Tom Gugliotta

Tom Gugliotta became the first All-Star in Minnesota Timberwolves history, and alongside a young Kevin Garnett he lifted a punchline franchise to the first playoff berths it had ever known.

Vitals
Born	December 19, 1969, Huntington Station, New York
High school	Walt Whitman (Huntington Station, New York)
College	North Carolina State
Drafted	No. 6 overall, 1992 (Washington)
Seasons as a Wolf	4 (1995–1998)
Number	24

The gamble that landed him. On February 18, 1995, Minnesota shipped rookie Donyell Marshall, the No. 4 pick in the 1994 draft and barely half a season into his career, to the Golden State Warriors for Gugliotta (Spokesman-Review). It was the kind of move a directionless franchise makes when it is tired of losing: cashing in a recent lottery pick before anyone could say whether he would pan out. It worked almost immediately. Given the freedom to handle the ball, push the break, and roam from the perimeter to the glass, the 25-year-old forward gave the Wolves a versatile centerpiece they had never had.

The breakout. Gugliotta’s game grew every month he wore the uniform. In 1995-96 he started all 78 games he appeared in, averaging 16.2 points and 8.8 rebounds. The following season he erupted, posting 20.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists across 81 games in 1996-97 while guarding multiple positions. That winter he was named to the 1997 Western Conference All-Star team, the first All-Star selection in Timberwolves history. Seven-plus seasons into their existence, Minnesota finally had a player the rest of the league had to respect.

Lifting the franchise with a young Garnett. The timing was perfect. The Wolves had spent the No. 5 pick in 1995 on a 19-year-old straight out of Chicago’s Farragut Academy, and by 1996-97 Kevin Garnett had arrived. Gugliotta was the established star, Garnett the soaring supporting act. With rookie point guard Marbury completing the trio, they pushed Minnesota to 40 wins and the 1997 playoffs, the first postseason appearance the franchise had ever earned. The veteran Rockets closed the young Wolves out in three, but the ceiling had been raised for good. A team that once existed only to be beaten now had a core other franchises envied.

The injury and the free-agent summer. In 1997-98 Gugliotta again played at an All-Star level, averaging 20.1 points on the best true shooting percentage of his career. Then a severe ankle injury ended his season after just 41 games, costing him the stretch run. Minnesota still reached the 1998 playoffs, its second straight berth, before Seattle eliminated the Wolves in five. That summer he hit unrestricted free agency at the worst possible moment for Minnesota. Under the new collective bargaining rules the Wolves could offer him the most money, a reported seven-year package worth roughly $86 million, but Gugliotta had said all along that he cared more about fit than the top dollar. He signed a six-year deal worth about $60 million with the Phoenix Suns, structured with an opt-out after five years (CBS Sports). The best player of Minnesota’s first competitive era had chosen to build his prime somewhere warmer.

What his exit set in motion. Replacing Gugliotta proved even costlier than losing him. Minnesota signed forward Joe Smith to fill the hole, and that decision spiraled into the most damaging scandal in team history. The NBA uncovered an illegal under-the-table agreement and voided Smith’s contract, fined the club $3.5 million and stripped first-round draft picks. Gugliotta, for his part, never rediscovered his Minnesota form. Injuries dogged his Phoenix years, and the two 20-point seasons he strung together for the Wolves stood as the peak of a solid 13-year career. The partnership that might have kept Garnett flanked by an All-Star forward for a decade instead lasted barely three winters.

By the numbers

Regular-season stats with the Wolves, per Basketball-Reference:

Season	GP	PPG	RPG	APG
1994-95	31	14.4	7.2	4.5
1995-96	78	16.2	8.8	3.1
1996-97	81	20.6	8.7	4.1
1997-98	41	20.1	8.7	4.1

Wolves career totals

231Games 4,201Points 1,970Rebounds 879Assists 18.2PPG 8.5RPG Four-season totals via Basketball-Reference and StatMuse.

AccoladesNBA All-Star, 1997 — the first in Timberwolves historyLed Minnesota to its first two playoff berths (1997, 1998)Acquired in the 1995 Donyell Marshall trade to become the franchise’s first cornerstoneBack-to-back 20-point scoring seasons (1996-97, 1997-98)

Lore

“GOOGLY-OOGLY-OOGLY!” No account of Gugliotta’s time in Minnesota is complete without the man who narrated it. Kevin Harlan, the future broadcasting legend, was the television voice of the Wolves through the franchise’s early years, and Gugliotta’s surname was a gift to a play-by-play artist. Harlan turned it into one of his signature calls, bellowing “GOOGLY-OOGLY-OOGLY!” after a Gugliotta dunk, a bit of joyful nonsense that still lives in the memory of anyone who watched those teams (Star Tribune; Nothing But The Rain, on Harlan’s Timberwolves years)). For a franchise short on highlights, Harlan supplied the soundtrack, and Googs supplied the reason to raise his voice.

The first star of a barren era. It is easy, decades later, to remember only Garnett from those mid-’90s teams. But when Minnesota first became watchable, Gugliotta was the leading man. He was the first Timberwolf voted to an All-Star Game and the leading scorer on the first Timberwolves team to reach the playoffs. Garnett grew into the greater player, yet for a stretch it was Googs who set the standard everyone else in the building was chasing.

The quiet template for every exit that followed. The stars who left after him made noise. Marbury forced his way out by his third season, and Kevin Love later maneuvered a trade to Cleveland. Gugliotta simply declined the biggest check on the table and signed elsewhere, no trade demand required. That a franchise holding the richest offer still could not keep its first All-Star set an unhappy precedent Minnesota has spent decades trying to break.