The Minnesota Timberwolves could very well trade their No. 28 overall pick. Still, it's worth considering what options the Wolves have if they keep this pick. North Carolina big man Henri Veesaar strikes me as an intriguing option should the Wolves look to gut their frontcourt this summer.
Veesaar is a vastly different type of big man than last year's first-round pick, Joan Beringer. The former is primarily a floor-spacing big man with solid all-around skill as a scorer and a playmaker. Conversely, the latter is an athletic rim-running big man who also offers high-level rim protection. Another key difference is that Veesaar is 22 while Beringer was 18 on draft night. As such, Veesaar could have real plug-and-play upside.
Having two young big men with coveted yet different archetypes could set the Wolves up nicely for the future. To be clear, drafting Veesaar is only a scenario I can see if the Wolves trade both Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle and don't get a starting-level center back.
Regardless, if this happens drafting Veesaar could make a lot of sense.
Veesaar would give the Timberwolves' frontcourt a different element
First and foremost, the main appeal of Veesaar's game is his floor spacing. The 7-footer netted 42.6 percent of his 3-point attempts with the Tar Heels this season. Teams are always looking for big men to space the floor.
Minnesota understands the value of employing Karl-Anthony Towns for a decade and on the negative side, dealing with the poor spacing from a Julius Randle-Rudy Gobert frontcourt for the past two seasons.
While I mostly envision Veesaar's and Beringer's minutes being staggered, his floor spacing opens up some possibilities for supersized lineups. If Veesaar can provide impactful minutes as a rookie, they could also run some five-out looks with him and Naz Reid.
What makes Veesaar different from Reid is that he's a true 7-footer who, while not a perfect defender, could become a true center, while Reid is a forward.
In addition to his stretch-five capabilities, Veesaar possesses solid touch and interior play-finishing. Veesaar notably shot 75.3 percent at the rim this past season. And while he's not a playmaking hub, Veesaar is a solid passer who makes good reads. He averaged a solid 2.1 assists with a 13.6 assist percentage.
Veesaar might not be a unicorn-level creator, but his solid comfort level with the ball is another plus.
There are some valid concerns with Veesaar's defense. Particularly, he isn't super physical and doesn't offer high-end rim protection despite his size. He also isn't incredibly switchable, which could hurt his ability to play the four in lineups alongside a rim protector.
On the bright side, if he can clean up some of his defensive issues, we could be looking at one of the most coveted and rare archetypes: a floor spacer who can block shots. Thankfully, he did show some promise as a pure shot-blocker (averaging 1.2 blocks per outing), despite concerns about his one-on-one defense.
I don't think his defense is a deal breaker, especially when considering Beringer's immense defensive upside, but it's undoubtedly worth noting about his game.
If the Wolves do indeed trade both Gobert and Randle, in an ideal world, they'd land a starting-caliber center for one of them. However, it's possible they don't land a starting-caliber center and in this scenario, adding another young center would make a lot of sense for the Wolves.
Given how Veesaar's floor spacing would give the Wolves a different look from Beringer, I could see him making a lot of sense if he's available at pick 28.
Frankly, a lot of dominoes would have to fall into place for this scenario to happen, but there is a distinct possibility that the Wolves walk out of the draft with Veesaar and this would give them a highly intriguing frontcourt of the future.
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