Minnesota Timberwolves: The top 5 memorable moments from 2018
By Trey Flynn
The Minnesota Timberwolves have finished out a year that has been one of the crazier 365 days in the existence of the franchise. As 2019 begins, the Wolves’ will launch the 30th year of their organization, and 2018 objectively stands out as a perplexing outlier – for better or worse.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are 40-40 in the year of 2018, which encompasses the main struggles of this franchise over the entirety of 2018. The Wolves were only consistent at being inconsistent and teetered around mediocrity all season long.
The Wolves saw several changes to their organization over the year of 2018, specifically in the roster. Notably having players like Nemanja Bjeclica, Jamal Crawford, Shabazz Muhammed, and Jimmy Butler on the roster, which feels like that the beginning of ’18 was years ago, and not just 6-8 months back.
Alas, here the Wolves are, entering 2019 as one of the middling teams in the league that can’t seem to find a way forward without first taking a step back. However, the Wolves did end 2018 with a solid win against the flaming Miami Heat last night, so that’s a good sign.
But before we can enter the 30th year in the existence of the Wolves’ franchise in 2019, we must first appreciate what 2018 had in store for Minnesota. We’ll be looking at the top five most memorable moments from ’18, but we should first appreciate some other distinguishing moments of the year that didn’t make the cut below:
- 3-game win streak to end regular season
- Win against Denver Nuggets to enter the playoffs
- Karl-Anthony Towns signs super-max 5-year deal worth $190 million
While some of these moments will be ciphered through some of my top five of ’18, it’s important to remember the insanity of some of these. Whether it was the 3-game win streak against the Lakers, Grizzlies, and Nuggets to end the season fulfilling the Wolves’ playoff dreams, or the super-max contract extension Karl-Anthony Towns received – solidifying him as the future of the franchise.
There was a lot to be happy about in ’18, as well as a lot to be confused about.
To start off my top five moments, who else would be better than the infamous Derrick Rose and his decision to sign with Minnesota.