Kevin Garnett

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El próximo mes de mayo Kevin Garnett recibirá el merecido reconocimiento de ingresar en el Salón de la Fama. La larga espera terminará en 15 de Mayo, en el Mohegan Sun Arena de Connecticut y sirviendo de maestro de ceremonias de la ilustre estrella de los Minnesota Timberwolves, otra leyenda de la NBA, Isiah Thomas (miembro del Salón de la Fama desde el año 2000).

Tendrá de compañeros de viaje, a ilustres personajes en la historia de la NBA, como son Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan o Rudy Tomjanovich.

“Siento que he dedicado muchas horas y a superar muchas adversidades para llegar hasta aquí”, dijo el legendario ex jugador de Wolves, en una entrevista concedida a ESPN. “No ha habido excusas, siempre aprendiendo y construyendo. Es la combinación de todo eso. Ser llamado para el Hall of Fame es todo”, añadió.

Todo ello cuando se dio a conocer la gran noticia de que la gran estrella de los Timberwolves de finales del siglo XX y comienzos del siglo XXI, estaría en el lugar que merece.

Si miramos las estadísticas históricas de la franquicia de Minnesota, Garnett está presente en el primer lugar de los más importantes apartados estadísticos, con los Timberwolves.

Disputó con los Timberwolves 970 juegos, para un total de 36189 minutos disputados con Minnesota, logrando un total de 19.201 puntos, 4.216 asistencias y 10.718 rebotes. Siempre siendo el líder histórico de los Lobos, en esas estadísticas, así como en lanzamientos a canasta, canastas anotadas, triples-dobles logrados, tapones y una larga lista de logros, que le han convertido en leyenda de los Timberwolves y de la NBA.

El próximo de mes de mayo, Garnett será honrado por la comunidad de la NBA, de forma merecida, pero también serán honrados de los Lobos de Minnesota, y esa fecha no solo será histórica a nivel particular para Garnett, sino que también será una fecha histórica para los Timberwolves de Minnesota, porque honrar a esta leyenda de Minnesota es también honrar a la organización.

Se acerca el momento, pasará a la historia y será una fecha para la celebración.

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Kevin Garnett Protagonista En El Salón De La Fama

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Without debate, there is no date in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 31-year history more important than June 28, 1995. 

Gathered at Rogers Centre in Toronto, the Wolves held the fifth pick in the 1995 NBA Draft. The team's options following the Washington Bullets' selection of Rasheed Wallace at No. 4 included Bryant Reeves, the standout big man from Oklahoma State; Damon Stoudamire, the zippy point guard from Arizona; or UCLA's Ed O'Bannon, who had recently led the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA Championship. 

Instead, the Wolves did something that hadn't been done since 1975: they took a chance on a high school entrant, selecting 6-11 forward Kevin Garnett from Farragut Academy in Chicago. 

While in Minnesota, Garnett led the Timberwolves to eight consecutive playoff appearances while earning the NBA's 2004 Most Valuable Player award, 10 NBA All-Star appearances, eight All-NBA nominations, and eight All-Defensive Team nods along the way. The 'Big Ticket' returned to the Wolves in February 2015 following stints with the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets, and retired after the 2015-16 NBA season as the franchise's all-time leader in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and games played.

Garnett was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020, alongside contemporaries Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. Induction has been delayed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Celebrating The 25th Anniversary Of The 1995 NBA Draft

minkdavidson

In October, it will be five years since Phil “Flip” Saunders died from complications with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily demands of the NBA, and when we do, we often forget to reflect on just what Flip meant to his Minnesota Timberwolves franchise.

We will receive a reminder of Flip’s impact on Minnesota basketball on Sunday, April 5, when Fox Sports North re-airs the Wolves’ Oct. 28, 2015, game against the Los Angeles Lakers at 6 p.m. CT. The 112-111 Wolves win was their 2015 season opener and the team’s first game after Flip’s death.

Whether you were directly affiliated with the team at the time or not, the week of Flip’s death was hard on everyone. That, of course, is a testament to Flip’s legacy.

You can’t measure or compare grief, but the pain felt by Flip’s players and colleagues was tangible during what should have been a joyous lead-up to their upcoming season.

