Even though it never happened, a couple of times this year the Minnesota Timberwolves were close to turning their season around.
The Minnesota Timberwolves 2016-17 season has officially come to an end, finishing with a 31-51 record.
While it isn’t the season many fans were hoping for, the Timberwolves’ star players showed they can handle an expanded load. It may take time to fill in the pieces around them but Minnesota has the building blocks to be something special.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins combined to average 48.7 points per game this season. When you add in Zach LaVine‘s 18.9 points, he gave the team a reliable third scorer before his ACL injury.
In order to compliment their stars, changes and additions will most certainly be needed this offseason. However, before we look ahead to next year, we must first look back at this year.
As we do so, there will be many times where we ask ourselves, “What if?”
What if this would have happened instead? What if this wouldn’t have happened? Where would we be then?
I think it’s only natural to languish and ponder these questions as we sulk in our sorrows. Eventually, we are going to have to move forward, but that time isn’t now.
Now is the time for reflection. The time to figure out what went wrong and what could have been different.
There were moments this season, however few and far in between, where the Timberwolves looked as though they might finally turn things around. They gave fans just enough rays of light to hold their attention.
There were critical moments when the season could have been swayed one way or the other. A few times, Minnesota was on the verge of busting a slump or getting on a hot streak.
Even though those moments never happened, we look back at what could have been.
These are four crucial, defining aspects of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season.