2011-2012 Finish: 36-30

Season Highlight

Minnesota took a 36-30 record into the playoffs as the 6th seed. They upset the heavily favored Lakers in 6 games. All this was done without their All Star caliber center Brook Lopez. Minnesota was hanging onto a playoff spot at one point, but David West and Jimmer Fredette, last season’s Rookie of the Year, put the T-Wolves on their back and showed the West they could be a force.

Season Lowlight

Losing Lopez really hurt the T-Wolves. With the way the team gelled, if Lopez was there, there is no telling what could have happened in the NLL playoffs. Aside from that, losing the series with the Spurs in the regular season didn’t help the T-Wolves egos any. San Antonio handled the T-Wolves easily in the the 2 wins, beating them by an average of 13 per game, taking the season series 2 – 1. Minnesota accounted for 10% of the Spurs wins in 2011-2012.

Best Trade

Minnesota traded away their 2nd round pick for Drew Gooden. He only averaged 14.2 pts and 7.8 rebs. Not many 2nd round picks put up numbers like that. Drew really eased the pain of losing Lopez and became the starting C in his absence.

Worst Trade

No trades were really bad for Minny.

Other Notable Trades

Traded 1st round pick for Wesley Johnson – This pick became John Jenkins for the Spurs. Wesley was a former top 5 pick and now that he is on a new team it is possible he will get a chance to shine.

Traded DeJuan Blair for Marvin Williams – Simple case of needing more scoring. Blair is a good rebounder, but not a good scorer in the NLL. Marvin is more of an offensive threat. Marvin is also more versatile, playing both the SF and PF positions. Blair is undersized for his position at 6’7”.

T-wolves traded Rasual Butler and Mario Chalmers for Al Harrington. They got older and it cost more to have Harrington than Chalmers. Harrington and Chalmers contributed similarly in terms of numbers, but this move was done partially to help in frontcourt with Lopez going down. It didn’t hurt that Minnesota already had too many guards.

Best FA Signing

David West – West was arguably the best FA signing in the off season, no other FA became the #1 option for their team. Without West, there is no way they make the playoffs.

Worst FA Signing

None of the other free agents had major roles with team.

Star

David West – West was a God send for Minnesota, especially with Lopez out most of the year due to injury. West asserted himself as the team leader, averaging 21 PPG and 8.9 Reb to go with 1.3 Blocks.

Surprise

Jimmer Fredette –The rookie was BALLIN’! Jimmer averaged 17.5 a game and almost 5 assists a game. The other part of the surprise was that Jimmer was getting over 4 rebounds a game. Jimmer ended the season winning the ROY award .

Goat

Brook Lopez – Hey, if Brook was healthy, it’s quite possible that Minnesota would have been playing for a chance to represent the Western conference in the NLL Finals. Without him, Minnesota still made it to the 2nd round and pushed New Orleans to a 6th game. When healthy, Brook is a major presence, especially on the defensive end, where he had almost 2 blocks a game.

Draft Report Card

Minnesota traded away their draft picks last year.

Looking to the Future

Minnesota has a rising star in ROY Fredette and youth with Johnson and Lopez. Felton is a good floor general and Marvin Williams can be a spark off the bench. Minnesota had no draft pick this past season, but were a force in the West last year. With Lopez returning along with the other major contributors from last year, all the T-Wolves need is a solid FA or 2 and they can content for the Western Conference Finals. West has 1 year remaining on his contract and may be hard to get to return, but if they can resign him, they should have their nucleus for years to come.

Upcoming Free Agents

Brook Lopez (RFA) – When not injured, Brook is one of the better bigs in the league. We fully expect Lopez to be in Minnesota next season.

DJ Augustin (RFA)- A scorer, plain and simple. DJ is a restricted free agent, but with Jimmer and Felton and the addition of Wesley Johnson, we are unsure what role he may fill moving forward. Minnesota has extended the qualifying offer to him, and he should resign.

James Anderson –Anderson will be testing free agency. He is a low cost wing that has a decent shot, but is shoddy on defense.

Randy Foye- Another guard that seems to have been the odd man out in Minnesota, Randy will be testing FA this season. He’s a good fit at SG or PG and is a great player to have off the bench. However, there just isn’t a place for him on Minny’s roster.

Lance Thomas- Cheap SG/SF that will only be resigned if T-Wolves need to fill roster.

Larry Owens- SF/PF that would only be roster filler if needed.