The short version: the Wolves went into this draft with five picks, cap room to make trades, a crown jewel to trade (Jefferson) and a few morsels (Gomes and a couple point guards) and came out of it adding Wesley Johnson and Martell Webster, and losing Ryan Gomes. None of the other picks will make a difference next year.
About the only thing I like about this draft is the Wolves used their second rounders to stash a couple centers away in development. Paulao Prestes sounds interesting if a bit raw, but he's young and can be stashed in Spain for a bit longer. it's got to be good for a team that's been weak in the middle for 20 years to have a center nicknamed King Kong. With a really late pick they grabbed another center, Hamady Ndiaye. He's 7 feet tall, a good defender and has a decent jump hook, all things that would be a delightful surprise to see combined into a Timberwolves player... I think for the first time. He'll hopefully be stashed on the Sioux Falls Skyforce for a year or two and then make the end of the bench someday.
I really shouldn't be this excited about prospective future bench players, but for many years under Kevin McHale the Wolves didn't take the draft seriously, throwing in a draft pick on every trade, and they conspicuously ignored Europe and never got anything in the second round. They still can't figure out what to do with first round picks, but at least we've started to use Europe and the D-league to bring more talent to the franchise. Where it's completely wasted, since the young players on this team all end up being cut or traded for proven stiffs who have the dubious distinction of being a “veteran” presence, or put another way, guys who know how to lose.
The Wolves had two picks in the bottom half of the first round, which they amazingly used to make the team worse. After drafting lights-out shooter Luke Babbitt with the 16th pick and a complete cipher in forward Trevor Booker with the 23rd, the Wolves traded both. For Booker they got two forwards with quirky bodies: an undersized power forward who compensates with quick feet and a decent outside shot named Lazar Hayward, and Nemanja Bjelica, a string bean with a nice offensive touch who we can leave in Europe for a couple years. Hayward kind of reminds me of Craig Smith, who the Wolves traded away for a player they valued so highly they traded him away for nothing. But in any case, the #23 pick isn't going to help the Wolves next year. But that's not making the team worse... which is where the other pick comes in.
Babbity Rabbity could have been really useful to a team that has virtually no perimeter shooters besides intermittent bursts of Sasha Pavlovic, but instead we traded him to the Trailblazers for Martell Webster. This seems to be something we do, just ask the Blazers who they want, like when they wanted Brandon Roy so we made do with Randy Foye and spare change (okay $1m). Looks like a great deal: the Blazers get a the kind of player they need, ditch an unproductive asset, and Webster gets a fresh start... but unfortunately the Wolves weren't getting screwed enough to make it work, so we threw in Ryan Gomes. An all-around athlete, Gomes is the kind of player who's best on a good team, because he's a guy who does all the little things: rebound, intercept passes and chase down loose balls, and has a knack for getting out of the way on offense, either making the extra pass or setting up for an open three, something we desperately needed. Honestly, from the little I know about Webster I wouldn't trade EITHER Gomes or Babbitt for him, much less both. He's a small forward who after several years in the league has yet to show more than a glimmer of the potential the Blazers saw in him, and isn't likely to even get playing time once you consider who the Wolves took with the #4 overall pick.
I really wasn't excited about anybody the Wolves could get at #4, and I really hoped they'd pull off the trade with Philly to move up and get Evan Turner. But I really hoped they wouldn't take Wesley Johnson, who just doesn't sound like a game changer or a guy with a very ceiling on his future development. So of course they took Wesley Johnson, who in his defense was rated as the top small forward coming out of college this year. This just makes it all the more inexplicable that the Wolves gave up so much for Martell Webster and had such a hard-on for small forwards and undersized power forwards this year, the way they went crazy for point guards last year. Well, at least hopefully Johnson can score?
They still have cap room to sign free agents as a way to improve next year, but with everybody clearing cap space this year for the Lebron sweepstakes too many big market teams can make sweeter offers to players. They still have a couple players they can trade, but given the general cluelessness of this team, I just don't see them doing it. They still haven't solved the problem of the Bermuda Triangle offense and how poorly suited their players are to it, gotten anyone to protect the rim, or how to get their best player from last year (Kevin Love) onto the court for more than 15-20 minutes a game. And they still haven't done anything to put butts in seats, which I hope means I can move up 50 rows without disturbing anyone. Honestly it's like after tanking through the regular season for draft position they've decided to tank the draft as well... maybe Taylor's positioning the team for a sale.
The Wolves have to do some things top get my attention next year:
Fire David Kahn. He's completely out of his depth and a national joke. The number of players he's traded for only to cut them a week later is damning enough.
Fire Kurt Rambis and bring in somebody who's able to create an offensive system that uses the existing personnel rather than trying to bang a square peg into a round hole. If he really got the most out of this team, then they all need to go. Maybe give Laimbeer the job just to piss off McHale.
Trade Al Jefferson and get something for him. Or if they're going to keep him, actually use him properly as a power forward and get a center behind him who plays defense, and figure out a way to get something for Kevin Love. Just do something other than have him in there like a boot on the front left tire.
Sign Darko. I don't care what it takes, and the Joe Smith fiasco showed our owner is willing to go above and beyond to get a player he really wants. Honestly that was the one glimmer of hope in the second half of the season, having the first legitimate center in ages who didn't look like he was bored and itching for a drink by the end of the first quarter.
Quit signing stiffs. The Wolves are years away from contention and I don't want to watch journeymen like Damien Wilkins play for a losing team. I'd rather play rookies and lose by 50 than watch 30 year old guys with no upside puff their chests out like superstars every time they make a lay-up against the second unit. The number of these guys brought in for their “veteran presence” who were cut without playing a game or centers who slept through games is staggering (we paid Daniels, Blount, Pecherov, Pavlovic, Tucker, and Atkins close to $18m last season), and if Martell Webster wasn't signed for 3 more years I'd expect Kahn to cut him in the preseason too.
I'm actually so disgusted I'm going to call and see if I can cancel my tickets for next year. I know there's really no way, but I feel like I have to try. Or maybe sell them at a steep discount and at least get something back for my folly. I'm actually not that negative, and I want to be excited about Johnson as a second scorer and Darko or some of the European players coming over. But most likely I will go into next season sick to my stomach about having to watch last year's team + an ordinary Wesley Johnson, and they will completely fail to surprise me. And I don't know how much more disappointment I can take in my life right now.
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