There’s some great Minnesota Timberwolves content out there, despite the continued lull in play. Also, the debate surrounding the top players of all time continues to rage.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, along with the rest of the NBA have officially started the third month of the pandemic-induced hiatus.
Early on, we all enjoyed watching throwback Wolves games, thanks to Fox Sports North and the Timberwolves organization. Then, everyone moved on to ESPN’s fantastic The Last Dance series, documenting the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls season. The series is still ongoing, but it feels as though it’s spurred on some of the current talk around the basketball-related blog and podcast space.
Now, we’re all debating the top players to have ever stepped foot on an NBA court. CBS released a list of their top 15 players of all time, and ESPN expanded their list to 74.
It goes without saying that Kevin Garnett was the only Wolves player on the list, and we discussed KG’s ranking here at Dunking With Wolves already. The No. 20 spot seemed to be about right, just ahead of Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen and just behind Dirk Nowitzki, Karl Malone, and Moses Malone.
There were perhaps a few too many current players on the list, or at least they may have been ranked too highly. But it’s also a list that could — and should — change quite a bit over the next few years.
The CBS list left Garnett out of their top 15, which is understandable, but if the survey was done even six or seven years ago it may have not turned out that way. The tail-end of Garnett’s career, combined with the rise of players like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and others have shifted these rankings enough to keep The Big Ticket in the 20 to 25 range, it appears.
Elsewhere, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic wrote a lengthy piece (subscription required) on D’Angelo Russell’s arrival to and subsequent love of the Twin Cities. There are a few great quotes in the article, so if you have a subscription be sure to check it out.
Wolves boss Gersson Rosas has hitched his wagon to a pair of young players who reached the All-Star Game in the first few seasons of their career before missing out this year for a variety of reasons. Russell finally feels wanted, and Towns has a genuine friend to lean on as the Wolves try to build something.
Here at Dunking With Wolves, we’re going to continue our review of what may or may not end up being a completed season as we begin to look forward to this year’s draft. Stay tuned!