Top Ten Timberwolves of All Time

A Very Serious Ranking of the 10 Greatest Timberwolves of All Time

The Timberwolves have a long and storied history as an NBA franchise. Wait, that’s not right. Let me try again. The Timberwolves have been an NBA franchise for over 30 years. For over ten years, Kevin Garnett played with them when he was in his prime. Numerous other players have played for them at other points. I think. There was that one time Jimmy played for us and we made the playoffs and there was that other year that Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio were both healthy and we almost finished .500.

Given such a decorated history it wasn’t easy to narrow down the list of Timberwolves to just the ten greatest. But what follows is without a doubt the top ten, completely objective, and backed up by all the advanced stats one could ask for.

10. Josh Okogie

In his lone season so far with the Wolves Josh Okogie attempted the fourth most three pointers on the team, sinking a less than stellar 27.9% of them. Andrew Wiggins is often derided for his lack of range, shot 6% better. The only Wolves with a worse true shooting percentage were Tyus Jones (just wait), Keita Bates-Diop, Jerryd Bayless, and Jared Terrell. Not only that, but he had the lowest assist percentage of any guard on the team, even lower than noted playmakers Taj Gibson and Gorgui Dieng.

So what makes him the tenth greatest Timberwolf of all time? DEFENSE!!!

DUNKS!!!

And most of all, STUFFS!!!!!!

The amount of adulation that Okogie receives from Wolves fans is disproportionate to his overall value right now. But you can see why he gets it. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. When he goes for the ball you are at times genuinely concerned for his general well being. Josh Okogie hasn’t done much yet, but he’s still pretty clearly earned his spot in the top ten.

9. The Hype Guy that looked a lot like Wally Szczerbiak

Picture the scene. It’s 2011. The Wolves are losing by 16 entering the fourth quarter to Tyreke Evans and the Sacramento Kings. You’re thinking about leaving early to beat traffic but then remember there will hardly be any traffic to beat. A man appears on the screen at the Target Center and he will not stop imploring you and 7,000 other fans to get on your feet. He bears a striking resemblance to Wally Szczerbiak.

“LET’S HEAR IT WOLVES FANS! IT’S THE FOURTH QUARTER AND THIS IS OUR HOUSE!”

You wonder what Antoine Walker level mistakes Wally Szczerbiak must have made to be relegated to be an arena host for the Timberwolves. If he needed money couldn’t he have gotten a job playing ball overseas? This job couldn’t pay much and he can’t be that washed up, can he be? Your friend that you came to the game with points out that there’s no way this guy on the screen is 6’7, so it can’t be Wally. You feel an odd mixture of disappointment and relief. Meanwhile, he’s still shouting in an attempt to get fans excited for off balance mid range jumpers by Michael Beasley.

You resent that this is the product you’re being asked to stand and cheer for. But sitting means there’s virtually no chance you get a free t-shirt that you will never wear, so you slowly rise and lift up your hands.

8. Thaddeus Young

I know what you’re thinking. Thad Young barely even played a half season with the Wolves, and it was the ugly 2014-2015 effort at that. Though he played well enough, he had no significant moment that made him stand out as a Timberwolf.

That’s where you’d be wrong.

Without Thaddeus Young, we never would have gotten Kevin Garnett. In 2015. The ancient, past his prime KG. That played all of 43 games as a Timberwolf over two seasons in the final two years in the league. Maybe you think getting that version didn’t matter and that the Wolves should have traded Young for a better player, or at least someone younger and more promising.

That’s where you’d be wrong.

Not only would it make you wrong, it would mean you have no soul. KG’s first game back in the Target Center in 2015 was electric. How many 16-66 teams sell out games in February? KG coming back to the Wolves made it feel like the NBA mattered in Minnesota again. When a co-worker asked what you’d done over the weekend, you wouldn’t have to mutter under your breath “I went to the Wolves game….” and hope that they didn’t hear you, lest the casual mocking of a team that you should’ve given up on long ago begin. KG coming back to the Wolves gave permission to fans to feel good about the franchise, to be reminded of a time when things weren’t quite so bleak.

So thanks go out to Thaddeus Young, for the part he played in making the NBA relevant in Minnesota again. His spot in the top ten is well deserved.

7. Marcus Georges-Hunt

It seems long ago, but there was a time when the one thing keeping the Timberwolves from a Western Conference Finals appearance was the lack of playing time for an undrafted 23 year old wing that had only played more than 20 minutes in a game three times in his career.

