FanSided NBA Mock Draft: The Minnesota Timberwolves select…

FanSided has published their annual mock draft, featuring selections from site experts across the FanSided NBA network. Dunking With Wolves has made the Minnesota Timberwolves’ selection…

Each year, the network of FanSided NBA sites gets together and knocks out an NBA Mock Draft.

In 2016, the Minnesota Timberwolves (actually, me, representing Dunking With Wolves) picked Jamal Murray at No. 5 with Kris Dunn, who was the actual pick, still on the board. In real life, Murray went seventh to Denver and has been the superior player.

Last year, we picked Jonathan Isaac at No. 7. The actual pick was shipped to Chicago as part of the Jimmy Butler deal, of course, with the Bulls picking up Lauri Markannen and the Wolves grabbing big man Justin Patton at No. 13, which they received back in the trade.

(For reference, Markannen went No. 10 to Sacramento in the 2017 FanSided NBA Mock Draft, while Patton fell to Portland at No. 20.)

This year, the Wolves don’t have their own pick, which would have landed at No. 19, but they do have Oklahoma City’s pick via Utah, due to the Ricky Rubio trade from last summer. At No. 20, they figure to have a few wing prospects to choose from.

Be sure to check out the 2018 FanSided NBA Mock Draft in it’s entirety. It’s a great read, and it’s fun to see how everything shook out. Believe me, there were more than a couple of curveballs.

When we were up at No. 20, the likes of Zhaire Smith (not surprising), Donte DiVincenzo (somewhat surprising), and Lonnie Walker (also not surprising) were no longer on the board. That meant that the decision (for me, at least) more or less came down to Ohio State’s Keita Bates-Diop (profile), Creighton’s Khyri Thomas (profile coming soon), and Maryland’s Kevin Huerter (profile).

So, we picked…

Drumroll, please…

Keita Bates-Diop, G/F, Ohio State

Here’s a link to the full write-up, and here’s an excerpt:

"While there isn’t a huge role ready to plug Bates-Diop into, there are bench minutes to be had behind Jimmy Butler and Andrew Wiggins, and a long, versatile player who can play both wing spots and some power forward is the perfect match. Bates-Diop notably improved his all-around game as a senior. He shot 35.2 percent on 3-point attempts last year on the way to 19.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game and winning the Big Ten Player of the Year award…The biggest attraction to Bates-Diop, however, is his defensive versatility and the switchability that is vital in today’s NBA.His physical profile is starkly similar to that of Golden State’s Draymond Green, and while he’ll have work to do in the rebounding and passing department to reach Green’s All-Star level, the comparison isn’t too far off. And if there’s even a chance that he becomes something resembling Draymond Green, then that’s a chance the Timberwolves have to take."

Again, this entire piece was a blast to work on with the rest of the FanSided NBA Network, and you’d do yourself a disservice to not check the whole thing out.

Next: Should the Timberwolves consider trading down in the draft?

Our NBA Daft coverage continues throughout the next week or so here at Dunking With Wolves.