Editor’s Note: To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, we decided to rank the eight players in team history to wear the No. 5 jersey. Sorry on the delay to get this posted. We had to clean out the salsa off our keyboard.
Overall Stats With The Wolves: 4 games, 1 point, 1 rebound, 0-for-9 from the field, 1-for-2 from the free-throw line
Best Game: He scored his lone point in a Nov. 14, 2012 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. It was the last point of Conroy’s career.
Conroy comes in last on our list. He appeared in only four games, so it’s a pretty small sample size. He was 30 when the Wolves gave him a chance in Minnesota. It’s worth noting that Conroy attended the University of Washington for three seasons with Brandon Roy, who the Wolves took a chance on in 2012-13. In other words, Conroy might have gotten a referral from his boy Roy during a season in which nobody on the Wolves seemed to stay healthy.
Overall Stats With The Wolves: 5 games, 13 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, three steals, 5-for-14 from the field (35.7 percent), 2-for-6 from the 3-point line (33.3 percent), 1-for-1 from the free-throw line (100 percent)
Best Game: In a Jan. 10, 2004 win over the Miami Heat, Goldwire finished with three points, one rebound, one assist, and one steal while shooting a perfect 1-for-1 from the 3-point line.
You remember the 2003-04 historic season for the Wolves.
Kevin Garnett. Latrell Sprewell. Sam Cassell.
And…
Anthony Goldwire?
Goldwire signed a 10-day contract with the Wolves in January of 2004, but unlike Conroy, Goldwire actually had a solid resume in the NBA. In 1997-98, he played in 82 games for the Denver Nuggets and averaged 9.2 points per game. But he didn’t have much success with the Wolves in his five-game audition.
Overall Stats With The Wolves: 11 games, 74 points (6.7 PPG), 36 rebounds (3.3 RPG), 4 assists (0.4 APG), 10 steals (0.9 SPG), 31-for-77 from the field (40.3 percent), 5-for-16 from the 3-point line (31.3 percent), 7-for-12 from the free-throw line (58.3 percent)
Best Game: On Dec. 4, 2012, Howard looked like his old self, finishing with 16 points, 10 rebounds and a steal in 29 minutes against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Wolves won the game and Howard shot 7-for-12 from the field and 2-for-3 from the 3-point line. Just days later, though, Howard would suffer a career-ending injury.
The Wolves took a chance on the former All-Star after he appeared in just 51 games in the two years prior for the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz.
Howard suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in 2010 and was unsigned to start the 2012-13 seasons.
Again, 2012-13 was a contagious season as far as injuries were concerned for the Wolves. If you broke your thumb turning on the TV, I would understand.
The move to bring Howard paid off… for a bit. After bringing him in on Nov. 16 to combat injuries to Roy and Chase Budinger, Howard played well, averaging 6.7 points per game and 3.3 rebounds, not All-Star numbers, but certainly rotational numbers.
On Dec. 14, Howard suffered a torn ACL in his right knee, leading to his release from the team. He hasn’t played in the NBA since.
Overall Stats With The Wolves: 142 games, 379 points (2.7 PPG), 93 rebounds (0.7 RPG), 199 assists (1.4 APG), 137-for-415 from the field (33 percent), 40-for-157 from the 3-point line (25.5 percent), 65-for-91 from the free-throw line (71.4 percent)
Best Game: In this April 17, 2001 loss to the Rockets on the road, Avery finished with 16 points, two steals and an assist. He shot 5-for-9 from the field, 1-for-2 from the 3-point line and 5-for-7 from the free-throw line.
Avery was drafted with the No. 14 pick in the 1999 NBA Draft and well, his career didn’t pan out on the court. Avery started in just one game in his three years with the Wolves and never averaged more than 10 minutes per game. His career ended after three seasons with the Wolves.
The good news for the Wolves, though, is that they had two first-round picks in 1999. At No. 6, they selected Wally Szczerbiak who turned into a solid player for the Wolves.
