The Minnesota Timberwolves: From The Beginning

[Bobby Barrows]

[BGCOLOR=rgb(36, 66, 156)]Minnesota Timberwolves[/BGCOLOR]
From The Beginning
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The Year is 1989, and the Minnesota Vikings are the newest expansion team for the National Basketball Association. Along with the Phoenix Suns, the Timberwolves were set to play that season following the 1989 Expansion Draft and 1989 Regular Draft. Here, we see their history played out in a revolutionary new fashion, with the power of history and hindsight. Our story begins now...​

1988 Season Recap:

Boston Celtics 4 - Utah Jazz 0

Boston Celtics NBA Champs (17th Time)
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Staff:

1989 Expansion Draft:

1989 NBA Draft:

Pre-Free Agency Roster:

 

[King Kota]

Not a bad start to an expansion Dawkins though is a really nice center piece and most likely your face of the franchise plus Avery Johnson with you I do think I would of gone Divac over Rice though but, Rice isn't a bad get. That said I would of tried to trade up for Kemp.

 

[Chris]

David Robinson betrayed the Spurs?

 

[Bobby Barrows]

1989 NBA Free Agency

Timberwolves Sign SG Sidney Moncrief

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I may have slightly overpaid Moncrief for his services, but we're desperate for some semblance of star power after failing to lure in the services of PF Karl Malone, PF Moses Malone, C Patrick Ewing, or even SG Gerald Wilkins.

Timberwolves Sign Star PF Charles Oakley

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Admittedly, this was a power move to bolster our box office attraction. Oakley is young enough to be a good player while experienced enough to be an incredible leader for our team. His defensive capabilities should help us become a bit more respectable in those terms. We should see a big increase in ticket sales with this news.

Timberwolves Sign A.C. Green

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We ended up spending whatever capital we had left on AC Green; I hadn't realized that Oakley was going to sign with us over the Washington Bullets. We now have a problem: Two starting quality Power Forwards, whom are the same age and one has a cheaper contract. The decisions this upcoming season are going to be important to the integrity of our team.

 

[Chris]

What game is this?

 

[Bobby Barrows]

What game is this?

Fast Break Pro Basketball 3

It's by the same people who made TEW2020.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

1989 NBA Pre-Season
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Timberwolves Go 2-4 in Preseason Action We unsurprisingly failed to gain much traction as far as on the court play is concerned. We're set for the future as it stands but we're prepared for a bad season right now. No expansion team has ever really done very well in their first season, right? Timberwolves Cut SG Jeff Lamp Lamp had been a bit of a thorn in our side as it appears he didn't want to be on an expansion team or Minnesota in the first place when we picked him up in the 1989 Expansion Draft. That's the way the cookie crumbles and as his depth fell from projected starter to bench warmer, the team and Jeff both felt it was for the better that we moved on from one another. Timberwolves Cut C Ray Tolbert Ray Tolbert we had picked up from the Atlanta Hawks in the expansion draft but we (the Timberwolves) didn't have him in our plans for the forseeable future. We wish him well and hope he can find employment soon.​

 

[King Kota]

Oakley isn't allowed at MSG anymore have fun playing the Knicks

 

[Bobby Barrows]

1989 NBA Regular Season, November​

November 7th, 1989 PG Avery Johnson Out 38 Days With Broken Foot Really rough for us that one of our young Point Guards Avery Johnson will be out for most of November and some of December. I have a lot of high hopes for Avery, if he can avoid getting injured more, I believe he has the potential to be a very good player. November 28th, 1989 Timberwolves Extend PF Mark Bryant To Another 5-Year Contract I have high hopes for Mr. Bryant and feel he can be a quality bench player for years to come. We'll see what happens but I have high hopes. The contract extension was for $605,961 over five years. November 30th, 1989 SF Glen Rice Wins Rookie of the Month Excellent month for young Glen thus far, averaging 18.1 points per game and about 5.1 rebounds per game as well. He's going to be the future of this team, I can just feel it. Timberwolves Go 6-10 in November Very surprised at the fact we managed to win 6 games this month despite everything having been practically thrown together. We're only 5.5 games behind and there's plenty of season left. All it takes is a hot streak to be a contender. Although my expectations are tempered. ​

As far as standout performers, our big four of Green, Oakley, Rice, and Moncrief are doing incredible. If we can keep them and build some better depth around them, I'd say we'll have a contender in a few years.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

1989 NBA Regular Season, December
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December 31, 1989 Timberwolves SF Glen Rice Chosen as Rookie of the Month Twice in a Row Very happy with how Glen Rice's season is coming out thus far. He's currently leading the team in Points Per Game with an even 20 flat while still seeing some quality minutes. Timberwolves go 4-9 in December Yikes, did not go the way we wanted it, we started picking up a few wins and then we had the rug pulled out from under us with a five game losing streak. I only hope that this losing streak doesn't continue into the new year of 1990.​

With Avery Johnson back into the fold, we're hoping we can actually start getting some wins together. I just hope that foot injury isn't nagging... If Glen Rice continues his rookie campaign it might not matter though. We just need Moncrief to start hitting his stride.

