Maybe the Minnesota Timberwolves aren’t as pathetic as we all thought.

Minnesota had just five wins. They were inching dangerously close to becoming the first team to finish without double-digit victories in an 82-game season since Philadelphia went 9-73 in 1972-73. They were beyond dismal; certainly primed to set a new club mark for futility (22 wins), which occurred during the franchise’s very first season.

Then, a week ago, these puppies grew fangs.

They beat the Warriors. And then the Suns. They even had the Celtics pinned and, if not for one measly turnover, the Timberwolves would be the current owners of a four-game winning streak.

The icicle tears on the faces of fans mourning in Minneapolis and those solemn in St. Paul are melting by the minute. Unlike that 1989 expansion team – Sam Mitchell, Sidney Lowe, Tony Campbell, Tod Murphy, and Brad Lohaus started in the season opener – there is reason for optimism in Minnesota and this little stretch of success might be a warm hint at what’s to come.

Minny’s young core is definitely promising. Al Jefferson is the biggest name – and biggest stat smuggler – but he’s not alone in the potential department. Corey Brewer, Rashad McCants, Craig Smith, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, and the injured Randy Foye are all gifted and young. Not one of them is over the age of 25.

Sebastian Telfair is having the best season of his short professional career, but that’s not saying much. At just 22 years old, he is already playing for his third NBA team and his first three seasons were equal parts inconsistent and turbulent. Due to the implementation of the league’s age minimum draft rule, the six-foot Telfair might always be the answer to an NBA trivia question (i.e. Who is the shortest high school player ever drafted in the lottery?), but that isn’t enough to stop the T-Wolves from looking for a lead guard at season’s end.

Minnesota will still likely possess a top three pick in the upcoming draft and there will be more than three future franchise players available. Meaning GM Kevin McHale, the man ultimately responsible for trading Kevin Garnett, might be faced with the second-most important personnel decision in team history less than a year after making the first.

He could use the draft to replace Telfair. Frosh phenoms Derrick Rose of Memphis and USC’s O.J. Mayo are about as highly rated as collegiate point guard prospects get. Either one could be the key to a Timberwolf turnaround. Indiana shooting guard Eric Gordon has range out to 25-feet and is quite possibly the most exciting player in college basketball, but he isn’t a point guard. And the T-Wolves wouldn’t invest in another explosive, undersized 2-guard considering they already have Foye (and they traded the rights to Brandon Roy to get him).

Considering McHale played on what is widely considered to be the best frontline in the history of the sport, he probably won’t be building from the backcourt anyhow.

John Riek – a native of the Sudan who is currently at the Winchendon School in Massachusetts – and Texas A&M freshman DeAndre Jordan, are both embarrassingly gifted centers. Michael Beasley, yet another first year standout, is a sensational power forward from Kansas State. Beasley’s work ethic has been questioned, but he’s the nation’s leading rebounder and far more polished than Riek and Jordan.

If the Wolves draft a big, McHale would be giving Jefferson the one gift he never gave Garnett: A budding superstar to share the frontcourt with. For if McHale can’t find another Larry Bird, he’ll certainly settle for a Robert Parrish.

Yet, no matter what happens in June, the Wolves are starting fresh. Which brings us back to 1989, when the Timberwolves were nothing more than a roster full of expansion draftees. Names selected off a long list of the unwanted.

Minnesota might’ve been just 22-60 that first season, but it was remarkably the best record of any of the four newest teams in the league. Since that point, the Wolves have played the tortoise to those other expansion hares.

Two of the other three expansion teams from that period – the Heat and Magic – have reached the NBA Finals and Miami took the title home in 2005. The Charlotte Hornets never reached the league’s pinnacle, but even they advanced to the conference semi-finals four times in 13 years before moving the franchise to New Orleans.

Meanwhile, Minnesota won just five playoff games total in the team’s first 12 years.

The arrival of Garnett in 1995 brought a superstar and a dose of respectability to the team, but KG could take the T-Wolves only so far. No player, regardless of their true greatness, can reach the NBA summit by himself. And even the Garnett-led Wolves had lost their bite in recent years. The team failed to win over 33 games in each of his last two seasons. Garnett was subsequently traded and Minnesota fell from mediocre to deplorable.

At least that’s what everyone thought.

When you combine Jefferson’s recent display of ferocity (including his 40 points and 19 rebounds against the Nets) with the team’s recent run of non-atrociousness, this week might be foreshadowing a pretty exciting future. The roster is drenched with hope and the draft should bring even more of the same.

One day they might even make the playoffs.

Now that would be historical. After all, no team in franchise history has gone to the postseason without Kevin Garnett on the roster.

It could all be quite a transformation for the Timberwolves, a franchise familiar only with the kind of history measured in ineptitude.