Minnesota Timberwolves Players That Make Us Laugh

June's Player- Cherokee Parks
Who could forget a guy named Cherokee, I mean I wish I was named after a Jeep SUV. Mr. Parks arrived in Minnesota in the 1996-97 season in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks. At 6-11 and 240 pounds, Parks provided some good size for the Timberwolves and his array of tattoos made him a fan favorite.
Cherokee's best season in the NBA was in his second year with the Timberwolves where he averaged 7.1 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. However, Cherokee's career went downhill after that season as he opted to sign with the Grizzlies out of all teams as a free agent in 1999. Parks never lived up to his contract in Vancouver and he would finish his career bouncing around the league playing for four other teams until his journey ended in 2003 with the Warriors. We all can learn something from Cherokee Parks and no its not that you shouldn't name your kid Cherokee because its a ridiculous name, but we learned that signing with the Grizzlies will pretty much will end your career. So congrats Cherokee on your career and we are proud to announce that you can be added to the list of Duke players who failed misrably in the NBA.

April/May's Player- Stanley Roberts
After starring at LSU, Stanley Roberts was supposed to be the next big hit in the NBA. Instead, Roberts bounced around the NBA playing for five different teams including the Timberwolves. Roberts' career was nothing pretty as he struggled with weight issues and had several run-ins with the law dealing with drugs. The Clippers traded Roberts in 1997 to the Timberwolves for Stojko Vrankovic where he played in 74 games in the 1997-98 season for the Wolves, including 44 starts. Stanley averaged a respectable 6.2 points and 4.9 rebounds for the Wolves but he only last one season here in Minny as he was not resigned in the off-season.
Roberts will go down as another one of the Timberwolves failed attempts to land a reliable center. However, Roberts did have his shining moment in the NBA in the 1992-93 season where he lead the league in personal fouls with 332 in 77 games. That’s a little over 4 fouls a game if you are doing the math……okay so maybe that isn’t such a shining moment but at least he lead the league in something right?

March's Player- Will Avery
When you hear analysts on ESPN advising college players to stay in school they are doing so that these young kids don’t turn out like former Timberwolf William Avery. Will Avery is the perfect example of a kid that came into the NBA way too soon. The Timberwolves drafted Avery 14th overall in the 1999 draft after Avery decided to skip his final two years at Duke to pursue his NBAWilliam Avery career. That decision I'm sure has haunted Avery ever since. Will had a very unsuccessful NBA career that only last 2 and 1/2 seasons. Avery came into the NBA very unready to play the point guard position and with very raw skills. There was no doubt that Avery really need more experience on the college level to develop as a point guard. In 142 games through 1999 to 2002, Avery averaged 2.7 points and 1.4 assists in very limited minutes.
The Timberwolves passed on future solid pros Ron Artest, Andrei Kirilenko, James Posey, and Jeff Foster and instead selected Avery, which will go down as one of McHale's worst draft day decisions. All signs pointed in the wrong direction for Avery from the start as even Coach K insisted that Avery was not ready for the NBA and should stay for his final two years. Avery and McHale however ignored that advice and in the end this story did not have such a pretty ending.

February's Player- Bill Curley
Bill CurleyProbably one of my favorite players in the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves is Bill Curley. I mean could you pick a better name than Bill Curley...no you can't. The 6-9, 220 pound Bill Curley was a former first round pick by the Spurs but never got anything going in the NBA due to his countless injuries. Bill Curley came to Minnesota in 1996 in the Isaiah Rider trade along with James "Hollywood" Robinson and a future first round pick. The Wolves got a steal in Curley who would sit out the entire 1996-97 season due to injury.....steal as in he looked great on the bench.
Curley made his T'Wolves debut in the 1997-98 season playing in only 11 games and averaging 3.1 points per game. Curley would stick around for another season here and play 35 games in the 1998-99 season where he averaged an outstanding 2.2 points per game. Okay seriously can we stop talking about this guy's career now? Playing in 35 games was like playing in a full season for Curley who probably would have had to sit out the season with a paper cut. Curley never played in more than 53 games in a season and that was in his rookie season as a Piston. But that's enough hating on Bill, he was a great guy who unfortunately was never able to live up to his potential because of injuries. Today he is making in impact on young kids running summer basketball camps where he is teaching young kids how not to get injured. Thank you Bill Curley.

January's Player- Dean Garrett
On September 18th, 1996, the Minnesota Timberwolves signed little known big man Dean Garrett and little did they know it would actually pay off. Garrett finally gave the Wolves the center they needed as he had a stellar rookie season averaging 8.0 points and 7.3 rebounds Garrett however got a bit greedy and signed with Denver the next season where he started all 82 games. Kevin McHale realized the Wolves simply weren't the same without #22 so they reacquired him along with former Gopher Bobby Jackson in a trade in the 98-99 season.
Dean's return to the Wolves wasn't so pretty however as was never the same player. In Garrett's next 3.5 seasons for the Wolves he never matched his rookie stats and spent most of the time on the bench for the Wolves. Wolves fans still dream of the days when it was rookie's Marbury and Garrett who dominated the screen and role not Stockton and Malone......okay maybe he wasn't that good. We miss you Dean Garrett sadly you were the best center we ever had.

December's Player-Stojko Vrankovic
Stojko Vrankovic aka count dracula played for the Timberwolves in the 1996-97 season. In 53 games Stojko averaged 3.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and an outstanding .3 assists per game. Stojko even started in 35 of those games at center to give the Wolves one of the most dominant centers in the league....just kidding. Who could forget the giant 7-2 beast from Crotia with his crafty hook shot and the name you could never pronouce.
Unfortunately Stojko only lasted one season in a Wolves uniform as he finished his NBA career as a Clipper. Who knows how dominant to combination of Vrankovic and Garnett could have been if Stojko had stayed around, some experts say KG was never the same without out Vrankovic.

November's Player-Paul Grant
Paul Grant was one of the many McHale goof ups in the draft department, he was drafted 20th overall in the 1997 NBA Draft. He put up a whopping 4 points in 6 career games for the Wolves. Hobbled by injuries Grant never lived up to expectations but did anyone actually think this guy would be good? So if you have any Paul Grant rookie cards, hold onto them rumor has it McHale may bring back Grant to the team to bring veteran leadership.

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