Minnesota Timberwolves fans: another week, another update to the internet’s mock drafts. Let’s take a look at what they’re saying…
Nearly a week ago, we took a look at a series of NBA draft mocks from around the web to compare what the experts were saying. Let’s take a look at what, if anything, has changed about who the Timberwolves might be looking at selecting.
Perhaps the foremost expert is ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, formerly of DraftExpress. Last time around, he had pegged Bosnian forward Dzanan Musa to the Wolves at No. 20. This time, Givony has Musa sliding to 22nd. And that means that, in this scenario at least, Keita Bates-Diop is there for the taking for Minnesota.
Bates-Diop is a 6′-7″ forward who would have the ability to play some three in the NBA as well as some small-ball power forward. He was a late-bloomer at Ohio State, following up a junior year in which he averaged just 9.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game into a senior season putting up 19.8 and 8.7, respectively.
Here’s what our own Jake Paynting said a few weeks ago about the idea of Bates-Diop landing in Minnesota.
"With the Timberwolves sorely lacking wing help off the bench, Bates-Diop projects as a guy who can immediately help from all three levels on the offensive end. If Thibs can carve 15 or so minutes out of his infamously strict rotation, KBD could thrive of the bench as a role-playing scorer.…Bates-Diop constantly chases smaller guards out of their sweet spots, either blocking or closely challenging majority of the time. He has quick feet and defensive IQ that you rarely find in one-and-done freshman.These tools led to 93.9 defensive rating and a career-best 2.47 defensive win shares, which ranks him 21st in the entire country and above lauded defensive presences like Mohamed Bamba and Wendell Carter Jr according to RealGM."
Bates-Diop shot 35.9 percent from 3-point range with the Buckeyes this year, and if that improvement is real then he should be a real threat from the mid-range and potentially out to the arc in the NBA.
The defensive tools are the key, as Jake mentions in the above-linked article. KBD seems to be exactly the type of player that today’s NBA calls for and that Tom Thibodeau should be attempting to add to his rotation.
Later in Givony’s mock draft, he includes the Timberwolves’ second-round selection at No. 48. Admittedly, if projecting the first round of the NBA draft is far from an exact science, then predicting the second round is rarely more than a dart throw.
At any rate, he has the Wolves taking USC big man Chimezie Metu, who left the Trojans after his junior season after averaging 15.7 points and 7.4 rebounds last year, which was a consistent follow-up to a sophomore season when he put up 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest.
While it’s tough to see the Wolves having a need at the center spot, they’ll no doubt try to move on from Cole Aldrich and Justin Patton‘s health is somewhat in question after another foot surgery.
Next: Timberwolves Draft Prospect: Lonnie Walker IV
But in the second round, anything is possible.