You maybe could have called them "Bulls North" when president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau last summer acquired Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, both of whom he coached in Chicago.
Now you can just call them Timberwolves.
A three-time All Star before he arrived in a draft-night trade, Butler has become a game closer whose play has lifted his team from last in the NBA in net fourth-quarter rating through November games to second, behind only Houston, in December.
Gibson is the stick-'em that bonds with his rebounding, defensive possession and, yes, his scoring, which in Monday's Christmas-night game denied the Lakers after they pulled within six points in the final five minutes.