MVN - Most Valuable Network

Third pick awarded to Timberwolves

In last night’s NBA draft lottery, the Timberwolves were statistically projected to get the third pick overall for the June 26th draft, and as projected, they ended up being the third team to have a ping pong ball picked out of the hopper.  It would have been exciting to see them get bumped up to the first or second pick, but staying at number three is definitely preferable to dropping from 2 to 4 like Seattle.

Now the speculation starts, and it was already rampant on ESPN Radio last night and today on unwatchable shows like First and Ten.  The story of the draft is the Bulls, a statistical long-shot to get the first pick, moving all the way up from the 10th spot to capture the number one overall selection, but the sub-heading of that story focuses around who will go first and who will go second.  At this point, it’s pretty much a given that Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose are going to be the first two players selected, and the only thing that remains to be seen is which team selects them.  The Bulls already have Kirk Hinrich, meaning they are the more likely team to take Michael Beasley, and you can bet the Heat will be happy to have Derrick Rose fall into their lap.  If the Bulls opt to take Rose, the Heat will gladly take Beasley to compliment Wade and Shawn Marion.

So where does that put the Wolves?  Virtually all mock drafts I’ve seen (which isn’t many since I hate mock drafts) have Brook Lopez, the center out of Stanford going at number 3 to the Wolves.  Lopez put up good numbers last year, scoring 19 points per game and averaging 8.1 rebounds, but Lopez’ performance in college shouldn’t be entirely what Wolves management bases their decision on.  They have to sit down with Lopez, get an idea of whether he has his head on straight or not, and then decide if he’ll be able to make the transition from the college game to the pro game from a mental standpoint.  The knock on Lopez has been his lack of “basketball IQ”, and although that means he might find himself right at home in the Timberwolves franchise, it could be something that prevents him from being even a serviceable big man in the future.

The player whose future in Minnesota may be affected most by the drafting of Lopez could be Ryan Gomes.  This is looking down the road a little bit, but if Lopez becomes the Wolves everyday center, that will mean Al Jefferson has been moved to the power forward spot - Ryan Gomes’ spot.   A possible lineup could look like this:

C - Brook Lopez

PF -  Al Jefferson

SF - Corey Brewer

SG - Rashad McCants/Randy Foye

PG - Sebastian Telfair/Foye

The only spots really up for grab in that scenario are the point guard and shooting guard positions.  Point guard has been a position that the Wolves have been looking to fill for years now, but unfortunately, the consensus best point guard in the draft will almost surely be gone by the time the Wolves make a selection.  They could opt to go with either O.J. Mayo or Eric Gordon, hoping that whichever player they take can assume a sort of hybrid role on the team by getting some time at both PG and SG, but few players come to mind that had the ability to play multiple positions consistently well.

The bottom line here is that one player, whether it be Lopez, Mayo, Gordon, or even Beasley/Rose should they fall to three, will immediately turn the franchise around.  There is no LeBron James in this year’s draft, no Michael Jordan.  There won’t be a quick fix type of player that I can foresee, and it’s going to take some time for these guys to develop and really make an impact on the league, particularly with Lopez.  He’s big, but he isn’t very quick, and with only two years of playing experience in college, the adjustment period could take even longer with the big man from California.  A team’s ability to mold their rookies into NBA talents is one of the most important parts of the drafting process, and if the Wolves track record is any indication, they’re going to need more than Brook Lopez to be a contender on any level.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 11:05 am and is filed under Timberwolves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.