NBA Glossary Of Basketball Terms From Basketball-Reference.com

Editor's note: This NBA glossary of terms is from "basketball-reference.com"  
This glossary of terms can be referenced by readers who might not know what a term actually means while reading articles posted on NBA Timberwolves Talk or any other related site.

2P - 2-Point Field Goals


2P% - 2-Point Field Goal Percentage; the formula is 2P / 2PA.


2PA - 2-Point Field Goal Attempts


3P - 3-Point Field Goals (available since the 1979-80 season in the NBA)


3P% - 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (available since the 1979-80 season in the NBA); the formula is 3P / 3PA.


3PA - 3-Point Field Goal Attempts (available since the 1979-80 season in the NBA)


Age - Age; player age on February 1 of the given season.


AST - Assists


AST% - Assist Percentage (available since the 1964-65 season in the NBA); the formula is 100 * AST / (((MP / (Tm MP / 5)) * Tm FG) - FG). Assist percentage is an estimate of the percentage of teammate field goals a player assisted while he was on the floor.


Award Share - The formula is (award points) / (maximum number of award points). For example, in the 2002-03 MVP voting Tim Duncan had 962 points out of a possible 1190. His MVP award share is 962 / 1190 = 0.81.

Timberwolves Stuck In NBA Purgatory, Retiring Kevin Garnett's Number 21 Would Help Bring Franchise Back To Life

Timberwolves owner, Glen Taylor
 - Image owned by Getty Images

We, Timberwolves fans have read it so many times about the team only making the playoffs once in the past 15 years. That is really pathetic but, it is fitting. It’s the truth. Over the last 15 seasons, the team has really sucked. The team hasn’t been relevant since before the only superstar player was traded away to the Celtics for a few draft picks, a few underwhelming players and a toaster. Ok, the toaster wasn’t included but, it should have been.

The truth of the matter is the team has been drowning in NBA Purgatory ever since Kevin McHale traded away the biggest, most talented player to ever play for the Wolves…. Kevin Garnett.

Has The NBA Become Too Complex For The New and Casual Fan To Understand?

This article is my first of hopefully many to be featured on the new Timberwolves fan site I created…. NBA Timberwolves Talk.

I am a fan of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. For better would be great but, for most of their 30 years in the league, it has been for the worse. I have followed them every season, hoping to see them have another season like they did in 2004 when they made it to the Western Conference Finals. My trust in that hope is what keeps me following them, even though I no longer live in Minnesota.

Recently, while reading an article about them, I noticed there were a lot of basketball terms being used and I admit, I didn't know what some of them meant. Over the years I have considered myself a "common fan.” That Means I understand basic basketball terminology, enough to understand most of what I read in today's NBA news.