Timberwolves Face Starvation

The Timberwolves have again, been the recipient of bad luck due to the NBA draft lottery. Fans should not be discouraged by this, since it is only a chance for us to misfire two picks later than previously anticipated. As a Timberwolves fan, I have had to live through the reign of Kevin McHale and his staff while they squandered Kevin Garnett’s best years. With bad contracts (Spreewell 28 mill / 2 yrs) and worse trades (Jaric for Cassell AND 1st Round Pick,) poor draft picks of low upside players (Will Avery, Ndudi Ebi, Rashad McCants) and of course the loss of numerous first round picks due to the signing of Joe Smith.

I was pleased, just as most basketball fans were, when Glen Taylor finally decided to cut ties with Kevin McHale. A decision that was long overdue. Now I am in favor of stability in an industry and I am in favor of giving employees the opportunity to fulfill their vision of the team, however, McHale was given the keys to Target Center for over 10 years and year after year it was clear that we were not improving the team through with youthful talent, not bringing in any upside players and giving out money to aging free agents to appear as though we were surrounding Kevin Garnett with talent. The final straw for me was the moment we drafted Brandon Roy. I was ecstatic; I called my friend and said that I can’t believe we actually made a good pick in the draft because it had been so long. Within 30 minutes my enthusiasm was greeted with a Frankenstein stare from Kevin McHale announcing that we have traded Roy for Brandon Roy. All of this information is well known. Hindsight is 20/20, but over the last 15 years, the Wolves organization has continued to fail in every aspect.

This brings us to 2009, when a new hope has entered my mind. Educated, English major, David Kahn takes over the GM position and I am finally able to be excited again about the potential rebuilding of Minnesota basketball. To my dismay, our very first draft with Mr. Kahn gave a different kind of disappointment. The Wolves owned both the 5th and 6th picks in the first round and my pre-draft want list was Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans, DeMar DeRozen and Stephen Curry. Any combination of these players is what I was hoping for. The problem with us taking Mr. Rubio with the 5th pick is that we have since learned that Rubio had/has no interest playing with the Timberwolves. Before making a pick that high in the draft, you would think that we would do our homework on the player personally as well as physically. Then, we learned that the Timberwolves did not have a single representative speak with Rubio or Rubio’s people before the draft. Knowing that he has no interest playing in Minnesota and would refuse to sign might have been information we would have wanted to know before drafting him. The idea to sell fans that the reason for his not coming over is the buyout clause is absurd. If he wanted to come over he certainly would have, and if he wanted a larger check we could have worked out some endorsement deals on the side to compensate for the first portion of the contract. Endorsement deals that I’m sure are more enticing in a larger market. This information would have been useful for the organization prior to drafting Rubio and shows a complete lack of effort by our organization in researching for the draft. Then, we take Jonny Flynn, an undersized speedster guard that is a drive and kick out point. Basically, Flynn is designed to be a 6th man, change of pace guard to fly by opponents in the mid second quarter and the late 3rd quarter. This is fine pick for a late first or second round pick, but when someone like Stephen Curry is left on the board, it’s hard to justify this pick. Curry can play the point, as he ultimately proved with Golden State this year, but even if he wasn’t able to play the point, he is a dead eye shooter in the worst case scenario. That is one of those situations where an upside player was available and we chose a guy that we already know exactly what he is and more importantly what he is not.

So now, I have no faith in the 2010 draft no matter where we ultimately pick. John Wall will be gone. Evan Turner is not Brandon Roy, despite the comparisons. Roy is a better shooter, stronger, able create his own shot and can run a pro style offense. Turner was able to dominate a weak Big 10 based on slashing around slower competition. This leaves Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins and Wes Johnson for the Wolves at pick number 4. I like all three of these players and rank them just behind John Wall. Now, the problem for the Wolves is that we have Al Jefferson and Kevin Love playing the position of two of these three. Favors has a man’s frame and added muscle over his time at Georgia Tech. At 6’10” with a huge wingspan, it’s reasonable to think that he could play center, but is ideal as a power forward. Cousins has even greater upside than Favors based on physical skills, but all reports are that he is immature and not dedicated to the game. Some homework will have to be done on him to find out if he would stop the questionable effort he has given once he gets a paycheck or if he’ll increase the work. Homework that I don’t believe our current scouts are capable of. Wesley Johnson really reminds me of Scottie Pippen. He has size, length, can see the floor to slash and shoot a mid-range jumper. He would be my ideal pick for the Wolves if we stay in our current slot. Wesley Johnson, Kevin Love and a shooter to be named later would be a great trio to actually rebuild around and bring basketball back to Minnesota.

The problem is that David Kahn and his staff are calling the shots. So inevitably, the pick will probably be Cole Aldrich (who could be a serviceable center for 25 min a night) or maybe we trade two of our picks to move up and grab Evan Turner (a move that I could respect for effort, but I don’t agree with the player analysis.) Perhaps Kahn kept a lot of the same scouts from the McHale era / eon. No matter the reason, the first year draft under Kahn showed Minnesota fans that our ability to evaluate talent is lacking by drafting Jonny Flynn and showed our lack of business sense by not communicating with Ricky Rubio prior to selecting him. This does not give the Minnesota fans much hope for 2010 draft, but I’ll still be tuning in. Unfortunately, the larger population of Minnesota is already forgetting we have a basketball squad.

My ideal draft scenario:

4th Overall – Wesley Johnson (SF) Syracuse
Alternatives if W. Johnson is taken prior to 4th. Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins

16th Overall – Paul George (SF/SG) Fresno St.
Alternatives if P. George is taken prior to 16th. James Anderson, Xavier Henry

23rd Overall – Solomon Alabi (PF/C) Florida St.
Alternatives if S. Alabi is taken prior to 23rd. Willie Warren, Jarvis Varnado

The Wolves will probably use at least one of these picks to stash a European player for financial reasons though, so getting three building blocks to play from Day 1 isn’t realistic. It is realistic that we could move Al Jefferson to Philadelphia for Andre Iguodala and some pick swaps. The remaining money is very similar and it could improve both teams. No matter what happens with the team over this offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball fans need to be fed some wins and some hope.

-J Filth