Finally, a Draft We Can Be Proud Of

There was much speculation coming into the 2011 NBA Draft as to whether the Minnesota Timberwolves would keep the second pick or trade it for an established veteran at center or shooting guard. Minnesota did the right thing in my opinion, holding onto the spot and taking forward Derrick Williams out of the University of Arizona. Though the selection only compounded the logjam the Wolves have at the forward position, they now have the player many thought had the most All-Star potential in the entire draft.

The addition of Derrick Williams definitely improves the Minnesota Timberwolves, both from an athleticism standpoint and from a skill one. Williams, like current Minnesota forward Michael Beasley, is fantastic at driving through the lane, and can shoot from the perimeter as well. However, Beasley was often reckless with the ball and had trouble staying on the court later on in the season. Williams also possesses some nice rebounding ability, something that certainly can't hurt the Wolves. Although Williams was often projected as a power forward, I see him playing the three, possibly in a starting role, with Michael Beasley and Wesley Johnson coming off the bench. It still remains to be seen whether the Wolves will try to trade an extra forward like Beasley. The likely labor conflict will put every move the Wolves have in mind on hold. In the end, I think the pick Williams will end up being better for the team then any kind of trade similar to the ones being thrown around on the days leading up to the draft. If any kind of trade should have been made, it should have involved Beasley and the 20th pick. Like the NFL Draft, you do not select players based on need. You draft by best player available, and Derrick Williams was far and away the best player on the board.

The Wolves also had the 20th pick in the first round. I thought they would take shooting guard prospect like Marshon Brooks, Jordan Hamilton or Tyler Honeycutt, but David Kahn ended up trading pick after pick until they ended up deep within the second round. The Bulls made the 43th pick for the Minnesota Timberwolves, taking UCLA shooting guard Malcolm Lee. Lee has a reputation as a nice, quick defensive player with a knack for handling the ball. Second round picks seldom make NBA rosters, but his defensive presence would be welcome on the Wolves, who traded Corey Brewer in the middle of the season and were one of the poorest defensive teams in the league. I'm not going to lie. I don't know much about the second player the Wolves ended up with from the latter round, Tanguy Ngombo. According to NBADraft.net, he is from the Congo and played for a team in Qatar. I highly doubt he will ever wear a Timberwolves jersey.

Despite Kahn passing on a few players I think could have benefited our team (Brooks, Honeycutt) later in the first round, Wolves fans should feel nothing but excitement after Thursday night. Minnesota has never gotten a top 2 pick in a draft, and I feel they took advantage of this opportunity. I still have no idea who is going to start at the shooting guard spot, but the forward positions are more than taken care of. Dreams and fantasies of Ricky Rubio throwing up alley oops to Derrick Williams should be able to placate the minds of Wolves fans until the impending lockout ends.

Timberwolves Offseason

With the NBA Draft a little over a week away, I figured I would give my opinion on what everyone's favorite basketball team needs to do in order to get better for the 2011-2012 season, providing there is one. When you have a 17-65 campaign and the second one in a row with under 20 wins, one needs to ask the question, "Who do we keep?" Do you solve a team's woe and futility by blowing up the roster for another consecutive season, or do you stick with the core of young players and hope for a better result?

In my opinion, the biggest issue for this team is the point guard position. Luke Ridnour was a fine veteran presence, but he had trouble keeping up with most of the more talented and more athletic point guards the league has to offer. However, his jump-shooting and free-throw making ability can not be overlooked. If the ever-allusive Ricky Rubio finally makes his way to the icy shores of Minnesota, Ridnour would be a great older point guard for the young Spaniard to share time with. Jonny Flynn and Sebastian Telfair are the only other point guards on the roster, something like likely won't be the case once the Wolves play their first game of the new season this fall. Flynn never looked he recovered from his hip injury and definitely lacked a shooting touch most point guards of his height need to rely on. Telfair did an admirable job of filling in for an injured Ridnour but was nothing to write home about for most of the season. Though Rubio may never fulfill the lofty expectation his high draft status gave him, Wolves fans should feel much more confident about a Ridnour/Rubio tandem in the backcourt.

The center position is another vital area of concern for the Timberwolves. The Wolves gave starter Darko Milicic a huge raise in the offseason last year, a move that was likely the punchline of many a water cooler joke in NBA offices around the league. While Darko showed some signs of life, blocking 2.03 shots per game and putting in a hook shot once in a while, he struggled in the low post for the most part, fumbling passes and missing the easiest of shots. Backup Nikola Pekovic is a decent backup, but shouldn't be spending big minutes for any team in the league. Enes Kanter is certainly a tempting option for the Wolves to take with the second pick in the draft. Although he is listed only at 6'11'', he offers far more upside than either option at center currently on the Wolves roster.

One more position on the Wolves roster I have yet to really hear the media talk about is shooting guard. Like most players on the roster, Wayne Ellington provided up with some moments of optimism but was still far too inconsistent to be relied on as a starting 2. Wes Johnson wowed us with his three-point shooting skill, but still remains more of a small forward/shooting guard tweener. While it isn't as high on the priority list as point guard and center is, the Wolves still lack someone who can hit the big shots on the perimeter in crunch time.

Forward is without a doubt the position the Wolves have the fewest questions about. Kevin Love stands as one of the best power forwards in the league, and mid-season acquisition Anthony Randolph averaged 19.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in the last five games on the season. Randolph was definitely impressive when he was given full-time minutes, even putting up consecutive double-doubles in March, with one of those being a 31-point, 11-rebound performance. Former Heat lottery pick Michael Beasley started the season hot, but was cooled significantly by hip and ankle injuries throughout the season. In addition to his medical ailments, Beasley's recklessness on the court and chronic case of the turnovers drew the ire of fans. It will be interesting to see how patient the Wolves are with Beasley, who despite his lack of care for the basketball is still brimming with tremendous amounts of scoring potential. In regards to the other forwards on the roster, Martell Webster is an athletic, run-of-the-mill small forward who is better served coming off the bench. Rookie Lazar Hayward came on stronger towards the end of the season, and should remain in the mix for next season.

"So Tony, what would you do if you were in charge of the Wolves this offseason?" Well, for one thing, I would fire Kurt Rambis and look for a new head coach. I felt bad for Rambis at several times last season, but it became quickly apparent to me that he had lost his players. The Wolves also had the worst defense in the league, something that can't be simply blamed on the players alone. It would be nice if this coaching dilemma was solved by the time the draft took place, but it's looking more and more like that won't be the case. Speaking of the draft, I've said from the moment the Wolves were given the second pick that they should draft Derrick Williams from Arizona. It is the general consensus around the league that there are really only two players in the draft that have that star potential, and Willams happens to be one of them. You just don't skip opportunities like that, especially when your drafts have the reputation of being unmitigated disasters, with exception of last year's relatively safe choice of Wes Johnson. After picking Williams the next logical step would be to trade Michael Beasley, hopefully packaged with Jonny Flynn for an established player at the center or shooting guard position. A young core of Kevin Love, Derrick Williams and Ricky Rubio (fingers crossed)combined with one or two more semi-talented veterans should make Timberwolves fans at least a little more excited for a team that has won 32 games the past two seasons.