Ranking top 15 Minnesota Timberwolves rookies of all time

Player 12: Isaiah Rider (1993-94)

Isaiah Rider was a 6-foot-5 215-pound rookie shooting guard who is the lone rookie on this list who managed to score over 15 points, actually putting up 16.6 points per game, who didn’t land among the Top-10 rookies on this list. You may be asking yourself, why?

Well, truth be told is that he sold out on offense like so many NBA rookies have done in the past, that his defense suffered considerably.  In fact, it was poor defense and a general lack of production in non-scoring categories that resulted in him coming in only at 18th in Win Shares.  For his rookie season, he put up 16.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game to help the Minnesota Timberwolves finish with a 20-62 record in the 1993-94 NBA season.

Player 11: Craig Smith (2006-07)

Craig Smith was a 6-foot-7 250-pound power forward who joined the Timberwolves for the 2006-07 season. Of course, any player with nicknames of ‘The Rhino,’ and ‘Cookie Monster,’ are going to make some lists, and Smith is no exception. He was a second-round pick in 2006 and appeared in all 82 games, finishing with a 32-50 record that season.

While he played in all 82 games, he was only entrusted with five starts. Throughout the season, he was quite productive, generating 7.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in only 18.7 minutes per game. His minutes and overall production were solid, but he had the unfortunate timing of playing behind the great one, Kevin Garnett. His play coming off the bench simply was not quite enough to get him into the Top-10 list.