Minnesota Timberwolves: Top 30 greatest players of all-time
By Ben Beecken
Center. Minnesota Timberwolves. Dean Garrett. 25. player. 86.
- Five seasons with Timberwolves (1996-97, 1998-2001)
- Averaged 4.2 points and 4.3 rebounds with the Timberwolves
Dean Garrett played two separate stints with the Timberwolves. The first came as a 30-year-old rookie in 1996-97 after spending eight years playing overseas.
After a season with the Denver Nuggets where he started all 82 games, he was traded back to the Timberwolves along with Bobby Jackson. He spent the next three-plus seasons in Minnesota before finishing his career with a five-game stint with Golden State.
Garrett was a part-time starter in his first two full seasons in Minnesota but by 1999-2000 he was playing just 10.8 minutes per game. He was never a very good offensive player, only shooting 48 percent from the field for his career despite shooting most of his shots around the rim.
Garrett was a great defender, however, and contributed greatly on that end of the floor. He was Kevin Garnett’s partner-in-crime when it came to protecting the paint, and the two were a formidable duo for several years in a row.
The end of Garrett’s career coincided with the slow decline of the true, defensive-minded center in the NBA. But he was always a solid matchup for the star centers in the league, including Shaquille O’Neal, Vlade Divac, and Alonzo Mourning, among others.
The Garrett-Garnett duo was part of four consecutive playoff squads, although it was the midst of the Wolves’ almost yearly foray into the first round of the postseason. He never reached the second round, but was still an important part of a series of decent teams, and that’s enough for No. 25.