The start of the 2015-16 season was supposed to be centered on No. 1 draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns' NBA debut, Kevin Garnett’s last stand of his 21-year career and Ricky Rubio’s return from his left ankle surgery.

Instead, the season opener came just three days after Flip’s passing.

How was the franchise supposed to focus on anything other than the death of the man who had been its glue for so many years?

“When something like that happens to someone so special to all of us, there’s no blueprint to know what’s right and what’s wrong,” Towns said the morning of his NBA debut. “It’s just something you have to deal with individually. But as a team, we’re doing a great job of supporting each other tremendously and making sure we all have each other’s backs.

“The vision that we have for ourselves is what he had. He instilled in us that we can be a special team if we just come together and do something for one common goal.”

With Flip’s vision in mind, the Wolves played for each other. They played for Flip.

The season opener was in Los Angeles, but the Wolves and Lakers still had something special planned for the man who not only impacted his own team but who also shaped the lives of so many of his NBA peers.

The Wolves took the court at Staples Center wearing gray warmup shirts that read “WE” with “Flip” over the heart. Flip and former general manager Milt Newton had planned to use “We” as the season mantra to enforce the importance of playing for each other rather than trying to rack up individual stats and accomplishments.

“He had these signs made up last year that on one side it was ‘WE’ and if you turned it upside down it was ‘ME,’” interim head coach Sam Mitchell said at the Oct. 28 morning shootaround. “We talk to our players all the time. This is a ‘We’ game. You win together, and you fail as one. It’s not about you. I remind them every day that it’s about your teammates; it’s not about you. If you take care of each other, then the person you’re going to end up taking care of is you.”

The Lakers wore gray and gold T-shirts that read “FLIP” above an MPLS Lakers logo. Sadly, those warmups were brought up a little over two months ago when Ryan Saunders was asked to remark on the sudden passing of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and the seven others involved in the tragic Jan. 26 helicopter crash.

“I remember just seeing (Bryant) at the free-throw line during the National Anthem wearing a ‘FLIP’ shirt and him paying tribute,” Ryan said the day after Bryant’s passing.

The teams honored Flip’s life with a moment of silence then were tasked with finding the strength to mask their emotions and just play basketball.

When Fox Sports North analyst Marney Gellner asked Rubio whether or not he wanted Flip’s passing to be something that was on his mind during the game at the morning’s shootaround, Rubio said, “I hope it’s something that doesn’t affect.

“Of course we’re going to miss him, and I think he’s going to give us the strength to keep pushing through tough moments.”

But it’s safe to say Flip probably had some influence on the way Rubio played that night.

Rubio played lights out that night, providing his team with quick offense right from the get-go and stepping up as the leader the young team needed during one of the saddest days in Timberwolves history.

Rubio finished with a game-high 28 points and 14 assists — which were career-highs at the time — and just one turnover.

“It’s been a tough week,” Rubio said after the game. “It’s hard to explain. Everybody goes through a lot of pain, but we came here to fight like he would have said to us, ‘Compete. Go out there and try to win a game.’”

Kevin Martin added 23 points off the bench and was 11-for-12 from the free-throw line, which was crucial in the Wolves’ comeback from a 16-point deficit late in the third quarter.

“Nobody except for Ricky really played well tonight, but we just grinded,” Martin said in an interview with Alan Horton after his team’s win. “This was an emotional win for us, and you know who we did it for. We did it for Flip and the Saunders family.”

Other leaders were quieter throughout the night. Kevin Garnett knew Flip for 19 years, which was half of his lifetime at the time of his coach’s death. He played only 13 minutes and recorded four points and seven rebounds (quite the KG stat line) in his first game as a Timberwolf without Flip.

Garnett didn’t say much (if anything) to the media that week. He was out of the locker room before reporters had a chance to ask players questions after their 112-111 comeback win over the Lakers and can’t be found in any of the player testimonial videos the Wolves made to commemorate their late coach.

Garnett, who never seemed at a loss for words, couldn’t articulate what the death of the man whom he’ll be next to on the Timberwolves’ Mount Rushmore meant to him. Instead, he simply shared a photo of him sitting next to Flip’s parking spot. Nearly five years later and that photo has the power to break your heart all over again.

Again, as Towns said, there was no blueprint for grieving back then — there still isn’t almost five years later and never will be.

