3. Deep Draft
Trading down in this year’s draft isn’t going to hurt as much as in past drafts.
In every draft, there’s a cutoff point where the talent drops off immensely. This season, it appears the first cutoff is around the ten range. That’s where the players begin to have more defined weaknesses and not such outstanding strengths.
However, there is still a strong pool of players in the 11-17ish range. This is the area where the Timberwolves should target if they trade down.
There are plenty of players available, such as Luke Kennard, OG Anunoby, Donovan Mitchell, or Zach Collins, who would help fill one of the Timberwolves’ major areas of need. To be sure, those players are all flawed but they could develop into specialists at some point or the other.
If the Timberwolves do trade down, one player to keep an eye on is Luke Kennard. Kennard is one of the best shooters in this year’s draft and recently put on a show at the Creative Artists Agency pro day.
Kennard shot 43.8 percent from the 3-point line while averaging 19.5 points per game this past season for Duke and would be a great asset for the Timberwolves off the bench.
He isn’t known for his defensive ability as he isn’t a great athlethe and has a short wingspan. However, he plays hard on that end of the floor and could develop into an average defensive player at some point in his career.
Bottom line is, the Minnesota Timberwolves could trade down in this year’s deep draft class and still pick up a player who can somewhat contribute during the 2017-18 season.