Where each Minnesota Timberwolves player would land in a re-draft

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Minnesota Timberwolves, Juan Hernangomez

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 23: Juan Hernangomez poses with Commissioner Adam Silver after being drafted 15th overall by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

2016 NBA Draft

The 2016 draft saw three future key supporting cast players on the Wolves’ current roster get drafted.

There’s the soon-to-be restricted free agents that the team acquired at the trade deadline in Juan Hernangomez and Malik Beasley, plus former Portland Trail Blazer, Jake Layman, who was acquired in a sign-and-trade last offseasom.

All three of these players fit into a similar description before they became Timberwolves: they were on teams trying to compete and were buried in the bench trying to find minutes to get onto the floor and break out. With the Wolves, Beasley and Hernangomez have been given the opportunity to start for the team and Layman is one of the first forwards to come off the bench.

Back in 2016, Malik Beasley was drafted with the No. 19 pick. He has averaged 8.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, and an assist per game over his career. However, he was a key piece of the Denver Nuggets’ rotation last year and has had a massive breakout stretch during his 14 games with the Wolves, averaging 20.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists each game since coming to Minnesota.

Juancho Hernangomez was drafted with the No. 15 pick and he has averaged 6.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game over his career. Unfortunately, Hernangomez lost a good portion of his sophomore season due to battling a case of mononucleosis.

Jake Layman was drafted with the No. 47 pick. Over his career, has averaged 5.3 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game. Layman struggled to get on the floor in the early years, playing minimal minutes and only appearing in 35 games in each of his first two seasons.

His third season with Portland and this year with the Wolves has been the only time the wing saw any sort of a consistent role.

Let’s take a look at our tiers once again.

All-Stars

Starters

Fringe starters and key bench pieces

Reserves

Beasley likely falls at the end of the starters group, most likely rising from his actual draft position of No. 19 to No. 13. There’s a case to move him up even one spot higher, over Taurean Prince, but Prince has a larger body of work given that he’s been a starter for most of his career. Then again, Beasley’s upside appears to be higher, so that choice would come down to what the team on the clock is looking for.

Hernangomez is right in the middle as a fringe starter or upper-level bench piece. He comes in behind Jones, Finney-Smith, but above Korkmaz, Caruso, Zubac, and Poltl. He probably goes at No. 16, which is just one slot behind his original position of No. 15.

Layman is the last guy on the Wolves re-draft list. Layman falls somewhere in the middle of the bench pieces list going after House, McCaw, Forbes, and potentially Labissiere. For the sake of giving Layman a draft spot, I’ll put him ahead of the Blazers forward. This means that Layman rises significantly, going from No. 47 to No. 24 — a whopping 23 spots higher.

To summarize: Towns stayed at the same spot, Beasley rose by six spots, and Layman made a huge jump. Russell, Johnson, and Hernangomez each fell a couple of spots.

With Hernangomez, Beasley and Layman still getting their first chances of a consistent, solid role at the NBA level, it’s entirely possible that the trio of newcomers to Minnesota are in a place to only continue to rise in future re-drafts.