Those five years seem to pass by like nothing when you’re outside of the Saunders family and get caught up in wins, losses, stats, trades, you name it. But the five years also seem to feel like no time at all when you consider how ingrained Flip’s legacy is in the team that his son is now leading.

We see Flip in the way Ryan treats every Timberwolves and Lynx and Target Center staff member with equal amounts of respect and dignity.

We see Flip in Ryan’s passion for the game and his in-game ticks that require a double-take because of how much they mirror those of his father.

We see Flip in the way Gersson Rosas, Ryan and Towns have stressed the importance of family and “WE” throughout the 2019-20 season.

As Rubio said, “Even though he’s gone, he will stay with us forever.”

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For Flip: FSN To Re-Air First Wolves Game After Flip Saunders' Passing

mintimberwolvespr

Kevin Garnett will always be known as a basketball icon. His athleticism and star talent are what brought him to Minnesota at the young age of 19 years old.

But here in Minnesota, our adoration for KG goes far beyond what he could do with a basketball.

Our love for Garnett is entrenched in the way he could enliven any crowd with his blinding smile or his unabashed disposition that will never be matched. If KG was around, you were getting all of him, which was somewhat foreign to Midwesterners who were inclined to show restraint while avoiding the limelight or confrontation.

Whether he was repeatedly pounding his head on the padded part of a hoop in an attempt to kick start his adrenaline, refusing to censor an interview or taking up as much space as possible, tilting his head back and letting out a loud roar to ignite a crowd, KG never held back. No one completely emulated KG’s intensity, but it was often infectious in Target Center during the height of his career in Minnesota.

Though his method — to say the least — “differed” from Garnett’s, Jiggly Boy, a superfan character fixed in Garnett’s history with the Timberwolves, also taught us how to let it all out there and fully embrace our inner fandom.

I hate to break it to you guys, but Jiggly Boy isn’t actually a real person. Instead, he’s a recurring Target Center character played by John Sweeney, the owner of Brave New Workshop Comedy Theater, which reigns as the nation’s oldest comedy theater.

Sweeney originally pursued a career in corporate real estate after graduating from college but after seeing longtime friend Chris Farley make a career out of comedy, he let his love for improvising take off.

Sweeney and his wife bought Brave New Workshop, which was originally founded in 1958 by Dudley Riggs, in 1997 and created a partnership with the Timberwolves shortly after the expansion of the internet began to provide comedy club regulars with other options for entertainment.

To ensure their business would stay afloat, the Sweeneys had to lean on their greatest asset: their creativity.

They began reaching out to organizations such as General Mills, Microsoft, Target and the Timberwolves franchise that needed innovative ideas, and their first questions for said companies were, “What are you scratching your head on? What’s important to you?”

Sweeney posed the question to the Timberwolves’ former Senior Director of Ticket Sales Bryant Pfeiffer and current Vice President of Fan Experience Jeff Munneke in the early 2000s. Back then their answer, which still rings true today, was fan engagement.

To brainstorm ideas on how to drive excitement amongst fans at Target Center, Sweeney turned to his experiences as a lifetime Green Bay Packer fan (don’t hold that against him).

“One of the ideas was, ‘Think of how crazy these Packers fans are. It’s 10 below zero and they’ve got their shirts off and they’re having fun,’” Sweeney said.

“A lot of people don’t know that the Packers were the worst team in the NFL for like nine years in a row. Like horrible. And we still sold out every single game. Every single game. The fans were exactly the same.”

The idea of creating a fanbase whose loyalty didn’t waver during their team’s down years stuck with the brainstorming crew until it was eventually personified.

“Someone — hopefully not me — said, ‘Well, what if we created this superfan and he danced with his shirt off like they do at Lambeau Field?’ Then everyone in the room looked at me because I’m fat,” Sweeney recalled, “and I was like, ‘Well, yeah, how about if we didn’t do that at all, ever?’”

But with continued persistence, the superfan was created. However, Sweeney and his team had no idea just how quickly the Target Center crowd would be drawn to the rambunctious fan.

