The Minnesota Timberwolves hold the # 1 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft after – literally! – win the lottery last week. Now Gersson Rosas, president of Minnesota basketball operations, has one of the most important decisions to make in franchise history about the future of the franchise.
The team is already full of young star power between D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns. But the timeline on which the team hopes to capitalize on that talent is now, not later, setting the team’s upcoming decision on what to do with its even more fascinating choice.
Should the Timberwolves keep it and bet on LaMelo Ball or James Wiseman or Anthony Edwards? Should they trade and earn more project capital? Should they trade it entirely to acquire a player who can best help them in their offer to win immediately?
Here are their best options, ranked by I would definitely do it for uhm, good luck, along with their best draft options should they hold out.
1. Hold the pick and take….
Put yourself in Minnesota’s shoes and imagine what you would do. You want to make your stars happy with someone who can help you win now. But you also don’t want to completely neglect your position by passing a potential star, even if said star isn’t ready to help the team win now. Rock, meet the difficult.
If you keep the choice, then for Minnesota, here’s who you choose:
1. LaMelo Ball – Russell being a point guard probably leads most to believe Minnesota won’t go that way, but the seemingly duplicated nature of drafting a point guard when you already have one of Russell’s caliber isn’t a bad approach. We should normalize it. Most teams generally try to avoid overlapping positions, but they shouldn’t. Ball is a directing force with an elite outlook on the pitch, and despite his lean frame and overseas shooting issues, there’s a chance he’ll emerge from this draft class as a superstar. Passing it on because you already have a point guard would be unwise and could set your franchise back years.
2. Anthony Edwards – He’s a 6 foot 5 winger who can jump out of the gym but also knows how to create his own offense and, in theory, can be a two-way force over time. But in Georgia the offense he created was mostly inefficient and his defensive mindset suggests he has a long way to go to become a lucid player on both sides. If Minnesota want to find the best solution, however, a winger who can play Towns and Russell like Edwards may make the most positional sense.
3. James Wiseman – Why design a center when you already have one of the best NBA centers on your roster? Because James Wiseman may only be generationally exceptional, and Minnesota may conclude that it’s worth it. He is 7-1 with a wingspan of 7-6 which looks like a dominant defender who can anchor the back end of a defense. It’s unclear whether he’ll fit the Towns in the frontcourt or not – and voluntarily putting two 7-footers on your roster goes against the way the NBA is moving – but maybe take the talent and calculate the right questions. .
“I wouldn’t exclude any players for us”, Rosas said last week discuss the draft and the potential position overlap. “For us, the reality is in this league, you don’t have the ability to choose your elite superstar players and the way we look at the draft is a goal to get the best talent available. Some of my personal experiences, some of the the coaches experiment but you get the best possible talent and you make it work. “
2. Swap the pick, take another piece
In a three-team deal in 2014, the Timberwolves traded Kevin Love to the Cavs in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, who was that year’s No. 1 pick, along with Anthony Bennett and Thaddeus Young. (The 76ers also received Miami 2015 first round pick, Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved.) The premise of the deal for Minnesota: Reset. For the Cavs, however: win now.
Six years later, the wolves are in a similar (though not identical) position to that of the Cavs. They want to make sure Karl-Anthony Towns is happy (and stays happy) and that the Russell-Towns duo doesn’t get squandered.
They may find suitors in this draft to take the bait because this draft isn’t particularly profound in terms of potential star power. Scouts see Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman as the top three prospects, with a sharp drop to number 4 and beyond. So, let’s say, would the Atlanta Hawks have a compelling enough package to move up to number 1, so they could select Anthony Edwards as Trae Young’s side piece? Does Chicago have any pieces it can reasonably offer to make Minnesota a worthy choice? Any team too want losing resources – whether it’s a current player or draft picks – to get this year’s # 1 pick?
I suspect Rosas and her staff will go fishing around to find the answer to this question, but if there is a third banana out there that is available to mate with Russell and Towns in exchange for the choice (and perhaps some incentives thrown in ), could be the game for Minnesota. As optimistic as I am that Edwards or Wiseman will be able to help this team in its current build (and Ball’s long-term potential), no one is sure of things like what you could probably get from a larger commercial package. .
3. Trade, get more capital
Would the Knicks or the Bulls be willing to step on the board and pay a premium for it? The list of teams that came out of the top spot in NBA history is short for a reason: it costs a pretty penny to do so. And unless there’s a sure thing up there, it seems unlikely.
Moreover, if there was a sure thing at number 1, Minnesota would almost certainly keep the pick and use it to bolster their roster. You could do a trade and get quality RPGs out of this draft, but is it also in line with the vision of the Minnesota Draft? (That may depend on how much they get compensated for their problems, I’d say.) Regardless, this is the kind of bold move that’s bold for a reason: it could backfire completely if the number 1 pick becomes a star or if the trade downside upsets the balance of happiness in Minneapolis. It might be a viable strategy, but in this draft it should be the last consideration when you have the option to swing for fences.
