Minnesota Timberwolves: Rookies say Keita Bates-Diop is draft’s biggest steal

The annual NBA rookie survey is out, and despite not picking in the lottery for the first time in years, both Minnesota Timberwolves’ draft picks made appearances in the survey.

The NBA rookie survey release is always a fun time for speculation, either about how savvy the league’s incoming rookies seem to be (see: rookies predicting Utah’s Donovan Mitchell as last year’s biggest steal), or how bought into media hype they have become (see: a whopping 29 percent of rookies picking Dallas’ Dennis Smith, Jr. as last year’s Rookie of the Year).

For the first time in a long time, the Minnesota Timberwolves don’t have a new lottery pick on their roster. Josh Okogie wasn’t selected until No. 20, and, somewhat unsurprisingly, was not one of the 15 players who received at least one vote for the 2019 Rookie of the Year. (The Suns’ DeAndre Ayton and the Cavaliers’ Collin Sexton tied at 18 percent.)

Okogie was named in a couple of different places, however: he tied for second in the “most athletic” category, trailing Philadelphia’s Zhaire Smith‘s 24 percent and landing 15 percent of the vote alongside Oklahoma City’s Hamidou Diallo and San Antonio’s Lonnie Walker IV. We noted his extreme athleticism shortly after the draft as well, which is one of the key differences between he and new teammate Jimmy Butler.

Additionally, Okogie ranked third in “best defender”. He tallied just 11 percent of a vote that was split 15 ways, finishing behind Memphis’ Jevon Carter (29 percent) and Orlando’s Mohamed Bamba (14 percent).

This is, of course, one of the key similarities between Okogie and Butler: toughness and want-to on defense.

Now, on to the good stuff. There is a Wolves rookie who actually one a category, believe it or not.

Indeed, it’s the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and No. 48 — No. 18 in the second round — Keita Bates-Diop, landing the title of “biggest steal” in the 2018 NBA Draft.

We identified Bates-Diop as exactly that in the moments after the selection was announced, as his combination of size, versatility, defensive toughness, and sheer production at a big-time college program is significant for a mid-second-round pick. Our collection of post-draft scouting reports can be found here, and we also spent some time comparing him directly to three current NBA players.

The rookies picked Bates-Diop narrowly over a pair of other players; the Wolves rookie garnered 13 percent of the vote while Walker and Denver’s Michael Porter, Jr. each received 10 percent.

NBA.com’s John Schuhmann correctly notes that Bates-Diop’s biggest challenge will perhaps be to crack Tom Thibodeau’s short rotation — no small task, of course. But if he can do that, it certainly seems as though the NBA rookies may have hit the nail on the head two years in a row with this category.