Adding another 7-footer to the fold may not be an obvious answer for the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it might just be the right move in this year’s draft.
As the Minnesota Timberwolves head into perhaps the strangest offseason in NBA history, there are plenty of question marks that franchise leadership has to address.
Unfortunately, with NCAA basketball canceled, NBA teams will have to make difficult decisions on fewer games than usual when preparing for the draft.
Drafting the right players might be the most important facet of running the organization for any basketball operations executive who wants a long career in this league. A failed draft (i.e. drafting two point guards, back-to-back and directly before Stephen Curry) could mean the end of a career.
For Gersson Rosas, this draft could make or break his career too, as the Wolves are in position to potentially have a top-three pick, another one in the middle of the first round, and an early second-round pick. With so much draft capital and no first-round pick next year, it’s especially crucial for Rosas to nail this year’s draft.
Considering that Rosas wants to build around Karl-Anthony Towns and apparently run a system with only one big on the floor, Memphis’ James Wiseman is a player that can easily be neglected, but Rosas and Co. will do their due diligence and scout everyone. After all, Wiseman’s tape is hard to ignore. He has the size of Joel Embiid and the mobility of Anthony Davis, which is a recipe for a future Defensive Player of the Year.
Our own Logan Alten wrote an excellent piece on how Towns’ defense looks more like Kevin Love’s instead of Kevin Garnett’s — not a compliment, to say the least. James Wiseman will probably never play with the fire fans saw from KG, but at least he projects to potentially be just as mobile and athletic.
With Wiseman and Towns, the Wolves would have both types of bigs which could result in the best Timberwolves frontcourt ever? It’s not a secret anymore that this team is desperate for better defense, and the biggest reason is Towns’ issues in the pick-and-roll.
Let’s talk about how drafting Wiseman could help the Wolves defensively.