No. 1 – Gersson Rosas
To say that the Wolves President of Basketball Operations and his team have their work cut out for them is an understatement.
NBA front offices are facing the toughest evaluation period in recent memory.
The Wolves core of Rosas, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Sachin Gupta, Assistant General Manager (and former Nets Director of Global Scouting) Gianluca Pascucci, and Director of International Player Personnel Zarko Durisic is facing a steep uphill climb this summer for a few reasons.
First, and most obviously, there is no basketball being played anywhere in between now and the draft.
These four will not have the opportunity to travel abroad one last time and and scout international games in person, continue cultivating relationships with foreign agents and coaches, and meet with players themselves for pre-draft workouts and interviews. This is a huge setback considering that there are six international players that could realistically be selected by the Wolves on draft night, which are listed below in order of how they I value them.
- Killian Hayes, CG, France
- Deni Avdija, SF, Israel
- Aleksej Pokusevski, C, Serbia
- Theo Malodon, PG, France
- Leandro Bolmaro, SF, Argentina
- Abdolaye N’Doye, CG, France
The domestic evaluation process will also be significantly affected as well.
The NCAA tournament is an excellent platform to see how 18 and 19-year-olds handle the big moment, with all eyes on them, against the best of the best that college basketball has to offer. Without that, Rosas and his crew will have to rely on the traits and skills they have seen on tape and in-person to this point.
While some may not view it as wise to base a draft board or positional grouping spot off of head-to-head performance in one game in the NCAA Tournament, it can be a deciding factor for front offices who are on the fence between one player or another.
When you factor in that teams will not be able to hold group draft workouts where players can go against one another, the loss of a head-to-head format makes the job much more difficult.
Second, we have no idea if the draft is even going to take place on its originally-scheduled date of June 23. This will likely be determined by whether we will have a draft lottery on May 19. If the draft lottery gets pushed back, the draft would have to be as well.
Lottery teams – especially those in the top-five like Minnesota – need ample time to reconfigure draft boards based on their selection and make calls with other front offices about trades and connecting with sources about which might be planning to take which player at a given pick.
This makes the timelines of contacting players, agents, and coaches much murkier, which, in turn, could greatly affects how front offices are putting together draft boards with the extra time to grind tape and connect with team sources.
And last, if the 2019-20 season gets cancelled and everything gets pushed back, the team loses out on the opportunity to evaluate pending free agents or trade targets in the playoffs. The Wolves front office would have likely had their eyes on players, or those similar to them, like Jerami Grant, Aaron Gordon, Serge Ibaka, Joe Harris, Fred VanVleet, Derrick Favors, and Jae Crowder, to name a few.
But, thankfully, Gersson Rosas has assembled an incredibly diverse front office, many of whom have found success all across the NBA and can be leaned on to provide keen insight and carry out remote scouting during this wild time.
While this team has certainly made the path forward tougher to navigate, I have full faith in the team that he has assembled to attack a time like this with confidence, do their due diligence on draft prospects, free agents and trade targets alike, and ultimately set this team up for greater success whenever the 2020-21 season does finally get underway.
Note from the author: I would like to note that this post is purely from a basketball perspective and the situations that these three people are in do not compare to that of the Towns family, obviously. I want to wish Jacquline Cruz, the Towns family, and anyone else directly affected by the coronavirus nothing but the best during this scary time. All of our thoughts and prayers are with Jackie and the Towns family as she continues to persevere and fight this horrible virus.