Sweeney first introduced Target Center to his new character in 2004 during a game against the Dallas Mavericks. The original plan was for Sweeney to embrace the Dance Cam, strip down and show off his “KG” and “Spree” permanent marker arm tattoos before ripping his undershirt and revealing the “Wolves” etched across his dancing body. As planned, all eyes of bewildered fans were on Sweeney.

But before things got too out of control, Sweeney’s character was escorted out of the arena by two policemen played by hired actors. Sweeney’s wife planned to watch the remainder of the game by herself while Sweeney hid in a suite to sell the bit.

But the outrage of Timberwolves fans called for some improvisation.

“When those two actors brought me out through the top of the stairs, during halftime, Munn said that over 100 people came to the little customer service booth there outside of (section) 111 and were just livid,” Sweeney said. “'How can you arrest that guy?’ They completely bought it. “Munnes comes and gets ahold of me, and he’s like, ‘Sweenes, they’re pissed. They’re really pissed that we kicked you out so we have to figure something else out.’ So on the fly, we figured out let’s bring him back and put the camera on him and then have Crunch come up and lift his hand up to kind of say, ‘We love you and we love our fans that way.’”

Sweeney returned to his seat in the fourth quarter fully clothed and quickly became the hero of the night. But unbeknownst to Sweeney, the bit’s lifespan would last much longer than the duration of that Dallas game.

Of course, social media and camera phones didn't exist back in the early 2000s, so there was no “going viral.” That wasn’t on Sweeney’s radar.

“To be very honest, we weren’t thinking about that at all,” Sweeney said. “We were thinking about the 18,500 fans in that room. Can we have them have more fun and maybe they’ll tell their neighbor or a guy over coffee someday? That’s how the spread used to work back then.”

And yet, Sweeney’s bit quickly became a hit nationwide.

Sweeney’s dance moves were re-aired on local channels such as KARE 11 but also gained national attention from ESPN, “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America”.

“Katie Couric spent like 45 seconds talking to the nation about this superfan,” Sweeney said.

But the distinctive coverage came from the Star Tribune’s very own Sid Hartman who used the front page of his sports section to coin the iconic character’s name with the headline, “Jiggly Boy Helps Wolves Beat Dallas.”

“That’s where that moniker came from,” Sweeney said. “Thanks, Sid.”

Sweeney and Brave New Workshop continued to partner with the Timberwolves’ Game Operations team, but Jiggly Boy made few appearances in the coming years.

“The following year, when I started working for the team, we worked with him I believe on one or two skits,” said Chadwick Folkestad, the Timberwolves’ current Executive Producer of Live Programming and Entertainment. “But then after that, KG left and it was sort of a different time.”

Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2007, and Folkestad and his team never found the right time to bring back Sweeney’s full skit without The Big Ticket in town.

Luckily, that question wasn’t pondered for too long.

If you’re reading this, you probably remember where you were when Garnett’s return to Minnesota was announced.

On Feb. 19, 2015, the Timberwolves shared they’d be bringing 38-year-old Garnett back home in a trade deadline deal that sent Thaddeus Young to the Brooklyn Nets.

After going 187-460 since Garnett’s 2007 departure, the Timberwolves finally had something to celebrate again.

The Timberwolves staff quickly prepared for a sellout crowd that would welcome Garnett back to Target Center on Feb. 25, but how could they adequately celebrate Garnett’s return without the fan whose energy paralleled KG’s?

Folkestad’s team had just over a week to plan for Garnett’s return, but despite how crazy that time was, he still remembers where he was when he proposed Jiggly Boy’s return to Sweeney.

“I’ll never forget I was having breakfast at (The) Freehouse and I sent a text to John Sweeney, and I said, ‘KG’s coming back. Do you want to do something?’”

Sweeney remembers some initial hesitation on his end.

On top of having multiple corporate clients who may not be delighted to see a partner dancing with his shirt off on TV, Sweeney also had two young sons to think about now.

“When I was dancing the first time, I was 40 years old,” Sweeney said. “The second time, I was 50 years old. I didn’t have kids the first time. Now I had two kids who were going to Catholic school.”

But as Sweeney and Folkestad continued to deliberate their best plan of attack, it became obvious his sons would have to be a part of the act.

“Immediately if you see a guy dancing by himself, you’re like, ‘Wow, he’s really drunk or really insecure or drives a white van or something like that,’” Sweeney said. “But maybe there’s more play if people are like, ‘Oh, what a nice dad.’ Maybe that’s a little more palatable and reputation-saving.”

