Two years ago, I was given the privilege of taking over Canis Hoopus as site manager.
Today, I am writing to let you know that my run has come to an end.
Covering the Timberwolves every day, previewing every game, reacting to every win and loss, debating every trade, and experiencing this era alongside all of you has been one of the most fulfilling chapters of my 37 years as a Wolves fan.
And what an era it has been. When I took over Canis Hoopus, I knew the job would be exciting. Anthony Edwards was
ascending, and the Wolves had finally broken through as a legitimate title contender. The franchise was entering territory that most of us had spent decades assuming might never arrive.
Within weeks after I took over, Karl-Anthony Towns was traded. Because of course he was.
Nothing involving the Minnesota Timberwolves has ever been allowed to unfold calmly. One of the most important players in franchise history was suddenly gone, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo were arriving, and the entire identity of the team had been rewritten before the season even began.
Welcome to the job.
What followed, however, was a truly special season. The Wolves navigated the shock of the Towns trade, endured the growing pains of integrating a reshaped roster, and still found their way back to the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive year.
Think about that for a moment. Before this era, Minnesota had reached the conference finals once in its entire history. Suddenly, the Wolves were doing it in back-to-back seasons. For a fan base that had spent years dwelling in the league’s cellar, this was no longer a one-time miracle. It was becoming an expectation.
This past season was more turbulent. There were injuries, inconsistency, strange losses, brilliant wins, and severe emotional whiplash. But even that chaotic journey ended with another playoff series victory, this time against the Denver Nuggets. That accomplishment should not be minimized. In 37 seasons of Timberwolves basketball, only four have ended with a playoff series victory.
Four. That number says everything about the history of this franchise and why moments like these matter so much. Wolves fans have not been spoiled by endless postseason success. We know exactly how difficult it is for this team to reach those heights because we lived through all the years when simply making the playoffs felt like an unreasonable request.
To cover this team during one of the most successful stretches in franchise history has been an incredible privilege. It has also given me access to moments I never imagined I would experience when I first became a fan.
I will never forget standing outside the locker room after the Wolves eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. For 20 years, the ghosts of Shaq and Kobe had haunted Wolves fans. The Lakers were the team that ended Minnesota’s greatest season in 2004. They were the glamorous powerhouse from the West Coast holding claim to Minneapolis’ titles, while the Timberwolves spent decades fighting for relevance in the Twin Cities. The imbalance between the two organizations had always felt enormous, and a bit personal.
And then the Wolves finally got their revenge. Hearing the celebration erupt from the locker room after that series win was something I will never forget. There is a difference between watching a moment on television and standing close enough to hear the joy from the people who created it. You could feel the relief, the energy, and the pride pouring through those walls. It felt like more than one playoff series win. It felt like two decades of frustration finally being released.
By my count, this is the 383rd and final post I will publish on Canis Hoopus during my two years leading the site. That number still feels a little unreal.
Three hundred and eighty-three posts means game previews for every contest, recaps, trade reactions, playoff columns, roster analysis, offseason debates, fan polls, and countless attempts to make sense of a team that often resisted making any sense at all.
Through all of it, the best part was knowing that the site was not simply a place where articles were published. It was a community.
The comments section continued to be a gathering place where Wolves fans could celebrate, complain, argue, panic, laugh, overreact, and occasionally provide better analysis than anything written above it. There were regular readers whose names became familiar, even if we never met in person. There were inside jokes, running debates, emotional reactions, and the kind of shared language that forms when a group of people spends hundreds of nights watching the same team together.
Hopefully, you enjoyed reading the site over these past two years as much as I enjoyed writing for it. I know not every article was perfect. There were predictions that aged terribly, arguments that proved incorrect, and game previews that became obsolete before halftime. That is part of covering sports. You make the best evaluation you can, the ball goes up, and then reality gets the final word.
But every article came from the same place: a genuine love for this team and an appreciation for the people who care about it.
I am grateful to the rest of the Canis Hoopus staff for the time, effort, and support they contributed throughout my tenure. Running a site like this is not a one-person job. I am grateful to SB Nation for giving me the opportunity to manage the site and supporting our community with a platform that has only gotten better over time.
I am also deeply thankful to the Timberwolves communications team, Patrick, Aaron, and Derek, for their support of the site through credentialing and access. Everyone I worked with treated Canis Hoopus with professionalism and respect. We were never viewed as “just a fan site”. The opportunities they provided allowed us to deliver coverage that would not otherwise have been possible.
Most importantly, thank you to all of you who read, commented, shared, disagreed, laughed, and followed along.
The end of my time as site manager does not mean the end of my Timberwolves journey. I will still be watching, I will still be cheering, and I will still be shaking my head when the team turns a comfortable lead into a crisis. I will continue to convince myself that this might finally be the year.
The next era of Timberwolves basketball promises to be fascinating. Anthony Edwards remains the center of everything, and now LaMelo Ball joins him to form the most exciting backcourts in the league. I am confident the remaining staff and the next generation of site leadership will do a tremendous job chronicling it.
Canis Hoopus existed long before I arrived, and it will continue long after I leave. That is the beauty of a community like this. People come and go, players are traded, seasons end, and the conversation carries on.
For two years, I was fortunate enough to help guide that conversation during the most successful era this franchise has ever experienced.
I will always be grateful for that.
Thank you for reading and for allowing me to share this journey with you.
Thank you for making these 383 posts mean something far beyond the words themselves.
I will see you in the comments section.
Go Wolves!
