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Minnesota Timberwolves1

Minnesota Timberwolves1 The Minnosota Timberwolves joined the National Basketball Association for the 1989-90 season as a part of a two phase leuge expansion. Teams that also were part of this expansion were the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat, and the Chorolette hornets.(Walter 1) Two local buisness men Harvey Rutner , who were boy hood friends, brought professional basketball back to the Twin cities by purchasing the Minnosota Timberwolves. They made there fourtune in in health club chains and in real estate. They made offers to buy other professional teams before purchasing the Timberwolves,but thouse deals fell through.(1) Bill Musselman on August 23, 1988 was named head coach of the Minnosota Timberwolves. Bill Musselman had led the University of Minnosota to a Big Ten conference championship in 1971-1972 season. He also had four CBA championship teams in a row.(1) The Minnosota Timberwolves were not however the first professional team in the NBA. The Minneopolis Lakers of the early 1950’s were a dominant team of that era. The team was led by George Mikan who was one of the NBA’s first great center. The Minneoplis Lakers soon after their great success moved and became the L.A. Lakers.(1) The Minnosotta Timberwolves made their NBA debute on November 3, 1989 playing against the Seatle Supersonics at Seatle. The starting line up for the Timberwolves on this day was Sam Michell, Todd Murphy, Brad Lohaus, Tony Campbell, and Sidney Lowe. Sam Michell scored the first 2 points in club history on a pair of free throws and he also scored the first feild goal a few minutes later in the game. They Timberwolves later went on to lose this game at a final In December of their first season they opened on a high note defeating by 27 points Cleavland. Then their momentum slowed down and lost nine consecutave games. Although they were losing their games they had a tight defence and were ranked fifth in the NBA in In Feburary the Timberwolves had a six and seven record. The Timberwolves also reached a club high four game winning streak. Tony Campbell set an club high scoring record by getting The Timberwolves started their 1990-91 season off playing at the newly built Target Center. They won their first game of the season ,which was against the Dallas Maverics, before a sell out crowed. Early in the season they went down for a seven game losing streek.(2) In Janurary the Timberwolves started out with a more offensive game plan. This plan led them to a eight streek of which they scored more them 100 points per game. The team finished with twenty-nine victories for the season seven more than their first season.(3) At the end of the 1990-91 season Bill Muselman was relived of his duties and Jimmy Rogers was renamed head coach. This lead the T-Wolves into the 1991-92 season.(3) To start off their 1991-92 season the Timberwolves tried a more fast paced offense which failed and led them to lose nine of their first ten games. They had a horrable season. Many injurys hurt the teams performance and led the team to a 1-13 record in December. The Minnosota Timberwolves year record was fifteen wins and sixty-seven losses, the worst in its history. This year Campbell led the team in scoring with only 16.8 points per game. Doug west set a franchise record for a feild goal accuracy with a .518 percentage.(3) After the 1991-92 season Jack Mcloskey was named general manager of the Minnosota Timberwolves. Jack Mcloskey had a reputation as a great judge of college tallent. He was also quick to make a transaction. McClosky breifly played in the NBA and been a successful coach at the high school, college, and NBA levels.(4) In the draft for in 1992 the Timberwolves selected for the thrid pick in the entire draft Dukes star center Christian Lattner. Lattner, who was 6-11 and 233 pounds, was the consensous College Player of the Year during his senior year at Duke. He also was the all time NCAA Tournement career scoring leader with fourhundred and seven points.(4) McClosky made a big move by trading Pooh Richardson and Sam Michel to the Indiana Pacers for Chuck Person and Micheal Williams.(4) The Minnosota Timberwolves started off their 1992-93 season with six new people in their linup. In November they managed a 4-7 record. Person led the team in scoring (20.0 ppg) and in Latener got off to a good start and he averaged 19.5 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game. Other players like Doug West, Williams, Thurl Baily provided stedy play from the bench. Baily when he sat out a game on December 19th against the Golden State ended his fourhundred and fifty-one consecutive game streek.(4) In December the Timberwolves had a 1-12 record for the entire month. On Janurary eleventh the Timberwolves made a coaching change by replacing Jimmy Rogers with Sidney Lowe. Lowe was a former Timberwolve player and a former player from many other NBA teams. Before Lowe was the coach and after he retired from basketball he was a telivision analist and an assistant coach for Minnesotta. Lowe, the youngest coach in the NBA at 33, led the Timberwolves to a 13 and 40 record for the rest of the year. The Timberwolves ended up The team improved under Loweeven though they lost alot of games. They hade some positive points to their season like when Michael Williams brock the NBA record when he made 84 consecutive free-throws. Lattner set a club record for rebounds with 708 rebounds. Person set a francise record with 118 three point feild goals.(5) In the 1993-94 season Minnesota aquired Isaih Reider, who was the fifth over all pick. With Isiah the Timberwolves still lost five straight games to open the season. The Minnesotta Timberwolves ended up with a 20 and 62 record for the season. Lattner had 16.8 ppg and 8.6 rpg to top the Timberwolves in both catigories. Isiah Rider was chosen on the NBA All-Rookie first team. Isiah Rider at the all-star weekend also won the Slam-Dunk contest. The Timberwolves despite their great fan support were almost sold to a group of investers that would have moved the team to New Orleans. The NBA Board of Goveners vetoed the sale however. Another ownership group emerged promising to keep the team in Minneapolis. They also replaced Sidny Lowe for Bill Blair.(5) In 1994 the Timberwolves set an NBA record by lossing at least sixty games for four consecutive season. The team ended up in last place amoung the Midwest division. The Timberwolves were the only team to grab fewer than 3,000 rebounds over the whole season.(6) At the end of the season former Boston Celtics star Kevin McHale took over as the Minnesota Timberwolves vice president of baskeball operations, replasing retiring general maneger Jack McClosky. McHale went to work quickly and made a very bold decision by selecting high-school phenom Kevin Garnett with the fifth overall pick in the draft.(6) The 1995-96 season was another struggling season for the Timberwolves according to most people, but the Timberwolves ended there streek of losing over sixty games per season. The Timberwolves had a record of 26 wins and 56 loses. Progress this year came in spirts and for many reasons. One improvement in December Bill Blair was replased by Phil “Flip” Saunders. Saunders was a college teamate of Kevin McHale at U of Minnesota,and later he was a assistant Bibliography:

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