The Timberwolves held a grand opening for a $25 million practice facility and headquarters on June 17. Nine days later, the team was able to introduce its first-round draft choices — No. 1 overall Karl Anthony-Towns and hometown favorite Tyus Jones — at a news conference in an atrium next to the practice facility.
There were scores of fans gazing over the railings above to listen to the comments of what certainly came off as a pair of high-class young men.
Flip Saunders, the coach and team president for basketball, was beaming as would a proud father.
You took in the enthusiasm of the fans and the happy proceedings for club officials and couldn't help but wonder: "What could go wrong this time?''
The Wolves started in the fall of 1989 to a great reception in the Metrodome, and then there were a handful of seasons when little went right.
The arrival of Kevin Garnett in 1995 changed things for a long stretch, but the time from Saunders' firing in January 2005 to the end of last season had been a decade of futility and public apathy.
Then, on this Friday four months ago in that atrium, the vibe was exuberant and you could anticipate with peaked interest what the young Wolves — assisted by Garnett and others — would offer when the team's 27th season opened.
Now, that opener is a few days away, and there's more sadness than ever surrounding the Wolves.
It was announced on Aug. 11 that Saunders was being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma. On Friday, owner Glen Taylor confirmed Saunders wouldn't be back this season, but the whispers being heard are worse than that.
Dave Joerger, the Memphis coach and a Minnesota native, said to the Star Tribune's Jerry Zgoda a few days ago:
"You just hear the undercurrents and you try to get as close to the [Saunders] circle as you can getting information, and you just try to keep it yourself.''
Flip probably would ask people to anticipate the opener and enjoy his young guys, but you can't look at the Wolves right now without being overwhelmed by the sadness.