West No. 14 | Full List
No. 15: Minnesota Timberwolves
Last Season: 16-66
15th place in West; missed playoffs
Even after trading Kevin Love, the Minnesota Timberwolves entered the previous season hoping to compete for a playoff berth. Injuries scuttled that hope and sent Minnesota into a rebuilding process, ready or not.
A painful 16-66 campaign had a happy ending. The Timberwolves became the first team since the Orlando Magic in 2004 to win the lottery with the league's worst record. Minnesota drafted Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns No. 1 overall, and the combination of Towns and 2014 top pick Andrew Wiggins gives the Timberwolves a pair of potential superstars as a foundation.
Last summer's trade to send Love to Cleveland left Minnesota with two different teams: the veteran core built to contend for a playoff spot and a group of talented but unproven young players. With newcomer Thaddeus Young replacing Love, the Timberwolves expected to remain competitive. Injuries had other plans. Minnesota's expected starting lineup -- Young, Wiggins, Kevin Martin, Nikola Pekovic and Ricky Rubio -- started just three games before Rubio went down with a severely sprained ankle that kept him out through the end of January. Martin (fractured wrist) and Pekovic (sprained wrist) also missed most of the season's first three months.
Without those three, the Timberwolves started the season 5-31, which led coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders to begin dealing away older players. Corey Brewer went to the Houston Rockets, and at the deadline, Minnesota sent Young to the Brooklyn Nets to bring Kevin Garnett home to finish his career with the Timberwolves. Minnesota finished the season with six players on the sideline and lost the second-most games (335) and most minutes (8,000-plus) to injury of any NBA team.
The injuries and trades gave unexpected opportunities to young players. After a slow start, Wiggins came on to emerge as the team's leading scorer and win Rookie of the Year honors. The Wolves threw their other first-round pick, Zach LaVine, into the lineup ahead of schedule and saw him improve late in the season. Before succumbing to season-ending hand surgery, second-year forward Shabazz Muhammad improved dramatically.