The Timberwolves and the Second Round

(Note: When not pontificating about the NBA draft, Jon Marthaler can be found pontificating about nothing special at TNABACG.)

As part of yesterday’s Gerald Green trade, the Timberwolves received Houston’s second-round pick in 2010.  On the one hand, an extra draft pick can’t be a bad thing, especially when the Wolves picked it up for dropping a player that didn’t figure into their plans anyway; on the other hand, Minnesota doesn’t exactly have a history of getting value out of its second-round picks.

With that in mind, I thought it might be time to take a look at Minnesota’s second-round draft history.

(Read more below…)

The Good:

1989: Doug West, Villanova – West played nine years for the Timberwolves, five as a starter.  In 1992-93, he started 80 games for Minnesota and led a young squad in scoring, with 19.3 PPG.

2006: Craig Smith, Boston College – One of the steals of the second round in 2006, Smith was on last year’s All-Rookie second team, and has proved to be an undersized-yet-effective option in the paint.  Averaging 8.3 PPG and 5.3 rebounds per night in his two years in the NBA, and dropped 36 on Washington in mid-December of this season.  Also has one of the great nicknames in Wolves history: “Cookie Monster.”

The Meh:
1992: Chris Brown, UConn – Brown lasted three years with the Wolves, playing in almost every game and averaging 5.1 points and 2.6 assists per night.
1994: Howard Eisley, Boston College – Eisley was only around for 34 games before the Wolves got rid of him to San Antonio.  From there he moved onto Utah, where he was a fairly major player for the 1998 NBA Finals team that lost to Chicago.  Though he only played half a season for Minnesota, he eventually played for half the teams in the league.
2007: Chris Richard, Florida – Time will tell, but so far his best road trip was driving to Sioux Falls with Kevin McHale.

The Bad:
1989: Gary Leonard, Missouri –  Leonard played a grand total of 127 minutes for the Wolves, left at the end of the year for two years in Atlanta, then dropped out of the NBA for good.
1991: Myron Brown, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania: Brown’s claim to fame is that he is, not surprisingly, the only player ever taken in the NBA Draft from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.  His entire NBA career consisted of four games, 23 minutes, and nine points in 1991-92.
1992: Marlon Maxey, UTEP: Maxey played two years, at a time when he was one of around 14 power forwards on the Minnesota roster.
1995: Mark Davis, Texas Tech: 57 games for the Wolves, four more seasons in the NBA afterwards, and then Davis headed overseas.  According to Wikipedia, he’s since played in Italy, the Phillippines, Israel, Korea, and now – Germany.
1995: Jerome Allen, Penn – Allen got into 41 games in one season in Minnesota, scoring 2.6 points per game before departing and lasting just one more season in the NBA.
1998: Andrae Patterson, Indiana – Only played 40 games in two seasons in Minnesota, then embarked on an apparent quest to play for every team in Europe.
2000: Igor Rakocevic, Serbia – Never made his mark on the NBA, playing only 42 games in 2002-03, but is now starring in Spain.
2001: Loren Woods, Arizona – Was supposed to be a first-rounder.  Fell all the way to the second round.  Demonstrated why in five unremarkable NBA seasons.
2005: Bracey Wright, Indiana – Two seasons, then off to Greece.
2006: Bobby Jones, Washington – Traded almost immediately for a second-rounder from Philadelphia.

The “Never Played in the NBA”:
1992: Tim Burroughs, Jacksonville Univ.
1993: Sherron Mills, VCU
1997: Gordon Malone, West Virginia
1999: Louis Bullock, Michigan
2002: Marcus Taylor, Michigan State
2003: Rick Rickert, Minnesota – Best moment with the Wolves involved getting punched by KG.
2004: Blake Stepp, Gonzaga
2006: Loukas Mavrokefalidis, Greece – Still playing there, and could become another Igor Rakocevic with hard work.

So it hasn’t been a successful second-round history for Minnesota.  (Which is likely true for most NBA teams.)  And yet, a pick is a pick, and who knows – that extra second-rounder in 2010 could become another Doug West.