It’s been a couple years since I’ve written anything about the Timberwolves. There are all the normal excuses about time, life, and other priorities, but the best and most interesting excuse is that the whole premise of this blog doesn’t work anymore. The whole idea of everything that I wrote about the Timberwolves is that for some reason I’m still a die hard fan of a doomed franchise that keeps repeating past mistakes and never learns from them. The tag line for this site is “Being a Wolves fan has never been more cyclical.”
But for the first time ever in my life and the history of the franchise (which almost neatly overlap) being a Wolves fan has never been less cyclical. The last two years the Wolves made the Western Conference Finals. In 2024 I went to every home playoff game for a run that appeared after game 7 against the Nuggets, that the Wolves might actually make the NBA finals. Even after the KAT trade, the Wolves got themselves into gear in the second half and once again made it back to the Western Conference Finals.
That landmark is especially significant because the best Wolves team ever from 2004 made it as far as the Western Conference Finals and flamed out the next season. Until 2024 we’d never come anywhere close to that level of success or even expectations. I’ve romanticized that 2004 team and its success literally for decades now. Littered across posts on this site are clear yearnings from me for the Wolves to merely be a respectable second round out, assuming they could never reach that level of success again. Well, I was wrong.
So the way that I wrote about the Wolves doesn’t work anymore. But I’m still going to get back to trying to write about the Wolves. Which brings me, as it so often has in the past, to watching Las Vegas Summer League games that have almost no bearing on the future of the team. But the MLB all star break is brutal and I’ve gotta watch something.
The Wolves brought Terrence Shannon Jr and Jaylen Clark to Vegas summer league this year, two players that got minutes (limited as they were) during real moments in the playoffs this past year. There’s Rob Dillingham, who might be our point guard of the future or possibly even present. G League all star Leonard Miller is there and the first round draft pick from France Joan Beringer blocked seven shots in his first game.
As of this writing the Vegas Wolves are 3-0 and poised to compete for a summer league championship. It’s the kind of thing I would have become faux invested in before, pretending to treat it like the real thing because I never expected the Wolves to seriously compete for an actual title. That angle doesn’t play anymore.
Or does it? Who really cares? I write these posts for my own amusement. So it might be time to do something crazy. It might be time to drive from Minnesota to Las Vegas to see if the Wolves can win a ‘ship.
It’s a long drive, over 24 hours. I’ll be going solo. But I’ll be taking fun stops along the way at state capitols and minor and major league baseball games. Who knows if I’ll actually make it to Vegas? (I won’t) Is it possible that once I get to Denver I’ll stay with a friend and we’ll watch the Twins play at Coors a couple nights in a row then I’ll turn around? (yes, that’s what will happen) Am I writing this post and framing it as an excuse to start writing not knowing what I’ll cover but framing it around the Wolves because that’s what this whole blog is ostensibly based around? (correct, once again)
To those questions I give a resounding no. Or wait, I guess it’d be yes, then no and no? Yeah, that’s right. Anyhow, my answers are resounding. I’m driving to Vegas (not true, stopping in Denver). I’m going to be there for the first Wolves trophy. It’s gotta be worth at least as much as an NBA cup, and the Lakers raised a banner for one of those.
So join me for this epic adventure. It could reach a pinnacle with me storming the court after Terrence Shannon Jr nails a game winning three against a bunch of future G League players. There’s only one way to find out.
Anything Was Possible 
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