Best announcing team of all time in Wolves history

by user ArmchairCraigInTC

Favorite announcing teams are as subjective as the person doing the opinion-making. But when it comes to Timberwolves radio broadcast teams, I think there's no question who the gold crown has to go to: the classic duo of play-by-play guy Kevin Harlan and color commentator Trent Tucker.

Harlan was with the Wolves for nine season before hitting the big-time, and although Tom Hanneman was his typical broadcast partner, on some games, for at least a couple seasons, Tucker would be alongside Harlan. It was magic.

Harlan, in those days, back before Kevin Garnett arrived and the audience grew, was loosey-goosey on the radio, joking around, making wisecracks and working in some "between the lines" subtle jokes that otherwise would have been censored.

But he was also notable for adding excitement to broadcasts of otherwise-boring Wolves games, such as one of his classic calls for, I believe, a J.R. Rider slam dunk during a Knicks game. It went like so:

"J! R! Riiiiiiiider! He went up high and came down hard! They call that the high hard one! He went up against Patrick Ewing with no regard for human life!"

Tucker, a local favorite Gopher grad who played on an NBA championship team with Michael Jordan before retiring and going into broadcasting, was famous for the way he's oversimplify his color commentary to an almost insulting level. Like so:

"What the Timberwolves need to do is to score more points than the other team. If you cannot score more points than the other team on a consistent basis, you will not win many games in the National Basketball Association."

Together, they made radio broadcasts far more fun, and helped local radio station KFAN-AM 1130 coin a catch phrase, "Turn down the TV sound and turn on The Fan! KFAN!"

Those were the days!