What Went Right?
Kevin Garnett went right for this down-troddened franchise. He had another MVP caliber season wasted by another NBDL performance by the Timberwolves. You know not a lot is going right when Ricky Davis leads the team in assists (4.8 apg). Rookie Randy Foye started out the season very slowly but finished the season very strong. He averaged over 15 points, 3 assists, and 3 rebounds while shooting 50% or higher in both field goal and three-point percentage in the month of April. Craig Smith emerged as a second round steal for the Timberwolves. He averaged 7.4 points and 5.1 rebounds off the bench in just 18.7 minutes per game. Other than that, it was a pretty sad season for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

What Went Wrong?
Everything else. The big free agent acquisition of Mike James turned out to be a complete bust. Owner, Glen Taylor described the addition recently like this, "We got taken by Mike James. Mike had a really good year, so we paid him the max we could under the rules, and he sure didn't come back and perform anywhere at that level." Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson, and Marko Jaric all had subpar years and were not worth the long-term contracts that they held. Randy Wittman spent his first full year as the head coach and was only able to manage 32 wins for the Wolves. They gave up almost 100 points per game (99.7) and were outrebounded for the season.

Off-Season Overview
The Wolves decided that instead of struggling with the hopes of winning and sneaking into the playoffs that they would trade away Kevin Garnett for one good young player and 4 throw-ins and just become the Celtics of the West. Anybody that's reading this that hasn't followed basketball in 20 years is thinking that this is a smart move for the Timberwolves. Email me and I'll find you highlights of the C's from last year. And if it wasn't bad enough, they just traded for Antoine Walker, the Stephon Marbury of NBA forwards.
Players Added- Center Michael Doleac (Trade, Miami), Power Forward Antoine Walker (Trade, Miami), Power Forward Wayne Simien (Trade, Miami), Small Forward Corey Brewer (Draft), Center Chris Richard (Draft), Forward Ryan Gomes (Trade, Boston), Swingman Gerald Green (Trade, Boston), Power Forward Al Jefferson (Trade, Boston), Center Theo Ratliff (Trade, Boston), Point Guard Sebastian Telfair (Trade, Boston), Power Forward Juwan Howard (Trade, Houston), Swingman Greg Buckner (Trade, Dallas)
Players Lost- Point Guard Troy Hudson (Waived, Golden State), Power Forward Kevin Garnett (Trade, Boston), Small Forward Justin Reed (Trade, Houston), Point Guard Mike James (Trade, Houston), Small Forward Trenton Hassell (Trade, Dallas), Shooting Guard Ricky Davis (Trade, Miami), Center Mark Blount (Trade, Miami)

Phil Barnett's Impact Players-
I send my condolences to Zach Harper; no one wants to see Antoine Walker play, definitely not for 82 games. In Minnesota’s history, they are 50 games over .500 with Kevin Garnett on the roster 240 games under .500 without him, it doesn’t take Pythagoras to figure out how this season is going to fare for the ‘Wolves.

Breakout Player: Randy Foye, my preseason pick to win ROY last year, should be coming into his own with a year of NBA experience under his belt. If you compare his numbers per 40 minutes to Brandon Roy’s numbers per 40 minutes, he wasn’t too far off of the ROY’s numbers.

Disappointing Player: Al Jefferson has some enormous shoes to fill at the power forward spot. This won’t be a disappointing season as far as numbers go, he just is not going to be the power forward that the fans in Minnesota are use to seeing.

FantasyInsideronline.com Fantasy Sleeper-
Ryan Gomes, Forward- Ryan Gomes may have been the most underrated player acquired by Kevin McHale this off-season. He averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds per game in a constantly changing role. It didn't matter if he was coming off the bench, filling in last minute as a starter, or pegged as a starter for weeks, he was always producing and rebounding the basketball. Look for Gomes to come in this year and become a full-time starter for the Wolves. 11 points and 7 rebounds per game isn't out of the question.

Best-Case Scenario
I would say that the best case scenario for this team is winning 30 games with the rag-tag squad that they have assembled. Al Jefferson signs a long-term extension with the team and comes out dominating the West. He averages 20 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. Randy Foye shines as the point guard and is able to score 15 points a game while dishing out 8 assists. Corey Brewer emerges as one of the top players in this past draft and develops a fantastic offensive game. Gerald Green proves to not be the new Harold Miner and actually does something on the court besides disappointing fans.

Worst Case Scenario
You're looking at it. This team is an absolute mess. They don't have any proven scorers or defenders. Randy Foye battles injury problems and Al Jefferson proves to be overmatched in the Western Conference. Antoine Walker comes in and actually ruins this team's chance at continuity and team chemistry. Sebastian Telfair plays like he did in Boston last year. Corey Brewer can't find a jumpshot. Theo Ratliff doesn't play at all because of faked injuries. This team gives up well over 100 points per game and fail to score anything adequate. This team doesn't get to 20 wins.

Talkhoops.net Prediction- 5th in Division, 15th in the West
The Timberwolves are not going to be good this year. They're not even going to be bad. They're going to be pathetic. They're like the Celtics of last year only with a worse coach and no Paul Pierce. Plus, they're in the Western Conference. This team will get promising performances from their big young guns but will lack consistency in everything that they do correctly. Expect this to be the worst team in the Western Conference and possibly the worst in the whole NBA.