Overall Stats With The Wolves: 93 games, 777 points (8.4 PPG), 315 rebounds (3.4 RPG), 92 assists (1.0 APG), 59 steals (0.6 SPG), 267-for-612 (43.6 FG percent), 92-for-241 (38.2 percent), 151-for-194 (77.8 percent)
Best Game: No, it wasn’t that one game against the Denver Nuggets when Webster went for the layup instead of the… We’ll stop there. Webster’s best game came against his former team, the Trail Blazers, on March 3 in a win in Portland. Webster finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 34 minutes. He shot 7-for-10 from the field, 3-for-5 from deep and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
The price wasn’t high to acquire Webster in 2010 when the Wolves traded Luke Babbitt and Ryan Gomes for the wing. After all, Webster was the 2005 No. 6 overall pick. It seemed like a solid gamble.
Webster never really stayed healthy for the Wolves, failing to play more than 47 games in a season, as he was dealing with back injuries. As far as our list goes, though, we’ll slot him in at No. 4.
Since his time in Minnesota, Webster signed with the Washington Wizards. He last played in 2014-15 (32 games) with the Wizards. Washington since has waived him. He did not play in the NBA last season.
Overall Stats With The Wolves: 233 games, 2,081 points (8.9 PPG), 1,053 rebounds (3.9 RPG), 188 assists (0.8 APG), 832-for-1,505 from the field (55.3 percent), 417 for-634 from the free-throw line (65.8 percent)
Best Game: On Dec. 11, 2011, Smith put up a career-high 36 points while shooting an impressive 14-for-22 from the field and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. He also added eight rebounds (four offensive) and a block
The Rhino! The Wolves weren’t very good during Smith’s time in Minnesota, but he was a very effective low-post scorer. Let’s not forget that the dude was only 6’7. But he was 250 pounds (hence the nickname “Cookie Monster”), so there was plenty of punch to him.
Smith was a second-round pick out of Boston College and exceeded expectations for the Pups since the beginning.
The Wolves traded Smith on July 20, 2009 to the Clippers for Quentin Richardson (who was later bought out). Smith played three more seasons in the NBA (two with Los Angeles and one with Portland).
According to Basketball Reference’s VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) tool, Smith was the 17th best player out of the 2006 draft, ahead of No. 9 pick Patrick O’Bryant, No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani, No. 5 pick Shelden Williams and No. 3 pick Adam Morrison.
2.) F/C, Gorgui Dieng, 2014-present
Overall Stats With The Wolves: 215 games, 1,823 points (8.5 PPG), 1,494 rebounds (6.9 RPG), 328 assists (2.3 APG), 96 blocks (1.6 BPG), 94 steals (1.3 SPG), 680-for-1,318 from the field (51.6 percent), 455-for-585 from the free-throw line (77.8 percent)
Best Game: On Feb. 6, 2016, Dieng was on triple-double alert, finishing with 24 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and a block in a win over the Chicago Bulls at home. Dieng shot 10-for-13 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line
Dieng’s been a pleasant surprise for the Wolves since Flip Saunders drafted him with the No. 21 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. He was supposed to be a rim protector who rebounds. He’s been more than that for the Wolves. He’s now a big man who can hold his own on both sides of the court. His offense has developed immensely in his three years with the Wolves. He’s coming off of his best season with the Wolves, averaging 10.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
According to the Basketball Reference’s VORP tool, Dieng ranks second in the 2013 NBA Draft, only behind Utah center Rudy Gobert.
Overall Stats With The Wolves: 609 games, 6,216 points (10.2 PPG), 1,559 rebounds (2.6 RPG), 1,216 assists (2.0 APG), 428 steals (0.7 SPG), 2,530-for-5,225 from the field (48.4 FG percentage), 37-for-187 from the 3-point line (19.8 percent), 1,119-for-1,398 from the free-throw line (80 percent).
Best Game: On Feb. 5, 1993 in a win over the Rockets in Houston, West finished with 33 points in 41 minutes to go with four assists and three rebounds. West shot an impressive 14-for-19 from the field (73.7 percent) and 5-for-7 from the free-throw line.
West is a shoe-in for this spot because of his longevity. West played nine seasons with the Wolves. But he was also productive during those years, scoring more than 1,000 points in each year from 1991 to 1994.
West ranks third in team history in games (609), third in minutes played (15,603), fourth in field goals (2,530), sixth in free throws (1,119), seventh in rebounds (1,216), fifth in steals (428) and fifth in points (6,216).
Congrats, Doug. We hope you have a great Cinco de Mayo.
