Minnesota Timberwolves: Peeking behind-the-scenes into the draft room

Multiple outlets have published behind-the-scenes pieces about peeking behind the curtain at the Minnesota Timberwolves draft room.

The Minnesota Timberwolves hold the most draft capital as we hurtle ever closer to the 2020 NBA Draft.

They’ve also had an extra three-plus months to evaluate draft prospects and gauge trade interest in their assets. So it’s no surprise to find out that the Wolves have the most comprehensive draft preparation process of any franchise around the league.

In the past couple of days, multiple outlets have reported on the Wolves front office with behind-the-scenes profiles of Gersson Rosas and the team he has assembled.

ESPN: Rudy Tomjanovich is a Minnesota Timberwolves consultant

Perhaps the most interesting nugget in ESPN’s Royce Young’s piece was the knowledge that former Lakers and Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich is a consultant to the Wolves front office.

Not only that, but the Wolves called him up to here him proliferate about playing two 7-footers together, comparing a potential Karl-Anthony Towns-James Wiseman pairing to Rudy T’s Ralph Sampson-Hakeem Olajuwon duo three-plus decades ago.

Additionally, longtime NBA coach and executive Ed Tapscott said “I have never been part of a group as prepared as this.”

High praise from a couple of league veterans who have been with many organizations.

There is also quite a bit of information related to the Wolves’ process, including VP of Performance and Technology Robby Sikka’s take on evaluating prospects, which almost makes too much sense.

"“I think it’s much easier to predict failure than it is to predict success,” Sikka says. “Our goal, in many cases, is to eliminate people on the basis of failure characteristics.“As opposed to saying someone is going to be great, I would just like to be able to predict that [a player] is more likely to not be good.”"

The article is a fun read, with quotes from Rosas, Sikka, and many other executives, as well as Ryan Saunders. It’s a true “peek behind the curtain” of the Wolves’ comprehensive process.

A breakdown of key players in the Minnesota Timberwolves draft room

The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski took a different approach to analyzing the Wolves’ preparation.

Krawczynski wrote at least a couple hundred words on every single major player in the Wolves draft room (subscription required), from Rosas (“The ring leader”) to Scott Layden (“The veteran”) to Sachin Gupta (“The trade machine”).

One of the more interesting sections was on Joe Branch, the longtime agent turned assistant general manager. He provides a fresh perspective on what players are looking for in a new home — key for a franchise that famously struggles to attract free agents and also in selling the Twin Cities to potential draftees.

Krawczynski notes that this is the first draft in which Branch will be in a team’s draft room instead of with a prospect.

Another profile was on Manny Rohan, who was originally hired as an intern under David Kahn and has survived multiple regime changes. He remains a key part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) evaluation and helps advise Rosas and Gupta on that side of any potential trades or free agent signings.

If you have a few moments, each of these pieces are fantastic reads and will help prepare you for draft night, which is finally only a few days away.