Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Googs, preseason, and the Iowa Wolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves have ratcheted up the nostalgia this week, from jerseys to an appearance from the Googs. Also, let’s talk about the preseason.

Ladies and gentlemen: it’s the last day of August, and it’s time to get excited about basketball.

The Minnesota State Fair has long been one of the key indicators of a season that is about to kick-off for the Timberwolves. It’s also been a source of (rarely justified) optimism for Wolves fans.

The Wolves timed the release of their new/old Classic uniforms perfectly to coincide with the State Fair appearances of former Timberwolves star Tom Gugliotta and head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau.

It was a perfect match for Gugliotta, who, of course, donned the threads back in the late 1990s. The Wolves even had a new version of the old black “tree” jersey made up with Googs’ name on the back.

Gugliotta sat for a podcast recording with Timberwolves.com’s Kyle Ratke that included a hilarious tidbit about 20-year-old Kevin Garnett thinking that he wouldn’t be allowed to play with stitches on his hand.

Here’s an excerpt from the story and a link to the podcast in its entirety.

"In shootaround, he went up to block a shot and kind of got a cut in between his fingers. He got a stitch or two and we had a game that night. We were about to get ready for the game and Kevin McHale walked in and saw Kevin Garnett sitting at his locker in dress clothes. McHale’s like, ‘KG, you’ve gotta get dressed.’ KG goes, ‘Nah, I cut my finger.’…I think he was getting KG to get ready and Kevin McHale walked back in the locker room and was chuckling thinking that ‘I don’t think he even think he should have played because he might bleed on someone’ or whatever it was. He wasn’t hurt or he wasn’t soft about it, he just didn’t think he could play because he had stitches."

Thibodeau’s appearance at the state fair included his relative lack of concern about the alleged discontentment of his superstar wing, Jimmy Butler.

Thibs made the rounds, speaking with Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune and Chad Hartman on WCCO.

Lastly, let’s talk a bit about the preseason and the Iowa Wolves.

The Wolves and Milwaukee Bucks have announced that their preseason game on Sunday, Oct. 7, which had previously been without a venue, will be played at the Hilton Coliseum on the Iowa State campus in Ames.

This is the fourth time the Wolves have played a game in Iowa, having played in Des Moines back in 1997 and Cedar Rapids twice, with the most recent occurrence in 2014.

It’s a savvy business move by the Wolves, looking to expand their fanbase south and lay further claim to the state of Iowa. The G League team in Des Moines was rebranded as the Iowa Wolves just last season, of course, and the Timberwolves are playing their card rights if they want to infringe on what is otherwise mostly Chicago Bulls territory.

And speaking of the Iowa Wolves, they have announced their regular season schedule for 2018-19, which will kick-off on Friday, Nov. 2 against Salt Lake City.

Stay tuned for what their roster will look like, although we can be sure it will include Timberwolves two-way contract signees Jared Terrell and C.J. Williams.