While Tom Thibodeau played lineups featuring combinations with phenomenal spacing and switching potential like Tyus Jones-Jamal Crawford-Andrew Wiggins-Taj Gibson-Gorgui Deing, Georges-Hunt languished on the bench. His 29.4% three point shooting was hardly ever allowed to come into the game to make the impact the Wolves so clearly needed.

The facts can’t be denied. The Wolves were undefeated when Georges-Hunt played at least 20 minutes! Undefeated! Yes, it was only two games, but still!

On January 20, 2018 the Toronto Raptors visited the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jimmy Butler is injured and unavailable to play for the Wolves. Georges-Hunt plays his career high 29 minutes off the bench, getting to the free throw line eight times and helps limit DeMar DeRozan to 20 points on 7-16 shooting, with just two trips to the foul line. The Wolves win 115-109, and enter the next day tied for third in the West.

On January 22, 2018 the Wolves visit the Clippers. Jimmy is still out and will be for the foreseeable future. Georges-Hunt comes off the bench with 20 clutch minutes and the Wolves win 126-118. They pass the Spurs and trail only the Warriors and Rockets in the standings. Georges-Hunt never plays 20 minutes in a game for the rest of the season. The Wolves barely qualify for the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. They receive a gentleman’s sweep at the hands of Houston in the first round of the playoffs. Jimmy Butler demands a trade that offseason and Wolves fans are left wondering when their team will ever have a chance that good again.

The facts speak for themselves. If Thibs had played Georges-Hunt more instead of letting his starters average 54 minutes per game the Wolves would have made the conference finals. Jimmy maybe wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place due to overuse. He and KAT would be best friends in present day.

Now, a skeptic would say that Georges-Hunt didn’t hit threes in the NBA. A skeptic would say in that win over the Clippers it was Andrew Wiggins 40 point effort on 16-28 shooting that won the Wolves the game, not the defense which allowed the Clippers to shoot 56% from the field. A skeptic might point out that Georges-Hunt has yet to play in an NBA game after his brief Wolves career.

But I’m telling you, I was there! If Georges-Hunt got the playing time he deserved the Wolves could have been a different team! It could have resulted in the second greatest playoff run in Timberwolves history! Instead he only really played when Jimmy was hurt. The Wolves decided to stick with their approach of only giving two wings (Butler and Wiggins) any real playing time in games.

Just because he didn’t get the playing time he deserved, doesn’t mean Georges-Hunt isn’t a top ten Timberwolf of all time. All it does is keep him out of the top five.

6. Jimmy Butler

Listen, I know Jimmy’s tenure was rocky in Minnesota. The video of the infamous practice speaks for itself.

But you can’t sit here and tell me it wasn’t exciting. Hell, I still think the trade to get Jimmy from Chicago was worth it. We made the playoffs! He cared about the game more than anybody else on the court. I cannot be convinced otherwise. Other than KG he’s clearly the best two way player in Timberwolf history.

Is he a giant hypocrite? Will he say all he cares about is winning and then finagle his way onto a Miami Heat team that probably won’t get out of the first round of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference? Yes. No doubt. But the ride was fun while it lasted. Don’t pretend it wasn’t.

5. Tyus Jones

Meet possibly the most popular player in franchise history, Apple Valley product Tyus Jones. It cannot be questioned that the largest and most unforgivable mistake the Gersson Rosas regime has made was not matching the offer sheet that Tyus got from Memphis. Did no one tell Gersson who Tyus is? Did he not know? Did he not care?

Tyus has accomplished a lot more than being a local product to make the NBA. He’s able to play point guard in a relatively aesthetically pleasing manner. Frankly the idea that Gersson let Tyus walk for just $26.4 million over three years without getting anything in return speaks volumes about this new regime.

This is the same Tyus Jones that is coming off a 2018-2019 campaign where he was finally able to get legit playing time, averaging over 20 minutes per game for the first time. And Tyus rewarded the Wolves by shooting 41.5% from the field and 31.7% from three. There’s a reason why in the midst of the internal KAT-Jimmy struggle, Jimmy acknowledged the team really belonged to Tyus.

Target Center just won’t be the same without several mid 20s inebriated Apple Valley grads yelling “PUT IN TYUS!!” at Ryan Saunders just halfway through the first quarter.

4. Ricky Rubio

The Timberwolves franchise was in a dark place when it drafted Ricky Rubio. It was 2009, KG had been traded two years prior. Al Jefferson had put up some decent numbers but was nowhere near approaching a franchise level player. But then they drafted a point guard with otherworldly skills. We didn’t have to wonder whether or not Ricky was capable of playing against the best in the world. He’d already done it at 2008 in the Olympics.

