Minnesota Timberwolves: Uncharted territory for fans

One could argue that being a Minnesota Timberwolves supporter is one of the most difficult journeys that an American sports fan can endure. After 13 years of futility, how should Wolves enthusiasts handle this newfound optimism?

Going 13 consecutive seasons without making the playoffs in a league that allows over half of its teams in is almost an impressive feat. Add this to the fact that the NBA incentivizes ineptitude and losing by rewarding high selections (and the increased likelihood of landing a young star) through the draft lottery system. The Minnesota Timberwolves have failed to cash in on this incentive for far too long, and the perpetual feeling of “next year is our year” has now become a stale phrase.

After an almost impossibly long streak of incompetent decision-making, the Wolves seem to be in a place they haven’t seen in a very long time. Gone are the days of signing reclamation projects like Darko Milicic (insert puking noise here), unheard-of foreigners (looking at you, Alexey Shved), and past-their-prime stars with no hope left (Brandon Roy, anyone?).

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No, the sports community now sees the Timberwolves as a central talking point. In a local sports market that is dominated by the Minnesota Vikings, saturated with die-hard Minnesota Wild supporters, and packed with optimistic Twins fans, the Wolves have repeatedly stolen the headlines throughout the summer.

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New stars in Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague. Arena renovations to Target Center. Fresh jerseys and logo. And now Kyrie Irving, a bona fide superstar who listed the Wolves on the short-list of his preferred destinations. Timberwolves fans have had no shortage of new information to read throughout NBA “offseason”. It’s been an exciting summer, but how should we react?

Change in fan mindset.

The issue with going through so many miserable years as a fan is the natural pessimism that it leads to.

After so many failed decisions, we look for what will go wrong instead of focusing on the potential positives. Proof of this theory can be found as recently as a few short weeks ago. After obtaining Jimmy Butler, a universally applauded move, a significant number of Wolves fans weren’t satisfied with the ensuing transactions.

Jeff Teague? Not as good as our former passing wizard Ricky Rubio. Taj Gibson? Sure he can play defense, but he can’t shoot! Jamal Crawford? He has declining stats and is going to be 37 years old for all of next season. For every positive, Wolves supporters search for multiple negatives to offset it. It’s a coping mechanism for traumatized fans. Who can blame them after all of the disappointing results they’ve had to endure?

But it’s a new day. The Timberwolves are essentially an awkward middle-school kid that nobody used to pay attention to, but have evolved into a good-looking teenager who all the pretty girls now want to flirt with. As fans, we aren’t really used to this kind of positive attention. Sure, maybe the Timberwolves didn’t acquire all of the ideal pieces that fans wanted. But how many NBA franchises can truly have that luxury?

How did we get here?

It’s been quite the journey back to relevance for the Timberwolves fan-base. Starting with the post-Kevin Garnett era, it has been a roller coaster ride for the franchise (only without a whole lot of peaks). The trade of the team’s only real star up to that point put the team behind the proverbial 8-ball. It was a predicament that wasn’t to be solved quickly. The return package for Garnett left much to be desired. As good as Al Jefferson was, he couldn’t come close to carrying the franchise like Garnett had for so long.

Moving along to the years of David Kahn is something that I should probably skip, but his clumsiness as head of the franchise was almost as hilarious as it was nightmare-inducing. Drafting both Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynn over Steph Curry is something that will forever go down in basketball infamy. Selecting Wesley Johnson over guys like Demarcus Cousins, Gordon Hayward, and Paul George probably wasn’t the brightest move. After a laundry list of additional awful decisions, Kahn was mercifully relieved of his duties in 2013.

The turning point and upward swing.

But here is when things began to change. Flip Saunders, the former coach and figurehead in the franchise’s brightest years, returned as President of Basketball Operations. However, it didn’t take long for more turmoil to appear in the form of a Kevin Love trade demand. Saunders played the situation well, something his predecessor most likely wouldn’t have, and flipped a disgruntled Love for recent number one overall pick Andrew Wiggins to go along with the Wolves selection of Zach Lavine.

Fast forward through a couple more difficult seasons and the Wolves put together a roster of exciting young talent. Karl-Anthony Towns was the prize of a dismal 2014-15 campaign, turning into possible the most promising player in the league. Wiggins evolved into a 20-point-per-game scorer. Zach LaVine turned his otherworldly athleticism into an explosive offensive game as a shooter and slasher.

Flip Saunders unexpected and unfortunate death caused a significant setback. But owner Glen Taylor recovered by hiring possibly the best coach on the market in Tom Thibodeau. The wins weren’t surmounting as fast as most hoped and expected, but things were looking up.

After one season at the helm as head coach and President of Basketball Operations, Tom Thibodeau decided to shake things up. It began by trading the aforementioned Zach Lavine and former high draft pick Kris Dunn for star Jimmy Butler. Thibs continued his overhaul by switching out Timberwolves staple Ricky Rubio for Jeff Teague. He rounded out free agency by acquiring former Bull Taj Gibson and three-time 6^th Man of the Year Jamal Crawford, with a couple of moves still sure to come.

What lies ahead?

These improvements have led to people around the league taking notice. Kyrie Irving mentioned the Wolves as one of his preferred teams after his trade request. Take a moment and realize how strange that sounds to say. Three years ago, the Timberwolves were looked at as the laughing stock of the NBA. They had a 16-66 record(!) and were accused by some for deliberately tanking games. Three years later and a superstar from a team who just played in the NBA Finals for the third straight year is requesting a trade to this former laughing stock. Try not to get whiplash. It’s amazing how fast things can change.

In order for the Kyrie Irving-to-Minnesota scenario to take place, Andrew Wiggins would almost certainly be part of the deal. This is a divisive topic for the Wolves community. Regardless of your opinion, think about this: either the Timberwolves are going to keep a star 22 year old wing who figures to only improve, or land a 4-time All Star and NBA Finals hero. After everything we’ve been through as followers of this team since the Kevin Garnett years, both of those options are pretty dang good.

As a fan-base, we have been put through an awful lot over the last 13 years. Adding Tom Thibodeau and Jimmy Butler to a promising group of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins puts us fans in uncharted territory. Excitement for the upcoming extends past the diehard supporters for the first time in a very long time. It’s not something that we really know how to respond to. But my advice would be to sit back, trust Tom Thibodeau’s vision, and enjoy the new environment of relevant NBA basketball.