Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Minnesota Timberwolves.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Minnesota did not take the step they thought after going all in on Rudy Gobert.  Can they make a leap this year?  Either way, last year did see Gobert make the list, and see one player make a sizable jump.

As always, we present our top five, which was not affected by the last season:

1. Kevin Garnett

2. Karl-Anthony Towns

3. Kevin Love

4. Wally Szczerbiak

5. Terrell Brandon

You can find the entire list here.

Towns remains at #2, and will take a long time, if at all possible) to supplant Garnett for the top spot.

Anthony Edwards, who is ascending to NBA top ten status, vaulted to #18 from #33.

D’Angelo Russell, who was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers late in the year, advanced to #22 from #29.

Center, Naz Reid, continued his climb, moving to #27 from #34.

Rudy Gobert, whose arrival could be debated for decades to come, is still good enough to be here even with one year of service, even if it was down by his Utah standards.  Remember, the Timberwolves have not been around long, have never been great, and basketball fields small rosters.  This rank is warranted.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

This one is tricky.

The Timberwolves raised a lot of eyebrows across the NBA when they gave up four players and five number ones to get the multi-time Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert.  It was a lot to give up, but the results have been scary thus far.

The Frenchman had solid numbers in 2022/23, averaging a double-double with 13.4 Points and 11.6 Rebounds per Game.  This is good, but was down from his previous All-Star years, and the meshing of him and Karl-Anthony Towns has yet to be fruitful. 

Last year was much better for Gobert and the T-Wolves, as though he was not an All-Star, his defensive prowess returned to form and he won the Defensive Player of the Year.  Even better, Gobert and Minnesota made it to the Western Conference Finals and enter this year as bona fide NBA Championship contenders.  It is easy to vault up a basketball list, especially on an expansion team that has never been to the Finals, thus explaining this rank.

Days after we announced Nikola Jokic as the winner of the first ever NIHOF Cup, we are pleased to announce our official regular season awards for the 2020-21 NBA Season.

There are five awards, the MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Sophomore of the Year.  We will not award a Coach of the Year until the playoffs are over.  These awards ONLY reflect the regular season.

MVP: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

Jokic did everything for the Nuggets, finishing in the top ten in Points, Rebounds and Assists, and was the league-leader in PER.  The Joker played all 72 Games this year, and his defense showed significant improvement this season.  Missed games by Joel Embiid, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo gave Jokic an edge, as we were focused on the 72 Games in question, and not what might have occurred. Also considered were Steph Curry and Luca Doncic

Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz

For the second straight season, Gobert averaged 10.1 Defensive Rebounds, with his blocking numbers rising from 2.0 to 2.7 per Game.  Gobert led the NBA in Defensive Win Shares (5.2), and is the best all-around player on a Utah Jazz squad that was among the best this season.  Our runner-up was Clint Capela, who for years has been underrepresented in terms of press, won his first Blocks Title.

Rookie of the Year: Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves

LeMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets looked to be the runaway winner at the first half of the season, but Ball got injured and missed over 20 Games, and Edwards became a more prominent part of the T-Wolves offense, and had there been a full 82-game season, he would have likely cracked the 20 PPG threshold (he finished at 19.6). Edwards also won the Rookie of the Month Award in March and April.  Frankly, we think Ball has a better future, but the better overall rookie season belongs to Edwards.

Sophomore of the Year: Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans

We opted against doing the most Improved Player in lieu of this award, the Sophomore of the Year. An NBA player’s second season is vital to their success, and many top rookies struggle in year two, a.k.a., the sophomore jinx.  The first award goes to Zion Williamson of the Pelicans, and nobody was even close to touching him.  The big man averaged 27.0 Points per Game with a PER of 27.1 to match.

Sixth Man of the Year: Jordan Clarkson, Utah Jazz

The Jazz has two award recipients this year, as Clarkson wins our first Sixth Man Award.  Clarkson came off of the bench in all but one of his 68 Games, and he had career-highs in Points per Game (18.4) and Rebounds (4.0). Montrezl Harrell of the Los Angeles Lakers was also considered.

Thanks for reading, and to all the winning players, please visit the home office in Barbados to pick up your trophy!

Pre-2019-20 Rank: #36, Pre-2020-21 Rank #33, Pre-2021-22 Rank: #19, Pre-2022-23 Rank: #16, Pre-2023-24 Season Rank #18.

*Peak Period: 2017-18 to 2023-24.

Rudy Gobert’s Hall of Fame case needed last season’s success badly.

The Center was traded from Utah to Minnesota for a ransom of First-Round Picks, and his first season with the Timberwolves was not successful. This changed last season when he added his sixth First Team All-Defensive Selection and fourth Defensive Player of the Year Award, and when you log that many defensive accolades, the Hall will take notice.

More importantly, Minnesota reached the Western Conference Final last year.  If the team, now unquestionably led by Anthony Edwards, wins it all with a strong showing by Gobert, it won’t matter what they gave up to get Gobert.  That should make him the second Frenchman behind Tony Parker to enter the Hall, that is, unless a specific player named Victor Wembanyama overtakes him and Gobert stalls.

Viva la France!