Looking back

• Traded Trenton Hassell to Dallas for Greg Buckner the night before training camp began.

• Traded Ricky Davis and Mark Blount for Miami for Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien and a conditional future No. 1 draft pick nine days before the season opener.

• Bought out Juwan Howard’s contract six days before the season’s opener.

• Dealt unhappy Gerald Green to Houston for Kirk Snyder, a 2010 second-round pick and cash at February’s trade deadline.

• Bought out Theo Ratliff’s contract at the March 1 waiver deadline.

• The Wolves began training camp in Turkey and London with a roster that included Davis, Blount, Howard, Green and Ratliff, all now long gone.

• Mark Madsen credited the team’s first road victory — at New Orleans in late November — to teammate Marko Jaric, whom he called "rejuvenated" and "revitalized" because of a new relationship with Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima. She attended a handful of games at Target Center throughout the season.

• Coach Randy Wittman missed three games in December, including a big upset victory over Phoenix, while he recovered from emergency back surgery.

• Kevin Garnett’s long-awaited return to Target Center in February lasted 75 seconds, just long enough for him to wave to the sellout crowd and offer a couple of reverential bows before a game in which he did not play because of an abdominal injury.

• Owner Glen Taylor’s comments that Kevin Garnett "tanked" last season because of his refusal to play the final games made national news in March.

Signature victories

100-93 vs. Phoenix • Target Center • Dec. 8

Al Jefferson delivered 32 points and 20 rebounds and the Wolves won for the third time in their first 18 games. The first of two victories over the Suns P.S. (Pre-Shaq).

The same day the Star Tribune ran a front-page headline that asked "Worst Team Ever?" regarding the team’s 3-21 start, they recovered from a 40-20 first-quarter deficit to score the second most points in franchise history. Antoine Walker hit six three-pointers and offered a celebratory shimmy just for fun.

The demarcation point in a season that began with a 3-21 record. This Martin Luther King matinee triumph ended a 16-game road losing streak and began a stretch when the Wolves won five of their next seven games.

They scored 63 points before halftime, 24 after it and blew a 16-point, third-quarter lead to lose for the 10th time in their first 11 games.

Emotionally hung over from their fourth-quarter collapse at home to San Antonio two nights earlier, the Wolves offered what even Randy Wittman called "our worst performance of the year, by far."

Three days after an encouraging home victory over Miami, they surrendered a season-high 65 points in the first half and trailed by 33 points before halftime to a Rockets team missing star Tracy McGrady.

Leading by four points with 76 seconds left, they allowed the game’s final seven points, committed eight fourth-quarter turnovers, missed two crucial late free throws and fell to 1-20 on the road.

Points: 40, Al Jefferson (Jan. 27 vs. New Jersey and April 8 at Charlotte)

Rebounds: 20, Jefferson (Dec. 8 vs. Phoenix, Dec. 17 at Miami, Jan. 30 vs. Chicago)

Assists: 12, Sebastian Telfair (Feb. 4 vs. Houston)

Steals: 5, Kirk Snyder (March 2 vs. Seattle) and Marko Jaric (Jan. 29 at Chicago)

Blocked shots: 6, Theo Ratliff (Nov. 10 at Sacramento)

Minutes played: 48, Sebastian Telfair (Dec. 21 vs. Indiana)