To be honest, the Minnesota Timberwolves actually keeping their first-round pick seems like a long shot.
Between the likelihood of the Wolves using the pick in a trade for an impact player and Chris Finch's refusal to insert rookies into the rotation, the only way it seems as though they would keep the pick is if a day-one impact player fell to them.
Insert Texas forward, Dailyn Swain. He was a wild card during his first two years at Xavier, but last season with the Longhorns, he exploded onto the scene and firmly cemented his name on NBA draft boards. Swain is very good at a lot of different things; he plays with positional versatility, and his role can be scaled up or down.
If he fell to the Wolves at pick 28, the entire league would regret it. He is exactly what the Wolves need off the bench, and one of the few guys with that pick that the Wolves would have the possibility of playing real minutes.
Dailyn Swain would uplift the Timberwolves
If I were to give Swain an NBA comparison, it would be something like Naji Marshall or Josh Hart with more juice in isolation. Similar to Hart, Swain is a great positional rebounder, a good connective passer, and a physical presence on defense.
The one real knock on Swain's game is the 3-point shot (similar to Hart). It gradually improved over his three years in college, but it's still below average. Despite that, the improvement is good to see. His freshman year, he shot 15.4 percent from three, then his sophomore year, he shot 25 percent, and then finally his junior year, he worked his way up to a mildly respectable 34.4 percent.
What separates Swain from Hart is his ability to create his own shot in isolation. Notably, 80.1 percent of his shots were unassisted this past season per CBB Shot Charts. He's a force at getting to the rim, he can draw fouls, and he's super creative in the paint.
The Wolves are starved for more shot creation, and if they are gifted with Swain at 28, they shouldn't even need to think about the selection.
The odds of Swain being available at 28 are slimmer, but it's definitely not impossible. We see prospects fall in drafts every year for unknown reasons. Maybe his lack of 3-point shooting turns some teams off, but that shouldn't be an issue for the Wolves.
Every team needs someone who can do a little of everything, and having that versatility off the bench would be a game-changer for a team like the Wolves looking for impact players on the margins.
If Swain falls to 28, teams that passed up on him would instantly regret it as he'd help an already talented Wolves team level up.
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