Minnesota Timberwolves: What the experts say about the No. 1 pick

What are the experts are saying about the Minnesota Timberwolves landing the No. 1 pick in the draft?

Now that we know that the Minnesota Timberwolves have landed the first pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, let the speculation begin.

While Wolves basketball operations boss Gersson Rosas has already made it clear that his organization will explore “every avenue” to improve the team, and specifically related to the No. 1 pick, the mock drafts from around the basketball blogosphere will not cease.

Let’s take a spin around and see what everyone is saying in the hours following the draft lottery.

Minnesota Timberwolves: What the experts say about the No. 1 pick

While ESPN television analysts Jay Williams and Jay Bilas identified Anthony Edwards as the best fit for the Wolves at No. 1 immediately following the lottery, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has had LaMelo Ball mocked to the Wolves at No. 3 in his mock drafts going back several weeks, including his post-lottery mock.

Following the lottery, Givony and Mike Schmitz contributed to an ESPN Plus piece (subscription required) on who the Wolves should take with the top pick. They both essentially agreed that Ball is the best player available but thought that the Wolves would take Edwards due to his defensive ceiling and tantalizing offensive upside.

At The Step Back, Ian Levy posted a full mock draft that definitely had a few surprises. Ultimately Ball went to the Wolves at No. 1.

The Athletic published a mock draft (subscription required) with staff writers representing their individual teams, and Jon Krawczynski selected Edwards for the Wolves at No. 1, although he spent the majority of his seven sentence commentary focusing on the likelihood that Rosas will be heavily shopping the pick.

Sam Vecenie of The Athletic completed his Mock Draft 7.0 (subscription required) and came to the same conclusion, with Edwards going to Minnesota while cautioning that the pick will be shopped. Also, chalk up SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell, Forbes’ Tommy Beer, and Sporting News’ Jordan Greer as three more votes for Edwards.

The Ringer’s Kevin O’Conner, who still has Killian Hayes at No. 1 on his big board, also has the Wolves taking Edwards at No. 1 and Ball falling all the way to Chicago at No. 4.

CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish has the Wolves taking Ball with Memphis’ James Wiseman going No. 2 to Golden State and Edwards falling to No. 3. The reasoning here is similar to Givony’s: a backcourt with Ball and D’Angelo Russell would be dynamite on offense, and the Wolves can’t turn down that upside as they try and find a way to fix their defense.

To most national outlets, a quick glance at the Wolves roster tells them that Minnesota is set at the 1 with Russell and at the 5 with Karl-Anthony Towns. That rules out Ball and Wiseman, and the best player available on the board is Edwards.

Of course, it isn’t quite that simple. Edwards has motor issues on defense and a largely inefficient and inconsistent offensive game. The expectation here is that Rosas will be wary of those shortcomings. Picking Edwards here is far from a sure thing.

We’ll keep tabs on all the mock drafts that are out there throughout the next few weeks and provide updates as the major mocks are adjusted.