And so, two background dancers were born.

Tight on time, the Sweeneys didn’t have a chance to rehearse their skit before the game, and there were questions of whether they’d get the right camera angle or what they would do if the Sweeneys’ view was blocked by fans sitting in front of them.

But no amount of preparation could have prepared them for how magical the night would turn out.

The night, as planned, did start on a perfect note.

After then-rookie Andrew Wiggins was announced in the starting lineups, the lights were cut and the crowd’s roars grew as Kanye West and Chris Martin’s “Homecoming” narrated KG’s past and future in Target Center.

“People thought that was going to be the extent of the KG shenanigans,” Folkestad said.

The Wolves got off to a dreadful start, didn’t record a field goal until the 5:24 mark of the first quarter and finished the opening frame with just 11 points.

Thankfully, some nostalgic encouragement was on the way.

By the third quarter, it was time for the Dance Cam. The camera first panned two a group of young girls dancing before cutting to the man whose Dance Cam routine had never been topped in Target Center. Sweeney, dressed in the same No. 15 jersey he wore for his original act, gave a polite wave to the crowd while his sons’ smiles and the fans’ applause grew.

On the second try, Sweeney’s sons rose to their feet, but Jiggly Boy didn’t budge, only to rile up the fans even more.

The camera cut to two more fans before one final try to coax their superfan. But on the third try, there was a deliberate change in the music.

“Anytime you have a punchline, you have to have a drastic change in something,” Sweeney said. “So when you’re doing stand-up comedy it’s your facial expression, it’s your tone of voice, it’s your volumes. So if you watch the video, the change is when we go to the Usher song, “Yeah!” We specifically picked that Usher song because of that recognizable beat.”

The music changes and Jiggly Boy comes alive.

“Watch my face as soon as that song comes on,” Sweeney said, “It’s kind of like, ‘Oh my god, they’re playing that one song. I can’t not dance to it. I don’t have any choice now. It’s not up to me anymore. It’s up to these internal, fat dance guys that I have to stand up.’”

And as Jiggly Boy stood, so did the rest of Target Center.

“We were just trying to have another moment that could help people think about the times that Garnett played here,” Sweeney said.

But the fans weren’t the only ones who enjoyed Jiggly Boy’s return. Garnett himself couldn’t help but acknowledge the man dancing with his shirt off, revealing a “Welcome Home KG” greeting across his chest.

Garnett — the player who notoriously had absolutely no time for distractions — looked into the stands while returning to the court after a timeout, saluted Jiggly Boy while wearing that same smile he introduced himself with as a 19-year-old draft pick nearly 20 years prior.

“I had been talking to Kevin about music he wanted to hear when he was running out, and I talked to him about a few things earlier that day. I intentionally didn’t tell him this,” Folkestad said. “He’s also a pretty intense guy and I didn’t think he’d be that interested in a humorous bit like this happening. But you can’t script that kind of reaction from him.”

“When people first watch the video, they certainly first start watching me, but I think they’re getting as much enjoyment … (from the fans),” Sweeney said. “People are not kind of laughing; they’re unbridely joyful. Their smiles are big. Then we pan to Kevin, and you know, his smile is four feet wide and it’s just gorgeous.

“I think that’s why it works also. It’s just a quick, simple, version of joy. And I just think we’re so needing joy.”

Garnett’s acknowledgment did more than encourage fans to release their inner Jiggly Boys. It was also Garnett’s way of embracing Minnesota and all of the superfans like Jiggly Boy who’d been along for his good, bad and now future times with the Timberwolves.

“If I remember correctly, Kevin beat his chest a couple of times and smiled and pointed at him like twice,” Fox Sports North analyst Marney Gellner said. “I just thought that was the moment. That was him not just acknowledging that particular person, that was him acknowledging Minnesota.

“‘I feel your life. I remember you. I remember this. I remember what this feels like.’”

Sweeney’s next 24 hours were consumed with his sons giving him hourly updates on Jiggly Boy’s growing internet popularity. By the time they went to bed the next night, the Timberwolves’ YouTube video had 1,000,000 hits and would soon be the No. 1 video on Reddit for 30 hours in a row.

