The Minnesota Timberwolves all-decade team has some really good talent in the frontcourt. Despite an NBA Most Improved Player, Kevin Love, and back-to-back NBA Rookie of the Year awards by Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, the 2010s were a decade to forget for the franchise.
Minnesota made the playoffs just one time, the 2017-18 season, when they finished eighth in the west with a 47-35 record. The team continued to run into turmoil and always failed to meet high expectations.
Minnesota Timberwolves Best of the 2010s
Minnesota Timberwolves All-Decade Team – Starters
Guard – Ricky Rubio
The Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio has had a solid career despite not quite living up to the lofty expectations coming into the NBA. Minnesota selected Rubio with the fifth pick in the 2009 draft and he was being labeled as the best point guard in the draft. Stephen Curry was selected two picks later.
Rubio played six seasons in Minnesota and he really struggled shooting the ball throughout his career. He did, however, show excellent passing skills, as was expected.
Despite the six seasons, he spent in Minnesota, he never made the playoffs in Minnesota. Over the course of those six seasons, Rubio had per-game averages of 10.3 points and 8.5 assists.
Guard – Zach LaVine
The front office is probably kicking themselves right now. On draft night in 2017, the franchise traded Zach LaVine to the Chicago Bulls for Jimmy Butler. The Bulter marriage didn’t work out for Minnesota. He played just 69 games for them as he battled injuries and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers during his second season with the team.
Prior to being traded, LaVine was coming off of the best season of his young career. He also helped to put fans in the seats due to his eye-popping athleticism.
LaVine is now in his third season with the Bulls and is averaging a whopping 25.5 points per game. A triumphant of LaVine, Towns, and Andrew Wiggins is something Minnesota should have stood pat with, instead only Towns remains.
Over the course of three seasons with Minnesota, LaVine held per-game averages of 13.7 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.9 rebounds.
Forward – Andrew Wiggins
Minnesota was able to acquire Wiggins prior to the 2014-15 season after the Cleveland Cavaliers selected him number one overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. Most NBA pundits saw this trade as a win for Minnesota. While Wiggins is a solid scorer, he never developed into the All-Star most thought he would become. Minnesota traded him this season to the Golden State Warriors.
Wiggins came out of the University of Kansas with sky-high expectations. He has incredible size and length and otherworldly athleticism.
Unfortunately for Minnesota, Wiggins never developed the rest of his game, outside of scoring. He also never really showed a winning style of basketball, as evident by just one playoff appearance with the franchise.
Over the course of his six seasons in Minnesota, Wiggins held per-game averages of 19.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists.
Forward – Kevin Love
Minnesota dealt Love to the Cavaliers as part of the deal for Wiggins. Prior to that, he spent his first six seasons with the franchise and put up absurd numbers on really bad teams. Love transformed both his game and his body during his days with the Timberwolves.
He was drafted by the franchise with the fifth pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. His rookie year was solid but nothing spectacular as he averaged just 11.1 points and 9.1 rebounds. The most fascinating aspect from his rookie season is he attempted just 19 three-pointers and made just two. Love almost immediately turned into a stretch four after his first season didn’t show any evidence of that. The following season he made 35 of 106 three-point attempts followed by 88 of 211 attempts the next season. Since then, the fewest he has attempted in a season that he has remained somewhat healthy was 330.
Love has had major trouble staying healthy. During his six seasons in Minnesota, he played in just 364 of 492 possible games. His numbers when he did play, however, were fantastic. He had per-game averages of 19.2 points and 12.2 rebounds.
Center – Karl-Anthony Towns
A lack of success for Towns is going to cost him in challenging Kevin Garnett as the best player in the history of the franchise if he continues on this trajectory. Towns has put up absurd numbers in his brief NBA career. Unfortunately for the 2016 Rookie of the Year, it hasn’t led to wins. Towns is in the midst of his fifth season in the NBA and has a putrid record of 162 wins and 230 losses. That record includes just one winning season.
When looking at Towns’ numbers, it hard to point at him for the losses. However, he will have to shoulder the blame for the lack of success as the team’s best player just as we would get the praise if they were winning.
If Towns can find a way to win in Minnesota and continues to put up absurd numbers, he could surpass Garnett as the best player in franchise history. During his five seasons in Minnesota Towns has per-game averages of 22.7 points and 11.8 rebounds.
Minnesota Timberwolves All-Decade Team – Bench
Guard – Jeff Teague
Point guard Jeff Teague appeared in just 146 games with the Timberwolves over the course of nearly three seasons. However, he was the starting point guard on the only successful team Minnesota has had this decade and he put up solid numbers. Teague had per-game averages of 13.4 points and 7.1 assists.
Guard – Luke Ridnour
Former University of Oregon point guard Luke Ridnour had a long, successful NBA career. Ridnour spent three of his 13 seasons in Minnesota and he was a solid contributor. He started 201 of 206 games he played for the franchise and averaged 11.7 points and 4.6 assists per game.
Guard – Kevin Martin
Zanesville, Ohio native Kevin Martin could get 20 points in his sleep during the prime of his career. His time with the Timberwolves came towards the tail end of his NBA journey but he was still able to fill it up for the franchise. Martin played two and half of his last three seasons in the NBA in Minnesota and still put up a fantastic 17.1 points per contest.
Forward – Corey Brewer
There was a serious lack of options at the bench forward spot. Corey Brewer was originally drafted in the top 10 by Minnesota in the 2007 NBA Draft. He returned to the franchise that drafted him prior to the 2013-14 season and only lasted a season and a half before he was traded to the Houston Rockets.
Brewer displayed excellent leadership and defense in his return and is a likely trivia answer for the most random player to score 50 points in a game.
Center – Nikola Pekovic
Talk about a strange NBA journey. Nikola Pekovic played just six seasons in the NBA and his peak happened quickly and ended abruptly. From his second season through his fourth season, it looked as if Pekovic would be a perennial All-Star. His fourth season, his career year, he averaged 17.5 points and 8.7 rebounds. He lasted two more seasons and averaged just 4.5 points and 1.8 rebounds in his sixth and final season in the NBA.
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