The NBA Is Back in Minnesota

It began as a dream in the mid-1980s, when local health club owners Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner made a bid for the Milwaukee Bucks.

It became an obsession in 1986, when Wolfenson and Ratner--or Marv and Harv, as they are known around the Twin Cities--said they came “within an eyelash” of buying the Utah Jazz.

It started to take shape in 1987, when NBA owners voted to give Marv and Harv an expansion team--the Minnesota Timberwolves--for 1989-90 at a cost of $32.5 million.

It got closer last June, when the Wolves drafted 11 players off existing team’s rosters and three more prospects in the college draft.

And it will become a reality next Friday.

When the Timberwolves open at Seattle against the SuperSonics, they will be the first NBA team to represent Minnesota since the Minneapolis Lakers left for Los Angeles on April 28, 1960.

“This is definitely a dream come true,” said Wolfenson, who owned three percent stock in the old Lakers. “When you want something for so long and then finally get it, it’s an indescribable feeling.”

The dream doesn’t stop with Marv and Harv.

Bob Stein, Wolfenson’s son-in-law, has gone from being a pro football player to an attorney and player’s agent to the boss of a professional organization as team president. Billy McKinney, a journeyman NBA player, runs the player personnel department. Bill Musselman, who felt he was blackballed out of the league when he ran the Cleveland Cavaliers into the ground in the early ‘80s, is back to coach in Minnesota where, in 1972, he led the Gophers to their first Big Ten title.

Ten of 15 players on the team’s roster as preseason ended (not including holdouts Rick Mahorn, Tyrone Corbin and Steve Johnson) spent time in the minor-league CBA. Five of them -- guard Sidney Lowe and forwards Tony Campbell, Sam Mitchell, Tod Murphy and Scott Roth -- played for Musselman when the CBA was the only league in which he could get a job.

“We’re all chasing a dream,” Murphy said. “We all want to show we belong in the NBA.”

Organizationally, things have gone well for the Wolves. They have sold about 15,000 season tickets and set an exhibition-game record when 35,156 fans streamed into the Metrodome for an Oct. 18 game against the Lakers. They will play in the Metrodome this year before moving into a state-of-the-art, $75 million, privately-funded, 18,000-seat downtown arena for 1990-91.

On the court, however, there’s already been turmoil. The Timberwolves’ top three picks in the expansion draft, forwards Mahorn and Corbin and center Johnson -- who were expected to form the starting frontcourt -- all want their contracts renegotiated. None reported and Stein steadfastly refuses to negotiate until after they prove their worth to the Timberwolves.

Without those players, Minnesota has little veteran leadership, few proven players, hardly any rebounding and almost no inside scoring.

“It doesn’t sound pretty,” Campbell said, “but I guarantee we’ll surprise some people. Bill Musselman will never let us quit. We’ll win some games just because we outwork people.”

The Timberwolves certainly aren’t going to outscore them. During the exhibition season, they had trouble reaching 90 points.

Johnson could solve part of that problem. The 6-10 center averaged 12.4 points in eight NBA seasons mostly from around the basket and his .574 career percentage is fourth best in league history.

But the 32-year-old has been hampered by a variety of injuries the last few years and wants more security than he currently has in the final year of a contract that would pay him about $800,000 this season and make him the Timberwolves’ highest paid player.

Mahorn and Corbin would help keep Minnesota from getting killed on the boards. But Mahorn wants his $625,000 salary doubled and Corbin wants a big raise from $287,000.

“It’s hard to find people who can score in the paint,” Musselman said. “I’m not gonna lie. We’re lacking that.”

Adrian Branch, signed to a two-year contract last week, has helped reduce the logjam at shooting guard. Campbell, who signed a four-year, $2.9 million contract after playing out his option with the Lakers, is expected to be the team’s “go-to” guy. Seven-footer Brad Lohaus has displayed a nice outside shooting touch.

Lowe, who turns 30 in January and who has played only 113 NBA games, starts at point guard ahead of top draft pick Pooh Richardson and second-year pro David Rivers -- mostly because he helped Musselman win three CBA titles.

“He’s so unselfish, really the ultimate unselfish player,” Musselman said. “Sid is an unusually strong leader. He has one of the greatest basketball minds I’ve ever been around.”