Minnesota Timberwolves: Grading the 2018 offseason

The Draft – Part One

In Tom Thibodeau’s first two drafts as the president of basketball operations for the Timberwolves, he selected Kris Dunn at No. 5 overall in 2016 and Justin Patton at No. 13 in 2017 — technically drafted by Chicago but sent to Minnesota in exchange for No. 7 pick Lauri Markkanen as part of the Jimmy Butler-Zach LaVine deal.

The jury is still out on both players. Dunn had a poor rookie season in Minnesota, serving as a defense-only backup point guard with a brutal offensive game. He showed promise last year in a Bulls uniform, however, and could still turn into a solid NBA player. Plus, being a key part of the Butler trade matters, too.

Patton spent much of his rookie year injured before playing well in 38 games in the G-League with the Iowa Wolves. He appeared in one game for the big club at the tail end of the season, but will reportedly start the year on the sideline again after undergoing yet another foot surgery.

After the Timberwolves made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years in 2018, their first round draft pick dropped all the way down to No. 20 — the lowest the Wolves have had their own pick since 2003, as one might have guessed.

While there were plenty of wing players thought to be mid-to-late first-round selections, there was a run on such players in the late lottery. Zhaire Smith, Donte DiVincenzo, Lonnie Walker, and Kevin Huerter were all thought to be options for the Timberwolves, but they were selected consecutively at pick Nos. 16 through 19.

At the time, it was anyone’s guess who the Wolves would take at No. 20, but they turned in their card with Josh Okogie‘s name on it. And as people dug into the tape and the scouting reports on Okogie, basketball fans were by and large in favor of the selection.

Here’s what we said on draft night:

"Okogie, who played two years at Georgia Tech, is a 6-foot-5 shooting guard with a massive 7-foot wingspan. He should be able to step in and be a solid defender immediately, with the perfect combination of size, length, and toughness to compete in Tom Thibodeau’s defensive scheme from Day One. Offensively, the narrative is that Okogie is raw, and while there were clearly some ball-handling and shot selection issues at the college level, it’s worth noting that there wasn’t a whole lot of talent around Okogie with the Yellow Jackets. He shot 38.4 percent on 3-point attempts as a freshman and 38 percent last year, so there’s certainly consistency there."

Then, I examined his similarities to Jimmy Butler as a prospect. Ultimately, we released floor, middle-case, and ceiling comparisons for Okogie to current NBA players. And fans … you’ll like what you see here.

No matter how you slice it, the Wolves landed a solid prospect with the No. 20 pick. He may only play the Marcus Georges-Hunt role from a year ago off the bench — play in two-thirds of the games and only play five to 10 minutes per night at best — or he may be asked to step into more of a full-time bench role of 10 to 15 minutes per game.

But even if his star doesn’t rise until 2019-20 (remember, Butler didn’t play consistently until his second year in the league), this is still a stellar pick and it’s hard to see how the Wolves could have played it any better.

Grade: A