Minnesota Timberwolves: Rosas admits there isn’t a clear No. 1 pick

The Minnesota Timberwolves boss admitted that there isn’t a clear choice to make with the No. 1 pick.

Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas has done a lot in his short tenure with the franchise.

There are two things that seemingly everyone knows about Rosas. First, that he wants to wheel and deal and improve the roster at all costs. Secondly, he plays things close to the vest.

In a media availability session on Wednesday, Rosas was a bit more open about the prospects of the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Rosas admits there isn’t a clear No. 1 pick

We’ve known for many months that the 2020 NBA Draft would be relatively weak.

While analysts largely agree that the draft class is fairly deep — there should be rotation-worth players taken throughout the first round — there isn’t a clear, can’t-miss prospect at the top. There’s no Blake Griffin, John Wall, Karl-Anthony Towns, or Zion Williamson to be taken.

Since winning the draft lottery back on Aug. 21,  Rosas and his front office have been facing an uphill battle in trying to convince the rest of their league that the No. 1 overall pick holds significant value.

Unfortunately, Rosas’ comments on Wednesday aren’t likely to help him build any additional leverage when it was posited that there isn’t a clear pick to be made at No. 1.

"“The analysis is fair,” Rosas said during Wednesday’s videoconference availability. “There’s no guy that has separated himself from the pack from public or external view, but I’m very confident that as we go through this process, the talent will rise to the top and we’ll be confident about identifying one guy as the best guy, the best talented player with the most upside and most ability for our organization."

Now, while the comments were unnecessary and certainly don’t help the Wolves’ odds of moving the pick, let’s not overract, either.

Everyone knows that there isn’t a Zion in this draft. The key is finding the one or two teams who can convince themselves that LaMelo Ball or Anthony Edwards is the answer. It doesn’t have to be every other franchise, but they need to find at least one.

Still, if you’re one of the draft prospects — and especially whomever the Wolves ultimately draft — it can’t feel great to see the front office boss of the team sitting at No. 1 admitting that you aren’t a clear favorite at this point in the evaluation process.

Rosas went on to discuss how intense their draft process is, including their big board that ranks all players with “draftable” grades, all the way into potential additions to the G League team in Des Moines.

Here’s hoping that Rosas is playing things properly in the media and in conversations with other teams. The Wolves need all the leverage they can possibly find as they try to acquire as much value as possible with their assets this offseason.