Minnesota Timberwolves: The Good, Bad, and Ugly of the NBA Draft Lottery

Minnesota Timberwolves: The Ugly of the NBA Draft Lottery

2009

Pre-Lottery Postion (Via Washington): No. 2
Actual Draft Position (Via Washington): No. 5
Pre-Lottery Position (Own Pick): No. 5
Actual Draft Position (Own Pick): No. 6

Draft Picks: Ricky Rubio 5th, Jonny Flynn 6th

This is possibly the most infamous draft lottery since the first lottery in 1985 and the (alleged) frozen envelope that sent Patrick Ewing to the Knicks.

The Timberwolves hired David Kahn as the team’s new president of basketball operations a few months before the draft, a choice that would prove to be the actual worst decision in franchise history.

Kahn was in a prime position to dominate the draft and set the Wolves up as the top young franchise for years to come after the 2009 draft.

Minnesota had the rights to the Washington Wizards first-round pick (second-best odds at number one), and their own lottery pick with the fifth-best odds at getting the top pick.

The ping-pong balls did not fall in the Wolves’ favor. The Wizards pick fell from two to five, and the fifth pick turned into the sixth after the lottery. Bad luck for the franchise, but they still had two top six picks in a loaded draft.

What followed next still haunts Wolves fans to this day. Kahn lucked out and was in a position to draft one of the most exciting players in the draft, the Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio.

Wolves fans were happy with the possibility of having the next great point guard on their roster, but what would Kahn do next? How about draft another point guard. With the sixth pick, Minnesota selected Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn to pair with Rubio for the next decade.

Pairing two point guards, one undersized, one who can’t shoot and was outwardly trying to get his agent to steer him away from Minnesota even before the draft, was a bold move especially given who the very next pick in the draft was.

With pick number seven, the Golden State Warriors selected Steph Curry, who went on to become the face of the NBA while winning two MVP awards, three NBA championships, and lead one of the great dynasties of all time.

Even with Curry becoming a superstar player, the Wolves could still feel good about their picks if Rubio or Flynn had ever panned out. Unfortunately neither had a huge impact on the Timberwolves.

Rubio waited two years to finally join the team in 2011. He actually had a pretty good season, averaging 10.6 points and 8.2 assists per game. Rubio made the All-Rookie First Team but tore his ACL just 41 games into his rookie season.

He returned the next season and played six years in total for the Timberwolves, but never quite raised his game to the level that most fans expected when he was drafted. Rubio has been a fine player his whole career but was still an overall disappointment in Minnesota.

Flynn on the other hand flourished right away. He started 81 games in his rookie season, making the All-Rookie Second Team. Flynn’s career sputtered soon afterward. A hip injury in year two derailed his career, and Flynn was out of the NBA after just three seasons in the league.

This combined with the success of Steph Curry makes 2009 by far the worst draft lottery in Timberwolves history.

Over the years, Minnesota has had a mixed bag of outcomes when it comes to the NBA Draft Lottery. A few great selections are mixed in with several bad years, and one disastrous draft in 2009.

Wolves fans will have to wait and see if 2020 becomes one of the good, bad, or ugly lottery experiences.