award and ended Tim Duncan’s MVP streak at two. In the first round of the playoffs they met up against the Denver Nuggets and won a hard fought series 4-1. For the first time ever the T’Wolves were in the second round of the playoffs and KG and company would make sure that they would go even further. In the second round they matched up with the Sacramento Kings. It was an incredible series that went the distance, all the way to game seven. In the final game Garnett raised his game to a whole other level and scored 32 points, grabbed 21 rebounds and had five blocks. In the Western Conference Finals Minnesota went toe to toe with the Los Angeles Lakers who had eliminated them the year before. The series went six games and the Lakers prevailed and eventually got embarrassed by the Detroit Pistons in the Finals.

The team didn’t have very much activity during the off-season. They kept their free agents Trenton Hassell, Fred Hoiberg, and Troy Hudson and will hope that they will improve in the off-season thus making the bench a little better than last season. In the draft, it was Minnesota’s last year of not having a first round pick. The team had their first round picks stripped away for three years because of their under the table deal with Joe Smith. With the lone second round pick the T’Wolves picked up Gonazga point guard Blake Stepp. Stepp will have trouble making the team, but with time he should develop into a Steve Kerr type player that specializes in the three point shot.

Minnesota’s starting five is arguably the most talented starting squad in the entire league. At point guard is Sam Cassell, at shooting guard is Trenton Hassell, at small forward is Latrell Sprewell, at power forward is Kevin Garnett and at center is former number one overall draft pick Michael Olowokandi.

The Timberwolves bench is very talented and very versatile. Backing up Cassell and Hassell are Troy Hudson and Fred Hoiberg. Behind Sprewell and Garnett are Wally Szczerbiak and Mark Madsen. Behind Olowokandi is Ervin Johnson who said he came back into the NBA just so he could help KG win a ring.

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