Yes, there were rumblings that Ricky didn’t want to play for the Wolves. But it was difficult to blame him. The Wolves were a joke. The fact that he stayed away for the first two years made him all the more enticing. It made him inspire that much more hope.

When he arrived he wasn’t a franchise savior but he made the Timberwolves fun to watch. In his six seasons with the Wolves he averaged 8.5 assists. His court vision was something else. He had great defensive instincts and knew when to jump passing lanes. He led the Wolves in on court +/- per 100 possessions in two of those six seasons and was second in another two.

No, he couldn’t shoot three pointers very well, at just 31.5% for the Wolves. And even more crucially he wasn’t good at finishing near the rim, shooting 47.7% within three feet of the hoop during his years in Minnesota.

Stats like those often dominated the public discourse about Ricky. But what you thought about Ricky always seemed like it was a litmus test for whether or not you were a real Wolves fan. Did you fixate on the shooting percentages like a fair weather fan? Or did you watch him play in person and appreciate his beautiful game? Ricky was probably never as bad as his haters thought nor as valuable as the most ardent Wolves fan thought.

But there was just no doubt about it, watching Ricky play was fun. Whether or not he could lead the Wolves to the playoffs or be a franchise player was beside the point. If Ricky Rubio wasn’t a good basketball player it just meant that basketball wasn’t a good enough sport.

3. Sam Cassell

Stephon Marbury. Troy Hudson. Wally Szczerbiak. Tom Gugliotta. Chauncey Billups. Kevin Garnett’s early running partners in the NBA all had something in common. They were not playoff tested. None of them had any playoff appearances other than their stints in the first round with Minnesota.

In walks Sam Cassell. Cassell had back to back championships with the Rockets in the mid 90s. He’d been the starting point guard for the Bucks during a deep playoff run to the conference finals in 2001. He had credentials. He knew what it took.

Not only did he have the experience, it turned out that he still was really good too. Cassell made the all star team (his only appearance) in 2004 with the Wolves. He averaged a career high 19.8 points and added in 7.3 assists. A career high 48.8% from the field and 39.8% from three.

If Cassell had been able to play more than five minutes total from games 4-6 of the Western Conference finals, maybe the Wolves come out of the west that year. It’s not that unfathomable. And no, Sam wasn’t able to maintain that 2004 pace the next year. But you can’t blame him for 2005. That season was doomed pretty much from the start.

He only played two seasons with the Wolves, but given that so few seasons in Wolves history really matter its those years that count the most. And Sam Cassell sure did everything he could to bring the Wolves as far as possible.

2. Trenton Hassell

I know what you’re thinking, Trenton Hassell at number two? Is this list as serious as its title suggests? Absolutely. There are few players in Wolves history overly romanticized more than Trenton Hassell. He was a key cog in that teams run. He started 74 games, was on the floor for each of the three most common lineup combinations, just a classic Bruce Bowen esque three and d player.

At least that’s what I always think of when I think of Trenton Hassell. Same goes for most Wolves fans. It turns out, he actually couldn’t shoot threes. He only attempted 13 total during the 2003-2004 season, sinking four of them. He was a floor spacer in the sense that 54.3% of his shots came from between 16 feet from the basket and the three point line. And he made a very respectable 45% of those shots.

Hassell spent four seasons in Minnesota, blissfully getting traded to the Mavericks a few weeks before the 2007-2008 season started. He thrived as a low usage know your role player even when he was playing heavy minutes. And rest assured, anytime you’re talking to another Wolves fan about the 2004 team (which happens early in conversations with Wolves fans an embarrassing amount of the time) bring up how important Trenton Hassell was to the team if you want to display your bona fides.

1. Kevin Garnett

Is this list a joke? Is it serious? It doesn’t matter. KG has to be number one. No one will ever equal him. Even when he was a shell of himself in 2015-2016 he led the team in defensive rating and +/- per 100 possessions at +6.3, next best was Ricky at +0.6. He was the best player in the NBA from 2003-2008, in the aftermath of of Shaq’s prime and before LeBron reached his. Yes, three of those seasons his team didn’t make the playoffs. His teammates were garbage. KG never was. He brought it. Even in this list where I’m making fun of almost every one of these players, I would never even feign that with KG. He will always be the greatest Timberwolf. There will never be another player quite like him in the history of basketball.