Minnesota Timberwolves: 30 Team Previews In 30 Days

2009-'10 Statistics

Finished 15-67, fifth in Northwest Division, 15th in Western Conference

Postseason

Missed Postseason

Additions and Re-Signings

• Michael Beasley
• Wesley Johnson (2010 Draft)
• Trevor Booker (2010 Draft)
• Paulo Prestes (2010 Draft)
• Lazar Hayward (2010 Draft)
• Greg Stiemsma
• Martell Webster
• Anthony Tolliver
• Darko Milicic
• Sebastian Telfair
• Luke Ridnour

Losses

• Ryan Hollins
• Ryan Gomes
• Al Jefferson
• Ramon Sessions 

Seven years ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves won their first division championship and were two games away from their first NBA finals appearance. The next season they missed the postseason for the first time in eight years by only going 44-38.

The following five seasons would feature win totals of less than 33, capped off by their worst season in franchise history when they recorded only 15 wins.

Times have changed for the worse in Minnesota and this team is suffering badly.

The glory years of Kevin Garnett leading the Wolves to 50 win seasons and postseasons are long gone and now with the departure of Al Jefferson, the team has no true leader and a roster full of inexperienced talent and a bench of no-name's.

Sadly, the Timberwolves biggest acquisition of the season was a trade that brought in former No. 2 pick Michael Beasley.

Beasley was a heralded player at the college ranks as a member of Kansas State, but has yet to transition that game to the NBA aside from a few flashes of brilliance. In his two years in the league, Beasley has averaged 14 points and six rebounds, coupled with a number of off court issues that included a bag of marijuana seen near him in a picture on his twitter account.

The main issue with Beasley's game is that he doesn't utilize his strength's and instead tries to force plays that he can't complete. Beasley has an uncanny ability to drive the lane and draw fouls, but would rather take difficult, long range jump shots that isn't part of his game.

His former teammate Dwyane Wade preferred Udonis Haslem over Beasley late in game's because of "B-Easy's" streaky shooting and poor judgement.

If Minnesota can utilize Beasley's strength's, then they have received a gem of a player that can score 20 points and grab 10 rebounds on any given night.

He'll be expected to back-up Kevin Love at the start of the season and could add fire power that has been expected of him since he joined the league two years ago now that he is under less pressure to start.

While veteran leadership is the farthest accolade this team can boast, considering that their oldest starter is 25 years old, they do have a plethora of young players that each possess the ability to become an all-star in the future.

Minnesota's 20 year old point guard Jonny Flynn is already on the right track to succeed and leading this team from the basement they reside in at the moment.

Flynn averaged 14 points and four assists as an undersized point guard last season. While it can be difficult for any player to thrive in the T'Wolves current system, Flynn has showed that he not only has the ability to drive, but the range to go along with it.

In his rookie season, Flynn averaged one three-point shot per game, shooting 36 percent from the floor.

If there was one true leader on this team, it would be now third year power forward Kevin Love.

Love averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds last season coming off the bench behind Jefferson and will get his first chance to start now that the T'Wolves former offensive leader has departed for a brighter future in Utah.

Love has established himself as one of the NBA's top offensive rebounding leaders at nearly four per game, as well as being an all-around terrific rebounder at 10 for his short career.

With Love set to get a significant amount of playing time rather than coming off the bench, the Timberwolves will see a drastic improvement in rebounding and versatility considering that Love has a mid-range game and somewhat of a three-point shot to go along with posting up.

As a 15 win team last season, the T'Wolves got a lottery pick and were unfortunate enough to only come away with the fourth pick.

With that pick, they took swing man Wesley Johnson out of Syracuse University.. Johnson exhibits an impressive jump shot with range to spare, as well as an ability to rebound the basketball.

The 16 points are a nice stat any up and coming team desires, but Johnson is a 23- year-old rookie and has a difficult time creating his own shot. In the offensive system that the T'Wolves put out on a nightly basis, Johnson is going to need to learn to create his own shot and find a way to get to the line more than the four attempts he averaged in his senior season.

Minnesota is going to need a few years to begin securing seasons even close to above .500 due to the inexperience of the roster and inept coaching ability of Kurt Rambis, who favored to start Darko Milicic last season instead of sending him to the bench in favor of Kevin Love.

The T'Wolves also gave one of the NBA's biggest busts $20 million over the next four years.

While players like Flynn, Love and Beasley are all potential All-Stars in the future, the T'Wolves have a lot of growing up to do and a lot to learn if they ever want to become a Western Conference contender again. They have the players, but they will need proper guidance and training if Minnesota wants to see 50 wins again in the next decade.

Projected Starting Lineup

• PG-Jonny Flynn
• SG-Corey Brewer
• SF-Wesley Johnson
• PF-Kevin Love
• C-Darko Milicic

Prediction

17-65

This is part 17 in a 30-day series of previews for each NBA team for the upcoming 2010-2011 season. My profile contains the other teams that I have already previewed.