“Then it just went nuts,” Sweeney said.

The video was on ESPN’s homepage for almost a day and a half, and Sweeney doesn’t remember doing much aside from taking interview questions for the next two days.

However, he does remember the bit of inspiration Jiggly Boy gave him the following afternoon.

“I think the most miraculous thing about Jiggly Boy that happened happened at about 3:15 p.m. the day after,” Sweeney said. “I’m sitting there and I’m trying to work but I’m getting all of these emails for interviews and all day long, I could not get the word smile out of my head. It got to the point where I’m getting teary-eyed.”

After inspiring thousands of smiles in Target Center, Sweeney couldn’t help but think of the children born with cleft palates who were unable to express their happiness in the simplest, purest way possible.

Sweeney had recently met Kim Valentini who founded Smile Network International, a Minnesota-based non-profit that provides cleft lip repair surgeries to underprivileged children and young adults and was determined to put Jiggly Boy’s popularity to good use.

With the help of a few PR firms, Sweeney was able to get JigglyBoy.com up and running within 24 hours. The site includes a link to the viral Timberwolves YouTube video that’s been viewed over 14,000,000 times but also asks those who’ve smiled from Jiggly Boy’s antics to spread their joy in the form of a donation to Smile Network International, the recipient of all JigglyBoy.com proceeds.

As of Wednesday, JigglyBoy.com has funded 379 cleft palate surgeries to children in third-world countries.

“In my keynote speeches, I always say, ‘If you’ve got the chance to do something that’s got the possibility of helping others, do it because you never know. You might actually dance with your shirt off at a Timberwolves game and help 200 and some kids change their lives,’” Sweeney said.

On the outside, Garnett and Jiggly Boy may appear to share very few similarities. But in their own very unique ways, they’ve both shown us all the good that can come from accepting our true inner beings, never holding back and sharing a smile.

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KG and Jiggly Boy's Reunion Reinforces Lesson Of Embracing Inner Fandom

Now It

Without new basketball games and practices to write about, we’re taking on a new beat: the QuaranTeen Wolves. As we navigate our new normal, we’ll bring you updates on what Wolves players, coaches and front office members are doing as they self-quarantine and try to slow the spread of the coronavirus as much as possible. We’ll also take a look back at memorable players and moments that have shaped the Wolves’ franchise.

To introduce the new beat, we’re sticking to the theme and ranking the best teenagers to ever play for the Wolves. It’s a short but mostly unforgettable list.

1. Kevin Garnett (Nov. 1995 - April 1996)

Stats As A Teenager: 80 games, 28.7 MPG, 10.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.1 SPG, 1.6 BPG, 49.1 FG%

All Timberwolves fans have the iconic, Kevin Garnett rookie photo ingrained in their brains.

It must have been a photo from Garnett’s first NBA Media Day. The 19-year-old was dressed in an original, white jersey — one of my personal favorites. I was only alive for the final season the Wolves sported these uniforms, so my allegiance to them must be rooted in the KG photo.

KG appears to be somewhat hunched over on a stool, basketball in his lap, secured by his right hand. He’s centered and looking into the camera, slightly squinting his left eye, showing a playful smile that shows off teeth whiter than his jersey. But what first catches your attention is that he’s pointing straight into the camera as if he’s directly addressing Wolves fans, warning us that he’s coming for our hearts.

Garnett’s decision to forgo college in 1995 was naturally controversial at the time. Would a 19-year-old be mentally and physically mature enough to compete against grown men after playing against 15- to 18-year-olds for four years?

The question was valid at first. Garnett averaged an unremarkable 6.3 points in 20.2 minutes per game in his first 40 NBA games, and premature “bust” labels began to blemish his reputation.

Garnett may not have had the same amount of experience as his NBA peers, but he boasted a work ethic and hatred of failure that his 20- and 30-year-old opponents would never match.

Fans were soon introduced to the player who still drowned in his oversized jersey but who parted seas when he exploded in the paint with a dunk and those intense eyes that could seemingly pop out of their sockets with one more flex of a facial muscle.

