The Era of Basketball

More than a year ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves hosted the Utah Jazz in the new-look Wolves' home opener of last season. It was a crowded night of 18,978 like the beginning of a new era for a franchise that had suffered through more than a decade of near-unprecedented NBA futility. Jimmy Butler, for whom the Wolves had traded two players who'd been recent lottery picks, plus the rights to one more lottery pick, the seventh pick in the 2017 draft, spoke with the Minnesota crowd before the match had started. Though his speech could not be heard again as the record cannot be found but it was an inspirational and motivational speech as expected from him.

He was thrilled to be out of a losing situation with the Chicago Bulls, and the Timberwolves and their long-suffering fans were thrilled to have him: A perfect match. On the first night Butler only scored 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting that first night, but he had five steals, and that tenacious defense set the tone which led to Jazz under 100 points, which the Wolves had not done to an opponent in any of the final 19 games of the previous season, when they ranked 27th in the NBA in defensive rating. Many defensive issues were encountered during all the season. The Wolves only ended at 25th in the NBA in defensive rating and the Butler-led Wolves still turned in a pretty damn good season, especially by their recent standards. Even after having this offense that relied on 3-point shooting less than any team in the NBA, the Wolves however managed the fourth-best offensive rating in the NBA, and broke the franchise's NBA-worst playoff drought at 14 years. But it is expected to have been even better. The Wolves were in third place in a brutal Western Conference when Butler was injured. It is called as the Deferred Karl-Anthony Towns Era which began a few years ago, when the transcendent and unique Towns was drafted No. 1 overall, but it was slowed by a full season of Butler's presence. The Wolves were a better team with Butler. Despite being plagued by foul trouble, Towns maximized the freed-up space with 25 points. Though Wolves' energy was remarkable but the joy with which they were playing was tremendous. That has been hard to come by all season, especially during their recent 0-5 road trip, but also before that. A fan as noticed wore a t-shirt with a photo of Towns and Thibodeau, and with the words, "I believe in TOM THIBODEAU." The number of those who feel the same way have been dwindling in the Twin Cities in recent months. And so a one-game sample size with the players acquired in the Butler trade likely won't shift minds any time soon.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/with-jimmy-butler-gone-karl-anthony-towns-and-andrew-wiggins-usher-in-a-more-modern-fun-era-of-wolves-basketball/