Great expectations: the Minnesota Timberwolves 2017-18 season preview
Welcome to the first step on what should be a thrilling — and expensive — road to relevance.
Britt Robson
Britt Robson has covered the Timberwolves since 1990 for City Pages, The Rake, and SportsIllustrated.com.
Timberwolves media day takeaway: Can Butler and Wiggins play nice together?
After years of disappointments, the Wolves are suddenly expected to make the playoffs this season. Should we believe the hype?
Nobody should be surprised by the way Tom Thibodeau has remade the Timberwolves
After a series of moves — including trading Ricky Rubio to Utah — the 2017-18 Timberwolves will be older, blunter, bruising, expensive and better.
Jimmy Butler brings everything the Timberwolves need. And more.
Butler is the best player the Timberwolves have ever acquired via a trade in the 28-year history of the franchise — and an absolutely perfect fit given the team’s current circumstances.
The Timberwolves’ new logo might as well be a question mark
Thibs, Wiggins and Towns are inextricably tied to each other. Can they synergize their extraordinary skills in a manner that elevates the Timberwolves?
Is Tom Thibodeau getting through to his players?
A coach of Thibs’ pedigree deserves a season-long mulligan if it is prelude to the great leap forward. But that mulligan has eight games left. Then that vaunted reputation is on the clock.
Will the Wolves ever develop the ability to play sustained team defense?
The brief and predictably specious boomlet of playoff talk surrounding this year’s Wolves turned out to be a mirage.
The days of the Timberwolves being a laughingstock are over
Does this mean the Wolves will snag a playoff berth? Doubtful. But the chance to be obliterated in a first-round playoff series is a short-term endgame that ignores the greater good of the Wolves metamorphosis.
The best person to fill Ricky Rubio’s spot on the Wolves’ roster? Ricky Rubio
Rumors of the point guard’s imminent departure were greatly exaggerated.
The tenuous Timberwolves future of Zach LaVine
If Thibs and Taylor don’t have the stomach to make a big bet on three young players, Zach LaVine could be Zach leavin’.
‘I like what I see’: the Tom Thibodeau Q&A, part II
The second half of a 78-minute interview with Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and President of Basketball Operations Tom Thibodeau.
‘Everything matters’: A Q&A with T-Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau
“The challenge when you have young players is: How do you speed up the process? Just understanding what goes into learning — you have to give them the chance to learn,” Thibodeau said.
The boom-or-bust risk for the star-studded Timberwolves
Put bluntly, the great danger here is that the heralded coach and the star trio are a bad match.
Wolves win offers a welcome break from the miserable monotony of the season so far
The Wolves this year are like one of those doorstop Russian novels — only poorly written, with precious few plot twists and a predictably disheartening resolution.
Was sacrificing wins in order to let the ‘Big 3′ mature Thibs’ plan for the Wolves all along?
It didn’t seem like it in the preseason, but a wretched start to the season perhaps reordered Tom Thibodeau’s priorities.
The Wolves get a grip
The team’s sturdier, more diligent defense has emanated almost exclusively from the starters.
The Wolves’ victory over the Bulls: a signature win — or an ephemeral outlier?
The win interrupts a downward spiral that has called into question the team’s psychological equilibrium, the character of the roster, and the players’ relationship with Tom Thibodeau.
The T-Wolves defense: bad … or historically bad?
Twenty-two games into the season, there is more than enough blame to go around for the flagrant failure of the Wolves D.
This holiday season is going to test the Wolves’ mettle
A month into the season, the Wolves are adrift, with a slate of tough opponents on tap. It is time for the hype to start gelling into reality.
The Wolves could really use KG right now
When it comes to the bottom line of winning or losing basketball games, this Wolves team is quickly establishing a reputation for being epic chokers.
