MINNEAPOLIS -- Any one of several images could be used to sum up perhaps the wildest year yet in Timberwolves history.
Wednesday, April 16: Kevin Love staring at the Target Center's home locker room floor following his last game here, unresponsive after a reporter asks him of his future in Minnesota.
Tuesday, Aug. 26: From left to right, Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Thaddeus Young and Zach LaVine smiling, laughing, chomping on fried gator and ushering in the new age of Wolves hoops at the Minnesota State Fair.
Friday, June 6: Flip Saunders and owner Glen Taylor sitting in a lobby off the Target Center skyway, doing their best to sell Wolvesdom the notion Saunders himself was the best choice at present to succeed retired Rick Adelman as head coach.
Friday, Nov. 7: Point guard Ricky Rubio clutching his left ankle, his face buried into the Amway Center hardwood at Orlando.
For centuries, late December has been a time for reflection and resolution. Apply both to the Wolves, and the result is another ultimately disappointing stanza on which the book is about to close.
But the story is far from finished. Which renders 2014 as pivotal a year as any in this franchise's seesaw history.
The way Love goes
He maintained the façade -- the one detailing a chance Love would stick around if the season went well --- till the bitter end.
And a bitter one it was.
Love said on the record he was committed to helping the Wolves win games in 2013-14, the former No. 5 overall pick's final season in the Twin Cities. He played like he was, becoming the first player since 1975-76 to average 26 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in a season.
But away from the limelight, a disgruntled Love was conceiving his exit. Stung by a non-max extension and long stretches of losing, he planned to opt out of next season and hit unrestricted free agency, so Saunders took the most economical course of action and dealt him to the Cavaliers.
The Wolves' double-overtime loss April 16 at home to Utah was Love's last in Minnesota.
The move formed a new "Big 3" in Cleveland and, for the second time since Kevin Garnett was traded, began restructuring the Wolves' direction around a young, promising talent. This time, his name is Andrew Wiggins.
Meanwhile, after six years in Minnesota during which the Wolves went 153-347 and didn't reach the playoffs, Love is experiencing ups and downs of a different kind alongside King James. The powerful stretch four is averaging 17.1 points on 43.4 percent shooting and 10.2 rebounds per game, but the Cavs are just 18-13 and sit in the Eastern Conference's fifth playoff spot. Love didn't play in Tuesday's loss to Atlanta because of back spasms, joining Anderson Varejao, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James and Shawn Marion on the injury report.
Still, Love is much closer to the postseason and a championship than he ever was in Minnesota.
And the Wolves are starting over without him.
A fair fare
The asking price for Love included the NBA's past two No. 1 overall draft picks in Wiggins and Bennett and, in a three-team deal involving Philadelphia, veteran power forward Young. Saunders' plan: surround Wiggins, the game's most heralded prospect since James himself, Bennett and the rest of the Wolves' youngsters with seasoned talent to ease the transition from Love-centered to run-and-gun, with Wiggins and Rubio at the helm.
In a slew of pomp and circumstance akin to his Continental Basketball Association days, Saunders had the trade returns and LaVine -- whom Saunders drafted 13th overall out of UCLA -- introduced to the media and several hundred fans Aug. 26 at the Minnesota State Fair. The quartet promised a new, exciting brand of basketball with plenty of dunks, heavy doses of transition offense and a renewed commitment to defense.
Key injuries have given the green guys ample opportunities to show signs of such progress.
Wiggins is an early rookie of the year favorite, averaging 13.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and a steal per game. The 6-foot-8, 200-pound swingman out of Kansas leads all NBA rookies in scoring but tends to be passive in stretches, Saunders says.
LaVine has started 18 games at point guard, a position the 19-year-old barely played in college. He's averaging 8.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 0.9 steals but is far from grasping the ins and outs of being an NBA floor general.
At power forward, Young (14.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals) has been steady. But even after several offseason operations and workouts aimed at improving his health, Bennett has struggled. His 5.7 points per game are only 1.5 better than his dismal rookie season, and he's been in and out of Saunders' good graces.
The real story, though, has been Minnesota's other second-year players.
Shabazz Muhammad is one of the league's most improved players this year. After tallying 7.8 minutes per game in 37 appearances last year, the 2013 draft's 14th overall pick leads the Wolves in total points and has a well-above-average player efficiency rating of 20.95.
Currently the team's only active center, Dieng has been solid in more subtle ways. His 1.6 blocks per game are tied for 11th in the league, and he's at 8.1 rebounds per game while shooting 49.7 percent from the field.
Flipping course
Finding the right guy to oversee this overhaul also was an arduous task.
Saunders, who took over for David Kahn as president of basketball operations in May 2013, didn't need to look very far. After interviewing a slew of candidates and nearly hiring Minnesota native Dave Joerger away from Memphis, Saunders settled on himself to oversee the Wolves' on-court operations, at least in the short term.
The move put him on par with Doc Rivers and Stan Van Gundy in terms of front-office power.
Saunders replaced Adelman, who spent the final three years of his Hall of Fame career in the Twin Cities trying to resurrect a Love-led team. That task now falls on Saunders, although he could very well reopen the coaching search this offseason if the ideal candidate is out there.
From 'blend' to 'rebuild'
Saunders, who teamed up with Kevin Garnett to lead Minnesota to its only eight playoff appearances from 1996-04, quickly saw the initial stages of his long-term plan crumble before him.
It started when Rubio rolled his ankle Nov. 7 at Orlando. The point guard had just signed a four-year, $56 million extension but has been out since then, missing 25 of the Wolves' 30 games.
It got worse when starting shooting guard Kevin Martin fractured his wrist during a 37-point outburst Nov. 19 against New York. He had surgery Nov. 25 and has missed Minnesota's past 20 games.
Starting center Nikola Pekovic has missed 21 games with ankle and wrist issues. Backup five man Ronny Turiaf had season-ending hip surgery. Point man Mo Williams missed time with back spasms, forcing LaVine into a starters' role, and Saunders has Williams on a minutes limit that's conducive to keeping him on the bench.
It got so bad the league granted Minnesota a hardship exception to sign a 16th player. Saunders used it on broad-shouldered free agent Jeff Adrien, whom the Wolves are essentially using as a 6-7 backup center.
It all forced Saunders to essentially waive the white flag on the season, transitioning from a "blended" approach to a complete rebuild. He traded Turiaf and wing Corey Brewer and has stuck with a pair of teenagers in the starting lineup in hopes of developing them long-term.
This season was always going to be a project. But no one could've predicted Saunders would wind up starting it from scratch.
Onto the next one
So when those in Wolvesdom look back at 2014, they'll likely see one of two things -- either another year where a star was lost and the franchise set further back, or a sticky situation was capitalized upon in the form of landing a new superstar that leads the club back to relevance.
It's on Wiggins' shoulders. And Saunders'. And the rest of the stakeholders in a club that's already destined to miss the playoffs an 11th straight time.
See you in 2015.
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