Thus far we've been making a slight profit but we could be doing better... Our attendance rate of only 11.6% is distressing for many reasons. We need a new stadium ASAP, because the Metrodome, as lovely a stadium as it is, isn't kind to us financially.

 

[Chris]

Your ticket revenue should cover your rent at least

 

[Bobby Barrows]

1989-90 NBA Regular Season, January​

January 7, 1990 Timberwolves SG Sidney Moncrief Out 8 days with Sprained Knee Damn, and I thought Avery Johnson's injury was unfortunate, just as we were starting a three game winning streak. Thankfully it's nothing too serious and he should be back very soon. Moncrief is one of my top scorers though... Jauary 31, 1990 Timberwolves SG Sidney Moncrief Out 36 Days With Broken Arm From bad to worse... Absolutely devastating news from our starting Shooting Guard. Without Moncrief I have a *bad* idea of how the rest of this season will go. He'll be out for approximately 36 days, which will be around mid-March, probably by then we'll be out of playoff contention... Timberwolves SF Glen Rice Threepeats NBA Rookie of the Month Glen Rice on the other hand continues to dominate the league at the moment with his standout performances on the year. 21.1 points per game is nothing to sneeze at and it's impressive that he's doing so well. Timberwolves Go 6-10 in January Talk about ugliness continuing. Even with our excellent scorers, we still can't win very much. Our current record is now 16-29. Admittedly though, we might as well continue losing and hopefully getting that high draft lottery spot. As an aside, we do currently lead the league in offensive rebounds, which probably means we're not landing as many shots as we need to... Another aside is the phones going off the hook from teams heavily interested in Avery Johnson. I don't think I'm planning on giving him up any time soon.​

At the very least we're not the Milwuakee Bucks... but man things are looking dire. Obviously the two MVPs of our team is turning out to be AC Green and Charles Oakley, which is no surprise. Glen Rice as the leading scorer is also important and I'm hoping we can manage to keep Rice for the rest of his rise and prime.

Well, my boss Aurelio might be pretty happy with how despite having crap attendance we're making good money with this business venture.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

1989-90 NBA Regular Season, February
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February 3th, 1990 Timberwolves PG Steve Alford Out For 30 Days With Broken Arm Oh great... Another member of our team out with injury for nearly the rest of the season. We're going from bad to worse... February 28th, 1990 Timberwolves Go 3-8 in February Yeesh... more bad news for us as we continue our deep dive towards failure. ​

Well, tied for last place in the Western Conference, but at least we're not the Milwaukee Bucks. They're just awful at the moment.

 

[King Kota]

All these arms snap jesus Lesnar out there placing kimura locks on your team

 

[Bobby Barrows]

1989-90 NBA Regular Season, March
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March 5, 1990 Steve Alford Returns from Injury Good news for us, Alford is a quality contributor so hopefully we can at least rack up some wins soon. March 7, 1990 Sidney Moncrief Returns from Injury Another big return for us, we should be able to start acquiring wins soon if we're lucky. March 15, 1990 Todd Lichti Suffers Broken Finger Aye, aye, aye. Not good for us as we can't afford any more injuries on this last place team. March 21, 1990 Todd Lichti Returns From Injury Good, to say the least. March 31, 1990 Timberwolves Go 3-12 in March Bowling shoe ugly, to put it simply. We can't seem to find a way to mesh for the life of us. Oh well, hopefully if we keep losing we'll get a #1 overall draft pick. SF Glen Rice Named NBA Rookie of the Month The rookie keeps on going. He's been delivering exactly as promised and thus far has an astonishing 21.4 PPG, 5 RPG, and 3 APG. He also holds the current Timberwolves single game points record, which was on March 9th against the Denver Nuggets (41 points).​

Somehow the Milwuakee Bucks are much worse than us and I can't even fathom how. I get the feeling we're not going to get the #1 overall pick...

As you can see, Glen Rice leads the team in points, while AC Green leads the team in rebounds and minutes. Those two are probably our team leaders of the future next to Charles Oakley.

Somehow we came out with making even more money than expected this far into the season. We're making over a million dollars in profit despite attendance dropping to nearly 10% capacity. That is rather desperate... we need to start having a winning franchise, and soon.