Minnesota Timberwolves draft: Keeping their options open

The Minnesota Timberwolves enter the first NBA Draft under the reign of President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly, the 2022 NBA Draft, with a game plan that can amount to . . . anything? That’s right. The Minnesota Timberwolves can essentially trade up, trade back, trade picks for players, trade picks for picks in future years, trade players for picks, and even package players and or picks for other players or picks.

And there could be solid and justifiable options behind each strategy. The only problem is that nobody has a solid and definitive answer on which course of action the Timberwolves plan to adopt this off-season.

Advantage? Timberwolves.

Success in the NBA Draft is as much about guessing what other NBA teams plan to do as much as finding the right fit for your own team’s roster. After all, it doesn’t help you to vet 12 players to the point of knowing their favorite foods if eight of those players are off the board by the time you draft.

Setting up a draft board is more than a rote listing of talented prospects. If the team believes in the potential and fit of a potential rookie, then it becomes a matter of trading up for that player to ensure that he is on the board.

The Timberwolves have worked out a lot of players. Like who?

Well, here are six prospects who reportedly worked out for the Timberwolves last week.

But if you didn’t like any of those prospects, here is another six-pack of players who worked out the previous day. Do you see any players in this group who jump out at you?

Still not satisfied? Well, here is another six-pack of potential rookies who worked out for the team two weeks ago.

In the end, the Minnesota Timberwolves have likely tried out or vetted over two dozen prospects for the 2022 NBA Draft and could be calling out the names of as many as four rookie additions to their roster.

That seems like a large number of additional players, doesn’t it? Well, it may seem that way, but the Timberwolves have a few tricks up their sleeves. Hang on, and enjoy the ride . . .