Fansided

Every NBA team’s worst iteration ever

By Rich Kraetsch

BOSTON - NOVEMBER 20: Guard Chris Herren and coach Rick Pitino's expressions on the bench reflected their loss against the 76ers. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
BOSTON - NOVEMBER 20: Guard Chris Herren and coach Rick Pitino's expressions on the bench reflected their loss against the 76ers. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /
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DENVER – JANUARY 11: Oleksiy Pecherov #4 of the Minnesota Timberwolves handles the ball against Kenyon Martin #4 of the Denver Nuggets during the game on January 11, 2010 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The Nuggets won 105-94. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
DENVER – JANUARY 11: Oleksiy Pecherov #4 of the Minnesota Timberwolves handles the ball against Kenyon Martin #4 of the Denver Nuggets during the game on January 11, 2010 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The Nuggets won 105-94. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Minnesota Timberwolves (2009-10, 15-67, -9.06 SRS)

The story of the post-Kevin Garnett Timberwolves is not a kind one to the fine folks of Minnesota, beginning with KG’s last season on the team Minnesota missed 13 straight postseasons. Coach after coach came in to revitalize the franchise but were quickly sent packing: Dwane Casey, Randy Wittman, Flip Saunders (twice) and Rick Adelman just to name a few.

Starting in 2010, Minnesota finally felt like they had their new “KG” in energetic big man Kevin Love. The UCLA product teamed with reliable post scorer Al Jefferson and for the first time in a long while, it seemed there was promise in the Land of a 10,000 Lakes.

Except… there were growing pains. Most notably the 2009-10 season.

This was not a great showing for first-time head coach and former Lakers standout Kurt Rambis. He was inheriting a team with some talent but very little cohesion. Rambis somehow created less cohesion. Minnesota was abysmal in 2009-10 finishing second-to-last in the league in OffRtg and third-to-last in DefRtg. Their -9.06 SRS was a franchise-worst and far and away the worst in the NBA that season.

Love seemed poised for a breakout after a solid rookie campaign but Rambis and team management didn’t seem to have much faith in him. While Love’s minutes and numbers improved, they were certainly not the leap others had expected. Jefferson remained solid but unfortunately that was the extent of the Timberwolves’ positive production on the year.

Rookie Johnny Flynn put up gaudy counting stats but was a liability on defense putting up a ghastly -3.6 Box Plus/Minus. Flynn shouldn’t feel bad though as Love was the lone Minnesota player to finish the year with a positive mark in BPM.

Remember Oleksiy Pecherov? The guy that looked a lot like Stewie from Family Guy? He started five games for the Wolves. The team acquired Darko Milicic in hopes he could resurrect his career with the team.

The team’s second highest paid player was Mark Blount who hadn’t played with the Wolves since 2007.

It was an absolute disaster for Minnesota in 2009-10 and only got worse as the season went on. The team carried a respectable (okay, not really) 13-40 mark heading into the All-Star break. They’d win only two more games the rest of the season while losing 27 to finish a franchise-worst 15-67.

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