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NBA: The best rebounder of all time from every NBA team

By Christopher Jeter

Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks (Photo credit should read MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images)
Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks (Photo credit should read MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves
Photo by Jeff Reinking/NBAE via Getty Images /

Best rebounder in Minnesota Timberwolves history: Kevin Garnett

This was another no-brainer. If you’re a younger Minnesota Timberwolves fan, you could kind argue for Kevin Love, but Kevin Garnett has the strong rate stat/counting stat balance, so the greatest player in franchise history goes here.

Garnett was the first player since 1975 to go directly from high school to the professional ranks. Once he got the permanent starting job in his second year, he never looked back, as he gradually morphed into one of the best hybrid forward/centers in the league.

This of course, culminated with him winning the NBA MVP award after the 2003-04 season, where he averaged 24.2 points and a  league-leading 13.9 rebounds per game while leading the Timberwolves to their first (and only) Western Conference Finals appearance. That also would be the first of four seasons where Garnett led the NBA in rebounding.

As previously mentioned, you can find “The Big Ticket” either at or near the top of all of Minnesota’s all-time rebounding leaderboards (he’s also at the top of most of their scoring lists, but we’re not here for that).

As of 2018, Garnett ranks first in rebounds, offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds by a significant margin. He also ranks fifth in all-time rebounding rate, third in defensive rebounding rate and third in rebounds per game.

Between drafting two point guards that weren’t named Stephen Curry, losing a bunch of draft picks in the 2000’s because they really wanted Joe Smith for some reason, and the current Jimmy Butler predicament, the Timberwolves have spent a lot of their history tripping over their own feet.

However, even the worst-run franchises get lucky every once in a while (see: the Los Angeles Clippers) and Garnett represented that stroke of good fortune for the Timberwolves.