The Timberwolves have only been in existence for 26 years, but with a collective franchise winning percentage of just .393 over that period, they’ve also made their share of high draft selections.
But, as Wolves fans well know, they haven’t exactly had a stellar track record despite picking in the top-ten a whopping 17 times since 1989. And don’t forget, they forfeited what was ultimately three first-round picks in the early 2000’s due to the Joe Smith salary cap scandal.
We were still able to find a decent top-10 (11, actually) and a pretty solid top-three draft selections in franchise history, however. We’ll factor in draft-day trades but only in evaluating what the Wolves received in return. For instance, Ray Allen was obviously a better player than Stephon Marbury and in hindsight, the best-case scenario would have been for the trade to have never happened.
But the idea of Marbury was not exactly worst-case scenario, either, so we will not be penalizing the Timberwolves for the trade, but factoring the end result (Marbury) alone. (We should note that we are only including draft night trades as draft selections by the Wolves. For instance, Roy/Foye and Mayo/Love count but Wiggins/Love does not as it was completed in August.)
Enjoy the list, and let us know what you think in the comments or on Twitter at @DunkingWolvesFS.
Next: #11 - Zach Lavine