Time to preview the 2010-11 Minnesota Timberwolves
Music to listen to: Forever Young by Bob Dylan
Last season/offseason changes: Nearly everything that could go wrong last year for the Timberwolves happened
The Wolves finished last year with a record of 15-67, but were probably the worst team in the NBA. At least the Nets looked like they were making progress at the end of last season.
Now the Wolves have traded away their best player from last year, Al Jefferson, to Utah for practically nothing. Their point guard of the future, Ricky Rubio, is still playing in Europe, while their current point guard, Johnny Flynn, is below-average.
This season, Minnesota has smartly scrapped the triangle offense that obviously wasn’t working.
The newest additions to the squad this season include Darko Milicic, the perennially underachieving post player who qualifies as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. The fact that general manager David Kahn gave him a four year, $20 million contract is laughably terrible.
The Wolves also drafted Wesley Johnson ahead of Demarcus Cousins, brought in Michael Beasley who has had issues on and off the field, Martell Webster and brought back Sebastian Telfair.
This roster has worst record in the NBA-type potential this season.
Strength: The one saving grace for the Wolves is Kevin Love, who has already proven himself to be one of the best rebounders and outlet passers in the NBA. Minnesota also needs to give him the ball more on offense, which should happen with the trade of Jefferson because both guys were essentially were doing the same thing.
Weakness: So much is wrong with this team but the biggest issue is the overall direction of the squad.
What is the goal of this team? The management claims that it wants to run an up-tempo style of play yet it sign Darko and still has Rubio in Europe.
Most important player: I guess it has to go to Love.
Celebrity crush from the city: I like Kimberly Elise
Coaching: Kurt Rambis is in his second year as head coach and tried to install his triangle offense last season and you saw what happened. Now he has to install something completely new with players that don’t fit it. Good luck with that.
First memory of team: Many NBA fans including myself wonder what would have happened if Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury stayed together in Minnesota. They had games that complimented each other and could have done great things.
Best case: 30 wins
Worst case: Worst record in the NBA
Uniform grade: The uniforms are OK, but the floor plan is terrible.
For that, I have to drop some of the marks. Grade: C
Overall outlook: Its going to be a long year for Minnesota fans. Sure the team is deeper this year and should win a few more games, the overall outlook for the future is bleak. If Minnesota wins 25 games this year, it would look like an improvement from last year but its still only 25 wins.
The hope is that Beasley, Darko and Love can form a core that will only be enhanced with Flynn returning from hip surgery in November, the team takes it lumps this year and maybe is a playoff squad next season.
Those are my thoughts, what about yours?
2010 Backdoor Cut Previews:
Atlantic Division
Central Division
Southeast Division
Northwest Division
The Sports Inquirer 
Leave a comment