Garnett’s drive not only salvaged his career, but it also paved a clear path for the NBA greats who followed his prep-to-pro journey. What would have happened to Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and LeBron James’ careers had Garnett given in to the early haters and doubted his potential? Would his career have amounted to nothing more than a reason franchises should tap the brakes before drafting high school players?

I was proud of learning how to scramble eggs at 19 years old. Garnett shaped the trajectory of the NBA at that age.

2. Karl-Anthony Towns (Oct. 2015 – Nov. 2015)

Stats As A Teenager: 9 games, 28.9 MPG, 15.7 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.4 SPG, 2.3 BPG, 49.1 FG%

Towns only played nine NBA games as a teenager, but his seamless transition to the pros boosts his ranking.

Some NBA drafts are prefaced with debates of who will be chosen as the year’s No. 1 overall selection. The 2015 NBA draft wasn’t one of them.

Wolves fans welcomed the Kentucky star and obvious No. 1 overall pick with open arms at the 2015 Timberwolves Draft Party. The young rook didn’t disappoint and injected hope into a fanbase yearning for a brighter future.

Towns didn’t have the immediate swagger young Garnett displayed, but he performed as advertised in his first nine games, recording double-doubles in six of them.

After recording a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double in his NBA debut (which was coincidentally a one-point win over fellow lottery pick D’Angelo Russell and Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers), Towns gave his best teenage performance with a 28-point, 14-rebound night against the Denver Nuggets — and that was before he began ruling from beyond the arc.

It didn’t take long for fans to become acquainted with Towns’ comforting interior game that had plenty of tricks and few weaknesses. His craftiness on the offensive end, his rebounding dexterity, and the glimpses of his inept passing quickly made him a player the Wolves would rely on for many seasons to come.

3. Stephon Marbury (Nov. 1996 – Feb. 1997)

Stats As A Teenager: 38 games, 32.7 MPG, 15.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 7.4 APG,1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 40.3 FG%, 35.5 3P%

Andrew Wiggins became the Timberwolves franchise’s first Rookie of the Year in April of 2015, but if not for Hall of Famer Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury may have beaten Wiggins to the punch in 1997.

Nineteen-year-old Marbury was sent the Wolves’ way during the historic 1996 draft after being selected No. 4 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. The Wolves dealt Ray Allen and a 1998 first-round draft pick that ended up to be Rasho Nesterović in exchange for the 1997 Rookie of the Year runner-up.

If we’re solely grading Marbury and Allen’s rookie seasons, the Wolves won that trade.

Hesitation is always at bay when it comes to putting a young player in charge of a team’s offense, but Marbury quickly diminished any doubts Minnesota had about his capabilities.

At just 19, Marbury was a composed yet edgy leader who seemed to know the player he was right from the get-go. He finished 10th in the league in assists per game and led his rookie class by averaging 7.8 dimes in his debut season.

Garnett was the primary beneficiary of Marbury’s beyond his years distributing expertise and probably owes his former partner in crime some of the credit for his first All-Star Game nod.

Marbury played as if he had eyes in the back of his head and a sixth sense that allowed him to find an open Kevin Garnett without fail, which made them one of the most entertaining, young scoring duos of the time. It’s hard to top a clip of Marbury running into KG’s arms with his fists in the air and Target Center in his palms.

They were the exemplary compliments for one another’s games, but their similar personalities ignited one another’s fire on and off the court and eventually led to an early break up after two trips to the playoffs.

We’ll always be left wondering what could have been had Marbury stuck around, but his brief yet impressionable time in Minnesota makes him one of the best young Wolves players of all time.

4. Andrew Wiggins (Oct. 2014 – Feb. 2015)

Stats As A Teenager: 54 games, 34.6 MPG, 15.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 43.5 FG%, 35.4 3P%

It’s reasonable to say Andrew Wiggins didn’t exactly meet the original standards set for him when the Cavaliers selected him as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 NBA draft. That’s probably putting it lightly.A lot of the disappointment that plagued Wiggins’ time with the Wolves was due to the promise he showed as a teenager.

The Wolves gave up former franchise player Kevin Love to rebuild their future with young Wiggins. Hopefulness was a rational reaction for Wolves fans who fell in love with Wiggins’ explosiveness in his first campaign with the Wolves.

Wiggins’ praised athleticism was on display every night as he leaped in the air over veteran opponents to throw down momentous dunks and almost always landing on both feet as if the bewildering moves were just your average wide-open jump shot from the elbow.

