Cole Aldrich was vacationing with his wife in Italy when a lifelong dream came to fruition.

He had sealed a deal to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team he grew up watching in suburban Minneapolis. Because of the time difference, a giddy Aldrich decided to send his father a text message rather than give him a call.

“I think I said, ‘Dad, I’m coming home,’” Aldrich recalled on Thursday.

The message did not quite have the effect he had planned on.

“I thought you were coming home from vacation!” Walter Aldrich hollered from the back of the room.

Alas, Aldrich meant he was coming home for good. To play basketball for the Timberwolves, to live in the home he returns to every offseason after spending the first six seasons of his NBA career bouncing around with five other teams.

“I’ve been a Timberwolves fan all my life,” Cole Aldrich said. “Whether it was in another city playing for New York or Oklahoma City or wherever, I always tried to keep tabs. And you root for your city. For me to be home, I’m going to go out there and play hard. I’m not going to guarantee a championship or anything like LeBron, but just I’m going to try to do all I can to help us win games.”

Aldrich was a high school standout at Bloomington Jefferson in suburban Minneapolis before going on to win a national championship at Kansas. The 7-foot center was the 11th overall pick by Oklahoma City in 2010, but had a hard time finding footing in the league while starting his career with a team that had quickly emerged as a Western Conference power.