Timberwolves Trying to Learn How to Win

Nov 1, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins (22) reacts after fouling Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler (21) during the fourth quarter at Target Center. The Bulls defeated the Timberwolves 106-105. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

One of the biggest clichés in the NBA is that you have to learn how to win by losing. Michael Jordan needed to get beat up by the Bad Boys Pistons before he could finally vanquish them and start winning titles. Shaq and Kobe didn’t start winning championships their first year. The Timberwolves have not even made the playoffs in a decade, so a better comparison would be the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Kevin Durant began his career in 2007-08 with the then Seattle SuperSonics. While he averaged over 20 points per game, the team was generally lousy and infamously skipped town for Oklahoma City, where they should have been named the Barons. Anyway, Russell Westbrook joined him that next season and the team still struggled. It was in Durant’s third season and Westbrook’s second that they made the leap. They won 27 more games than the prior season and have been a force ever since.

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Attempting to compare the Wolves to the Thunder at this point is a fool’s errand, considering OKC has been one of the premier franchises in the NBA for years now. However, the way the Thunder built their roster is not too dissimilar to what the Wolves are working towards right now: Tear down most of the roster except for the framework, get a potential superstar at the top of the draft and try to build around him until he’s ready to fully take over. The differences are obvious. For one, Kevin Durant is a megastar and there is a good chance Andrew Wiggins will never quite get to that level. Another difference is that Westbrook is also an upper, upper echelon player. On the plus side, the Wolves depth at this point of the rebuilding process is ahead of where the Sonics were their last season in Seattle.

I am not one who is big on moral victories, particularly because most of the victories we have had in Minnesota for the last couple decades have been of the moral variety. That being said, only losing by 4 points in the Grind House in Memphis, beating the Pistons and narrowly losing to the Bulls is a strong start for such a young team. The challenge is to turn moral victories into real ones. Here’s hoping taking some lumps early on will lead to bigger gains down the road.