Minnesota Timberwolves 2019 NBA Draft Big Board

1. NBA Draft Week is finally upon us. If you’re looking for which prospects you should hope to see on stage in a Wolves hat, you’ve come to the right place.

Just a few days after the 2018-19 NBA season concluded, the best period of the summer has come to bail us out from our post-NBA blues. The month-long stretch from mid-June to mid-July is full of rumors, wild conjecture based off cryptic social media posts, new acquisitions and the most damaging thing you can give a Minnesota sports fan – hope.

Heading into the 2019 NBA Draft, Minnesota Timberwolves fans have a ton to be excited about. With the 11th selection in Thursday’s draft, Gersson Rosas and his front office have just about every possible scenario on the table, which is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, given the Wolves’ hit-and-miss recent draft history.

The draft hype intensified on Monday night when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski got a phone call during his Instagram live Q&A and could be heard saying “It’s definitely off, we’re not being recorded” (joke’s on you, Woj)  and continued, “I called Gersson twice, three times in the last 30 minutes, because I was actually trying to reach Brian…” That’s where the audio gets patchy and tough to make out.

If you can make it out or piece it together, tweet me @jrborman13 and we’ll let the speculation fly.

Timberwolves Twitter was plenty excited yesterday when ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reported that Minnesota was one of three teams in talks with New Orleans for their number four pick in Thursday’s draft in hopes of drafting Vanderbilt point guard Darius Garland.

If the Wolves can somehow maneuver up to number four and grab Garland, I would be absolutely ecstatic. However, that is a deeper conversation to be had in a different article.

With so much raw talent, production, and untapped potential littered throughout the first round, I am extremely confident that Rosas and company will ultimately come to the decision that helps move a Wolves franchise out of limbo and into the thick of the Western Conference playoff race in the 2019-20 NBA season. They are completely unafraid to make bold moves, which I am all-in on.

Over the past month, I have spent a ton of time researching draft prospects, watching game highlights (both good and bad), and studying up on players from the 2019 class I did not follow during their high school days or get a good look at during this this past college basketball season.

The result is my Top 25 Minnesota Timberwolves Big Board, which consists of the Top 25 players Minnesota should select with not only just the No. 11 pick, but any pick in the first round. This includes the number four pick if the Wolves trade with the Pelicans.

I made the following assumptions when crafting my big board:

• Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, and RJ Barrett are locked in at the first, second, and third picks, respectively – and my top three prospects in this draft – so the Big Board starts with my fourth-best overall prospect in the first spot.
• The Timberwolves have real potential to move up (as high as No. 4, even though it is highly unlikely) or down the first round draft board.
• The following potential free agents/trade targets are on the Wolves roster: Andrew Wiggins, Jeff Teague, Gorgui Dieng, Dario Saric, Tyus Jones.

Other notes:

• Think of the Big Board as a chronological order of who the Timberwolves should select if all players were available at a given time.
  • If Minnesota had the fourth pick, then they should take Garland.
  • But the Wolves pick in the No. 11 spot, and the top seven players on the Big Board were selected with picks 4-10, then Minnesota should select the 8th-ranked player on the Big Board
• All players on the Big Board are graded on an A-F scale based on how well they would fit with the current Timberwolves roster.
  • This takes into account the Wolves team needs, and each player’s position, height, wingspan, strengths, and weaknesses.
  • Each prospect is given a grade out of 100. Grades are composed by focusing primarily on the following metrics, combined with their talent, potential, and fit:
    • eFG percentage: measures field goal percentage adjusting for made 3-point field goals being 1.5 times more valuable than made 2-point field goals per the NBA Stats Glossary.
    • Usage percentage: The percentage of team plays used by a player when he is on the floor.
      • Formula: (FGA + Possession Ending FTA + TO) / POSS, per NBA Stats Glossary.
      • Assist percentage (guards): the percentage of his team’s assists that a player has while on the court.
      • Rebound percentage (bigs): the percentage of his team’s rebounds that a player has while on the court.
      • Points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game.
      • Field goal, 3-point, and free throw percentage.
      • Potential role refers to what role they would assume as a rookie.

      To filter the Big Board to your own liking, please click the triangle filter button just above Column A in the Google Sheet and click “Create New Temporary Filter”. From there, you can sort players by whichever available statistic you like to evaluate players with. By default, the sheet is sorted by Big Board ranking.

      Now, let’s get to the Big Board reveal.