Minnesota Timberwolves: Revisiting the 2010s
By Ethan Becker
2010-11 Season
Record: 17-65
High Point: The Minnesota Timberwolves saw some pretty good moral victories in during the 2010-11 NBA season. To begin with, their defense was actually pretty good in some areas. Minnesota ranked 17th in steals and 10th in blocks per game, stats which their opponents ranked 30th and 21st in.
They were also one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league, ranking fifth in the league at 37.6 percent.
Another great moment for the Timberwolves this season was Kevin Love being named Most Improved Player.
Love went from averaging 14.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game while shooting 33.0 percent from 3-point range in 2009-10 to 20.2 points, a league-leading 15.2 rebounds, and 41.7 percent shooting from 3, all while playing 13 more games and averaging 13.2 more minutes.
Low Points: The record was obviously a real low point for Minnesota this season. Seventeen wins is enough for the fourth-worst record in franchise history (though it’s an improvement from the previous season when they had a franchise-worst 15 wins) and it wasn’t going to get them any closer to breaking the playoff drought, which at this point was at seven seasons.
And although Minnesota’s defense made some plays, it wasn’t stellar, as their opponents still averaged 107.7 points per game, which was the worst mark in the league.