No improvement of your lot, if you’re the Minnesota Timberwolves. You fought gallantly in March, putting your best foot forward and ignoring the implosions of previous years. What good did all that non-tanking karma do you? You got what you deserved. And, so… with the number nine pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves elect to do what, exactly?

Stay put? Trade up? Trade out? There are options. Those are them.

Mar 24, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Injured Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love wearing street clothes looks on in the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Target Center. Bulls won 104-97. Mandatory Credit: Greg Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Should the Wolves accept their fate, they can choose between the KCP and McCollum leftover shooting guard combo platter, should McCollum’s DAZZLING interviews at the combine in Chicago not vault him up the ranks of so many mock drafts as to have the Bobcats over-thinking things, the odds are one of them will still be around come the ninth pick. But is that good enough for a Rick Adelman team hellbent on turning this thing around after two years of incompetence and ill-fated health dashing all… blah blah fatalistic blah?

Well, if you don’t want to wait around, there are moves to be made. Rumors have it, the Lakers are more than a little interested in moving into the lottery. There’s a deal to be explored there and the pieces are begging to pack their bags.

Or, if Glen Taylor is unwilling to part with the highest draft pick in Wolves history (hint: not Kevin Love), there is more to be had in draft pick dealings. Just think: what did the Wolves have to give up for their best perimeter threat last year? Hint: it was a first rounder — but it was a first rounder of 9 pick’s lesser value than the one the Wolves just found out they had Tuesday night.

Mar 24, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Injured Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love wearing street clothes looks on in the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Target Center. Bulls won 104-97. Mandatory Credit: Greg Smith-USA TODAY Sports

S0, I don’t know if you’ve heard about this thing the National Basketball Association does with their lottery teams. Since Patrick Ewing was bestowed upon New York Knicks fans in ’85, the NBA has been making a show of their weighted lottery system. Gone are the days of Territorial picks and coin flips.

In 1984 the Houston Rockets were the last team to tank with a real chance at a reward. Since then, the NBA has drawn ping pong balls for the minority of the league that doesn’t make its way into the playoffs to determine the the order they pick prospects to become players.

Quick tangent: That is always a surprise for me to hear. Fourteen lottery teams and sixteen playoffs teams. Mediocrity is both rewarded with a first round exit from the playoffs and stuck just outside the lottery pick range that could potentially net them the help they need.

Ideally, a late first rounder would have some value as a specialist. A fledgling rotation player could easily be had in the mid-to-late first round — even without striking gold with a Danny Granger or getting crazy landing a Tony Parker — a middle of the pack first rounder was valuable enough to nab Chase Budinger last year.

This history lesson has nothing to do with the Wolves current status as holders of two first rounders and one fixing to land in the top ten. The Wolves have never, ever improved on their odds-on draft position, so don’t let Kevin Love’s luck get you too excited.

BUT OMG THE WOLVES COULD LAND A TOP 3 PICK IN TOMORROW’S LOTTERY!!!!!!