Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Goodman on draft
By Ben Beecken
As we move to within five days of the 2017 NBA Draft, let’s take a spin around the internet and find what folks are saying about the Timberwolves in the Saturday, June 17 edition of The Roundup.
That’s right, folks: we’re only five days out from the biggest day of the year. Timberwolves Christmas, New Year’s and your birthday all wrapped into one — the NBA Draft.
It may be sad, but it’s certainly true. The draft has been one of the top days of the year for Timberwolves fans for nearly the entirety of the franchise’s existence — save, of course, for the four years without a selection due to the Joe Smith scandal.
And while brighter days appear to be in the not-too-distant future at Target Center, 2017 brings yet another lottery selection, this time at #7. If you’ve been reading Dunking With Wolves over the past few weeks, you’ve seen our cavalcade of contributors break down all of the top prospects every which way, including from yours truly and co-expert Brian Sampson via the twice-per-week DWW podcast.
But today, we turn to ESPN Insider and basketball writer Jeff Goodman, who is a longtime college basketball analyst that typically provides solid draft coverage. He’s created what he’s termed a “Grade A Mock Draft”, meaning that he simply went down the draft order and picked the player that he thinks fits each team best, as if he was each organization’s respective front office decision-maker. (This differs from other mock drafts in that he’s not predicting each pick.)
It’s an Insider article, so we can’t put much of it here in respect to ESPN’s paywall, but here’s what we’ll give you: Goodman selects Kentucky guard Malik Monk, a one-and-done prospect. Some of his thoughts are below…
"Tom Thibodeau is a defensive-minded coach who would love someone who can help on that end of the court……it’ll be a tough call between Monk and Isaac. Monk would give Thibs another guy who can play in the pick-and-roll and be a big-time scoring option in the backcourt."
That’s right: Jeff Goodman had Florida State big man Jonathan Isaac still on the board and yet selected Monk for the Wolves, despite the presence of Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, and even Kris Dunn and Ricky Rubio, who will surely play together some this year if they’re both still on the roster.
It also means that he selected Lauri Markannen for Orlando at #6, over Isaac, Monk and others. Interesting, to say the least.
While Goodman is surely plugged-in on some level, this would be a surprise. Most mock drafts of late have predicted Isaac to be off the board before the Wolves’ selection, and if he’s there it would seem as though the athletic stretch-four would be something close to a perfect fit with Minnesota’s current roster.
Next: 5 Best Timberwolves Draft Trades
At any rate, we’ll stay on top of any significant rumors or mock draft shifts in the coming days. Get excited, Wolves fans. Draft week is officially here.