The Timberwolves will play for win No. 29 on Wednesday night in the regular-season finale at Target Center. Win or lose, the Wolves have improved by at least 12 wins year-over-year and show promise for the future.
They are 6-5 in the last 11 games and upset the Golden State Warriors in Oakland earlier this month. Karl-Anthony Towns is arguably the favorite to win Rookie of the Year, and other young talent Andrew Wiggins and Zach Lavine continue to show progress.
All signs point to a better 2016-2017 season.
It is not uncommon for teams to improve by 10 games or better year-over-year, but history shows this sort of progress can be significant. Here are five teams, plus our favorite to compare to the Wolves with, Oklahoma City, that maintained enough momentum to pull the franchise out from the bottom of the NBA.
The Wolves finished at the bottom of the league last year with a 16-66 record and will miss the playoffs for an 12th straight season.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics missed the playoffs six consecutive seasons in the late 90s and hit a low in 1996-1997 when posting a 15-67. Things began to improve under new leadership of the former coach and team president Rick Pitino. They won 21 more games the next season, but stalled around 36 wins for three seasons before finally returning to the playoffs in 2001-2002. Two more coaching changes, Jim O'Brien and eventually Doc Rivers, and first-round draft pick Paul Pierce led the Celtics into a new era of success. They've made the playoffs 11 of the past 14 seasons.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers appeared in the playoffs just four times in the first 33 years after the franchise changed its name and moved from Buffalo to California. In 2008-2009, they won 19 games and finished 28th in the NBA standings. The next season they won 29 games, then 32, then 40 and have won 50-plus games in the last three seasons with four straight playoff appearances. The organization was revived when it drafted Blake Griffin with the No. 1 overall pick in 2009. Griffin joined DeAndre Jordan and the Clippers later added Chris Paul to create its own Big 3.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors played in one postseason from 1994-2012 and won just 23 games in the final season of this extended drought. Golden State improved to 47- 35 the next season and began a streak of what will be four postseason appearances for the defending NBA champion. Steph Curry played three seasons with the struggling Warriors while battling injuries. Curry regained his health and general manager Bob Myers helped build a winning lineup. Myers drafted Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, acquired Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut, and hired Steve Kerr as head coach.
