I know the title of this article seems ridiculous — the Timberwolves drafted Karl-Anthony Towns just last year.
What do you mean finally nail our pick? Well, simply put, KAT doesn’t count. They had the first pick and by the end of the pre-draft process he was the consensus top selection, especially considering the needs of the team at that time. Hell, even David Kahn and Kevin McHale‘s evil love child would’ve drafted KAT. If only to trade him for ‘Manna from Heaven’ Darko Milicic and the ghost of Marko Jaric.
What about Andrew Wiggins or Zach Lavine? Well, they didn’t actually draft Andrew Wiggins. Zach LaVine has showed flashes in his first couple seasons but we still aren’t sure exactly where he’ll end up as a player. Shabazz Muhammad & Gorgui Dieng have both contributed (especially Dieng) but you can’t say we definitely nailed the pick.
How do I define nailing a pick in the NBA draft? Well, to me it starts with drafting in a slot that doesn’t have a consensus selection (ie. KAT last year, Durant at two in 2007, etc.). Then, you draft a player that perhaps had been slotted that high but hadn’t proven they were 100 percent worthy of that slot by any means. Then, that player becomes a complete stud.
Think Stephen Curry at pick seven in 2009 or Amar’e Stoudemire at nine in 2002 or Russell Westbrook at four in 2008. The Timberwolves haven’t had much of any luck absolutely nailing a pick in, like, ever.
In fact, going back in Timberwolves history it’s arguable that we’ve only nailed our own draft pick once. Kevin Garnett. Fifth selection of the 1995 draft. Twenty-one freaking years ago.
Remember, we made draft day trades for Stephon Marbury and Kevin Love so for the purposes of this article they don’t count. And really, how well did it work out for us having those two on our team anyway? Coincidentally, the Wolves hold the fifth pick again this year.
Will they even hold onto the pick? It doesn’t appear they necessarily want to. They’ve been rumored to offer the pick in a trade for Jimmy Butler (in my opinion, a pipe dream). It appears they’d trade the pick (and a couple other pieces if needed) in a hot second if it netted them a young veteran in return.
It is also rumored that if they keep the pick they’d be happy if any of the following four players fell to them: Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray, Kris Dunn, or Dragan Bender.
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If this is true, what’s the point of even having a scouting team?! If you spend all these resources, time, and man power to study up for a draft only to at the end just go ‘Meh, any of these guys would be fine, let’s just sit back and see who falls to us’ then you’re in big trouble. Go back to any draft and look at picks 4-8. It’s a complete crap shoot. All of those players were scouted as being very good prospects but not quite good enough to go top three. They were all grouped together but their NBA careers were anything but similar.
In this draft range, you can get a Kevin Garnett or a Dwayne Wade. You can also get a Wes Johnson or an Ekpe Udoh. I have too much faith in the new regime of Scott Layden & Tom Thibodeau (Team Laybodeau?) to believe they’re just fine with any one of those players.
Great franchises lock in on who they want and do whatever they can to try to get them (think the Spurs with Kawhi Leonard, the Lakers with Kobe, or even the Wolves with KG). I think Team Laybodeau knows this and hopefully are just keeping it cagey to thwart other threats to the player(s) they want.
My vote? As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I think they should swing for the fences with this pick because it’ll (hopefully) be their last chance to draft this high in a long, long time. To have a chance at absolutely nailing this pick they should choose between Jamal Murray and Dragan Bender.
In my opinion, they easily have the most upside of the players likely to be available at pick five. I’d take Dragan Bender but would be happy with either of these two over the other prospects they’re interested in.
Next: Should Timberwolves Trade For Kenneth Faried?
This year’s draft is shaping up to be full of surprises. Let’s hope the Wolves pull off their own surprise and draft a complete stud. Who knows. But as KG once said (in a different uniform): ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!