The Minnesota Timberwolves are one of the NBA’s newest teams, having entered the league in 1989. Their head coach is former NBA player Randy Wittman. The team vice president of basketball operations is former Hall of Fame forward Kevin McHale. They play their home games in the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Early Years

The first few years were rough ones for the T-Wolves. They won only 22 games in their inaugural campaign, and improved to 29 wins the following year. Firing their coach, Bill Musselman, didn’t help matters. Under new coach Jimmy Rodgers, the Wolves only won 15 games, the worst record in the NBA.

The T-Wolves selected high school phenom Kevin Garnett in 1995 and picked up New York playground legend and Georgia Tech point guard Stephon Marbury in 1996. Thw two players guided the T-Wolves to their first-ever playoff appearance in the 1996-97 season. They were swept in three games by the Houston Rockets in the first round.

In 1997, Kevin Garnett was signed to the most lucrative contract in league history, a 6-year, $126 million blockbuster that is generally blamed for the NBA’s ensuing lockout. The huge contract also fomented some bad blood inside the Minnesota organization, as Marbury fumed about not being the team’s highest-paid player. Marbury refused to sign a contract extension, and the T-Wolves were forced to trade him to the New Jersey Nets during the lockout-shortened 1999 season. The trade split up what many fans hoped would be a championship nucleus.

Playoff Appearances

Despite the inner and outer turmoil of the 1999 season, the T-Wolves managed to make the playoffs for a third straight time, with a 25-25 record. They lost in the first round to the San Antonio Spurs.

Kevin Garnett, the team’s star, had begun to gain a reputation for being a great regular-season player but disappearing in the playoffs. The team was regarded as one that could get to the playoffs but could not advance. They lost in the first round to the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1999-2000 playoffs. (Guard Malik Sealy was killed in a car crash in the ensuing offseason) In 2000-01, they lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the first round. They were swept in the first round by the Dallas Mavericks the following year. A seven-game loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002-03 made it seven straight first-round eliminations for the Timberwolves.

Desperate to shake things up, the Minnesota front office traded for guards Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell in 2003. The two veterans helped spur the T-Wolves to a 58-24 record and finally got the team out of the first round of the playoffs. They beat the Denver Nuggets in the first round, and the Sacramento Kings in the second round. However, they fell to the Lakers in the conference finals.

The 2003-04 season was the apex of the team’s fortunes, however. The team has not returned to the playoffs since.

2007-08 Season

The 2007-08 season will mainly be remembered as the year the T-Wolves traded away their franchise player. In a move that would have NBA title implications (though not for Minnesota), Kevin Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics for five, players and two first-round draft picks. Thus ended the Kevin Garnett era in Minnesota.

The T-Wolves posted a 22-60 record in 2007-08.

2008-09 Outlook

With a very young roster comprised of Randy Foye, Al Jefferson and Mike Miller, the T-Wolves find themselves looking up at much of the Western Conference. Few people expect them to compete for a playoff spot in the upcoming season, but with a lot of youth on the roster, the future could be bright for the Minnesota Timberwolves.