Pooh Richardson was trying to compliment Sam Mitchell. The former Minnesota Timberwolves teammates were in town for Minnesota’s nationally broadcast game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Richardson pointed out that Mitchell is the only player in Wolves franchise history to play for and coach the team. “What else?” Mitchell asked Richardson, who was sitting next to him. “I scored the first basket in franchise history.”
Mitchell admits that the players on that inaugural team discussed who would make the first basket. Mitchell knew he wasn’t the first option because Richardson and Tony Campbell were the star players. “I don’t know how I got the ball and scored that night,” Mitchell said, laughing. “But it’s something we talked about in the locker room before the game because we understood that whoever scored that basket, that was it.”
Minnesota took Richardson 10th overall in 1989 and signed Mitchell, who played the previous two years in France, before their first season. Three years later, the Wolves traded Richardson and Mitchell to the Indiana Pacers for Chuck Person and Michael Williams. Richardson spent his final seven seasons with the Pacers and Los Angeles Clippers. But the Timberwolves re-signed Mitchell, and he spent seven more seasons in Minnesota.
“I call Minnesota my second home because I spent more time here than any other place other than Atlanta,” said Mitchell, who served as Minnesota’s interim coach in 2015-16 after Flip Saunders passed in 2015. “The foundation we set is still in use because we played hard. And the thing about Minnesota, if you gave an honest effort every night, the fans would show up and appreciate you.”
Mitchell couldn’t have imagined what was next for the Wolves after he hit the first shot. The Timberwolves were playing in the Metrodome then and led the league in attendance during their first season. But they didn’t make the playoffs until Kevin Garnett’s second season in 1996-97, and they lost in the first round for seven seasons before reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2003-04.
Saunders took over as head coach in 2014-15, hoping to spur a youth movement to get Minnesota back into the postseason, but he passed a year later. The Wolves had missed the playoffs for 11 straight seasons by the time Mitchell had taken over. Led by Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Zach LaVine, Minnesota won 29 games under Mitchell, a 13-win improvement from the previous season.
The Timberwolves were one of nine teams to be the Golden State Warriors that year. However, they unceremoniously fired Mitchell after that season and hired Tom Thibodeau as coach and GM. An assistant coach on the inaugural Wolves team, Thibodeau spent a season coaching the KAT-Wiggins-LaVine core before trading LaVine in a package for Jimmy Butler on draft night.
It’s challenging to find a throughline from the inaugural team to the current iteration. The most direct one from Mitchell’s standpoint is he coached Garnett in Garnett’s final two seasons in Minnesota, and Garnett was Towns’ mentor in KAT’s rookie season. Saunders had started to build a bridge between Garnett and Glen Taylor. Flip’s long-term goal was to build an ownership group around himself and KG to buy the Wolves from Taylor eventually.
However, Taylor retained franchise ownership after Saunders passed and turned control over to Thibodeau. The Wolves made the playoffs for the first time since 2004 in Thibodeau’s second season. But Butler forced his way out the next season, and the Timberwolves replaced Thibodeau with Ryan Saunders. Two years later, former GM Gersson Rosas fired Saunders after a 7-24 start and hired Chris Finch.
Finch revived a dormant fanbase with a 46-win season two years ago, but it looked like they dashed all progress after trading for Rudy Gobert last season. However, Gobert has anchored the league’s No. 1 defense this season, Anthony Edwards has emerged as a transcendent superstar, and former Wolves luminaries are back in town. ESPN hosted an “all-access” day before the Milwaukee game, and Bucks coach Doc Rivers said he’d noticed a change in the Wolves.
“It’s not easy, and it’s not just on the floor,” said Rivers, who helped build a winning culture with the Clippers from 2013 to 2020. “You can see them doing it; it’s everywhere. It’s in the front office. It’s with the trainers, it’s with the cooks. I’m telling you, you’d be surprised when you go into an organization like when I went there. It was all throughout.
“Edwards, today, was saying, ‘If we win, that’s because I’m doing the right things. I’m playing the right way. I’m moving the ball the right way,’” he added. “I mean, that’s what happens when a culture changes. Everyone starts talking the language, and you can see it here, so they’re doing an excellent job.”
The Wolves couldn’t capitalize on the extra attention. They led Milwaukee 57-51 at the half, but the Bucks outscored them 36-13 in the third quarter. Towns and Edwards’ late scoring effort wasn’t enough to overcome Damian Lillard’s clutch play late in the game. “Probably came out in the second half a little too comfortable,” Edwards admitted.
“When fatigue sets in, sometimes guys get tired, and you just kind of take the shortcut,” Mike Conley added. “We had a little bit of that tonight where the game got fast, we started running up and down, and then guys didn’t want to run all the way to the corner, we didn’t make the extra play, we didn’t want to sacrifice the body and get in the paint and make plays for each other.”
Minnesota got away from the foundation Mitchell feels his teams set. They’ve had slip-ups throughout the season. But they are on pace to match the franchise-best 58 wins they had in 2003-04, mainly because of their defense. Richardson and Mitchell were back in town. Stephen A. Smith sat next to Alex Rodriguez, whose ownership group may eventually bring Garnett back to the Twin Cities. The Timberwolves are a hot ticket again. But their next step is winning when all eyes are on them.
