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Kevin Garnett will likely act as mentor to Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor

By Drew Mahowald

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Just in case you live under a rock or something and haven’t heard the big news, the Minnesota Timberwolves won the NBA Draft Lottery last night. This gives them the first overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, which will be held on June 26th.

In all likelihood, the Timberwolves will look to draft a big man in either Karl-Anthony Towns from Kentucky or Jahlil Okafor from Duke. Both have some serious potential in the NBA and could eventually be superstar players.

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Rumors are swirling that both of these players would rather fall to the second pick, held by the Los Angeles Lakers. While I don’t blame them for wanting to live in L.A., there’s one reason that should convince them that being drafted by the Timberwolves wouldn’t be so bad.

Kevin Garnett.

Reports indicate that Garnett will be returning to the Timberwolves for at least one more NBA season. These reports come from a fairly reliable source, as Flip Saunders himself said these things this morning on KFAN Radio while conversing with one of the radio station’s personalities, Paul Allen.

Whether it’s Towns or Okafor that’s drafted by Minnesota (if it’s not one of those two players, then I’m officially giving up on this franchise), Kevin Garnett will act as an excellent mentor to the new draftee. Garnett will enter his 21st NBA season in the 2015-16 season, so there’s no doubting that he has the experience. Additionally, Garnett is one of the greatest big men in the history of the NBA on both ends of the floor, so that could help, I guess.

According to this tweet from Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press, it sounds like Karl-Anthony Towns may be on board with learning from Garnett.

For me, having Garnett on the roster makes the decision between Towns and Okafor much less stressful. I have complete confidence that Garnett will be able to help mold whichever player the Timberwolves decide to choose into a great player. So, while I do prefer Towns slightly over Okafor just because of his increased defensive and rebounding ability, I would be completely satisfied if the Timberwolves decided to go with Okafor. I’m not the only one who feels this way, either.

Garnett’s teaching will have an immediate impact on either Towns or Okafor. Discipline, tenacity, intensity, and leadership are all qualities that could rub off Garnett onto one of these players, as well as the other obvious intangibles on both sides of the ball.

Overall, I’m just mostly excited about the fact that the Timberwolves will have a chance to draft one of these two players. If they had drawn a pick outside the top two, things could have gotten really fishy. However, luck was on the side of the Timberwolves, for once, and things are starting to look up for this organization.

We’ll keep you posted with plenty of coverage on the NBA Draft in the next few weeks. In the meantime, let’s just celebrate the fact that the Timberwolves won the lottery and that Kevin Garnett will be acting as a mentor to the new draftee.

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