Fans also became familiarized with his trademark spin move that either resulted in a polished floater or a fade-away jump shot that some likened to Kobe Bryant’s signature move.

Wiggins capped his teen years with a 20-point performance then rung in his 20s with a 30-point game against the Rockets. He was a combined 21-for-39 and recorded eight total rebounds, three assists, two steals and seven turnovers. in the two games.

At the time, we probably adored his willingness to keep shooting even when shots weren’t falling and he failed to impact the game in other ways. However, that habit may have been the reason his rookie season was his most prized season with the Wolves.

5. Zach LaVine (Oct. 2014 – March 2015)

Stats As A Teenager: 57 games, 20.4 MPG, 7.4 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 3.0 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 41.7 FG%

Like Wiggins, teenage LaVine seemed to have more athleticism than he knew what to do with.

It was always perplexing to see how a skinny kid could be so powerful when dueling against some of the strongest athletes the world had to offer in the paint. But LaVine soon made it known that his scrawny size wouldn’t hold him back from posterizing anyone who got in the way of him and a hoop.

LaVine, of course, turned heads early on with the dunks he still shocks the league with today, but before he became a reliable scorer for the Wolves, he earned his playing time by being a premier passer.

LaVine only recorded 17 total points in the first four NBA games he earned playing time in, but he also added 15 assists to his introductory stat lines. He recorded his first double-double in his 16th NBA game when he posted 22 points and 10 assists against the San Antonio Spurs and was fifth in assists among NBA rookies after averaging 3.0 dimes a game before he turned 20.

Like Marbury, LaVine will always be a great “what if” for the Wolves who traded him to the Chicago Bulls in the deal that brought All-Star Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. But whoever LaVine is playing for, it’s safe to say the NBA is better off thanks to the Wolves’ decision to take a chance on the lanky 19-year-old from UCLA who never doubted his strength.

Stats As A Teenager: 37 games, 15.5 MPG, 4.2 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 2.9 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 35.9 FG%

Nineteen-year-old Tyus Jones was the cherry on top of the Wolves’ 2015 draft night.

Not only were they welcoming the No. 1 overall pick Towns to Minnesota, but they were also reuniting with one of the state’s most beloved high school hoopers after trading two 2015 second-round draft picks and a 2019 second-round draft pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Jones’ rights on draft night.

I remember hoping Jones and former Duke teammate Jahlil Okafor somehow ended up being drafted by the same team after watching their bond blossom in the 2014-15 NCAA season, but the draft’s results were so much more favorable.

Jones played 37 games with the Wolves before turning 20, and though he carried out a role much smaller than the one he once earned a state championship at Target Center with, he still played with the poise and grit he leaned on to become Minnesota’s 2014 Mr. Basketball and Duke’s 2015 Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

Jones was never the largest player on the court, but even at 19, he was never the most malleable, either.

He dazzled us with his court vision, which led to jaw-dropping lob and behind-the-back passes, but what I enjoyed most about young Tyus’ game was his inability to be fazed. If turnovers, losses and sporadic playing time were getting to him, fans and spectators weren’t going to know about it.

Jones had been nothing but a star player for the first 18 years of his life, but he continued to carry himself as if that were still the case when he was a 19-year-old, bench-warming NBA rookie. I will always consider that the most admirable aspect of Jones’ time as a Timberwolf.

Stats As A Teenager: 17 games, 1.9 MPG, 0.8 PPG, 0.2 RPG, 2.9 APG, 0.2 BPG, 42.9 FG%

And this is where the “unforgettable” runs out.

I bet this is the first thing you’ve read about Ndudi Ebi in 2020. If not, you may be a Timberwolves encyclopedia.

There were plenty of reasons for Wolves fans to celebrate during Ebi’s rookie season but few (none?) involved the 2003 rookie himself.

Minnesota selected Ebi with the No. 26 overall draft pick of the 2003 draft after he was touted for his smooth shooting stroke and shot-blocking abilities. Ebi originally committed to the University of Arizona but canceled his college plans to declare for the draft out of Westbury Christian High School in Houston.

Uh, turns out a year or two of preparation with the Wildcats may have done him some good.

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