We’ve all thought about it the last two years as the Warriors have taken the league by storm. What if the Wolves took Steph Curry instead of Ricky Rubio? Oh, and what if we took him over Jonny Flynn? The Wolves had two chances in the 2009 draft to take the league’s current reigning MVP. Not only did they pass on him twice, but with those picks they chose two other point guards, one of whom isn’t even in the league anymore. Being that the Wolves haven’t made the playoffs since 2004 they’ve had ample opportunity to snag quality talent in the draft recently, and they’ve passed over numerous players who turned into studs. Let’s take a look at some of the recent “missed opportunities” since the Steph Curry draft and consider who the Wolves should have taken.
2010
The Wolves selected Wes Johnson 4th in the 2010 draft. Wes was supposed to be a fairly safe pick and he filled a need for the Wolves. The one NBA skill it seemed he could bring to the table was 3 point shooting, but he never fully adjusted to the NBA arc. He played two underwhelming seasons in Minnesota.
At the time of this draft the Wolves still had Al Jefferson along with Love. However, Jefferson was traded a few weeks after the draft. That should’ve factored into drafting if they had intentions of shopping Big Al pre-draft. Looking at some of the big men in this draft it was an important variable to consider.
The Wolves missed on a lot of talent in this draft. Boogie Cousins, Greg Monroe, Paul George, and Gordon Hayward all went just after the Wolves pick. Obviously all those players turned out better than Wes Johnson and would have been great picks. The stud from that group at the time of the draft was Cousins. The Cousins-Love big man duo may not have been the best pairing, but it could have worked well enough. Love is a bad defensive player, and while Boogie has shown defensive capability, he doesn’t always give his best effort on that end of the court. Offensively they both like to play in the post, but neither is a traditional post player so they could’ve made it work on that end. They are both just so talented that it would’ve been worth it. If the Wolves had both of them they probably would have made the playoffs at least once over the last 5 years. Right now it’s close to a toss-up between Paul George and Cousins, but George was too much of an unknown to take 4th back then. Boogie was the right pick. The Wolves probably passed on him for “non-basketball” related concerns.
2011
The Wolves selected Derrick Williams 2nd in the 2011 draft. At the time this seemed like a good pick. Williams was coming off a big performance in the NCAA tournament. He shot a ridiculous 42/74 (56.8%) from 3 his sophomore season at Arizona. If he could be an above average shooter in the NBA he seemed like a solid bet to be a quality contributor. It never really worked out that way. His ideal role was to be a stretch-4 in the NBA, that’s where his shooting and athleticism would be an advantage. With Kevin Love on the roster that wasn’t really an option. D-Will was traded to the Kings early in his third year.
This draft won’t go down as one for the ages (Jan Vesely infamously went 6th in this draft). The two interesting options for the Wolves would’ve been Tristan Thompson (4th) or Jonas Valanciunas (5th). Thompson currently plays for the Cavs and often shares the court with Love, they could’ve done that in Minnesota. More interesting to think about is a Thompson-Towns pairing today. Thompson and Towns would be a great defensive frontcourt. Valanciunas has been pretty good in his time in the league. He would’ve been able to mask some of Love’s defensive deficiencies, and the pair would’ve been great on the boards.
The Wolves were a bit unlucky getting the second pick in this draft. Not a lot of can’t-miss talent at the top after Kyrie. All the talent was outside the top 7 in this draft and not realistic options for the Wolves. Williams didn’t work out, but they didn’t have any other great choices at the time. Valanciunas would have been a decent pick, but he didn’t have the potential that Williams seemed to have at the time.
2013
This might take a while. The 2013 draft is fascinating. The Wolves had the 9th pick. The 13-14 season was viewed as a great chance to end the playoff drought. Love had turned into a bona fide All-Star, and with Rubio, Pek, and K-Mart surrounding him expectations were high. The 9th pick could hopefully bring another young contributor to the mix. The pre-draft buzz had the Wolves looking at Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. KCP would have brought more shooting to the roster, and a long term option at shooting guard. He went to the Pistons one pick before the Wolves.
CJ McCollum was the guy I had my eye on all along and he seemed to be the obvious choice with KCP off the board. The issue with McCollum was that he was another one of these combo guards, not quite a point guard, but not quite big enough to be a full-time shooting guard. No matter what position the Wolves viewed him playing, he could have come in and been a contributor right away. He was a 4-year college player and more NBA-ready than other draftees. Long term he could’ve filled a role similar to his current one in Portland. Start at shooting guard, then fill in as backup point guard when needed. Even if the Wolves viewed him strictly as a point guard they should’ve taken him. Rubio vs. McCollum isn’t a difficult decision knowing what we know now, but it shouldn’t have been viewed as an “either or” back then. Rubio was still on his rookie deal and he had struggles in his first few years that still haven’t been remedied to this day. Take McCollum and see if they can play together. If they can’t, pick the better player to build around. The lesser player can come off the bench, be traded, or even just let go if he doesn’t turn out.
The Wolves chose a different route. They traded down to grab the 14th and 21st picks from Utah. The players that ended up being involved in the trade: Trey Burke (9th) to Utah, Shabazz (14th) and Gorgui (21st) to Minnesota. That’s where this gets really interesting. Right after the Wolves took Shabazz, the Bucks took Giannis Antetokounmpo. It was recently reported that the Wolves strongly considered taking Giannis before going with Shabazz. Giannis was very young, freakishly athletic, and assumed to still be growing at the time of the draft. He was listed at 6’9” with a 7’3” wingspan before the draft, but is considered to be 6’10” or 6’11” now. That makes him one of the most versatile players in the NBA today, having the skills of a perimeter player in the body of a center. The thought of a Towns-Wiggins-Giannis core is scary. Giannis is the oldest of that group and he only just turned 21 in December. Defensively, that group is a monster. Wiggins and Giannis could have been the best wing defending duo in the league in a few years. Throw in KAT holding down the paint and that’s a great start towards a top-5 defense. Offensively, Giannis could play power forward and be a match-up nightmare at that position.
The Wolves passed on both McCollum and Giannis, and just missed out on KCP. All those players would mesh well with the Towns-Wiggins pair. Ultimately the Wolves ended up with Shabazz and Gorgui, and a roster still devoid at shooting guard and power forward.
Drafting isn’t easy. Some organizations are just better than others. The Wolves haven’t been a great drafting organization. Kevin Garnett is the best pick in franchise history by far, and after that it’s probably Wally Szczerbiak, or maybe it’s already Towns. They drafted both Ray Allen and Brandon Roy, only to turn around and trade them on draft day for lesser talents. A team like the Wolves needs to nail down the drafting process because they won’t be a traditional free agent destination. This next draft is going to be another important one. Hopefully they can continue the success from the Towns pick and add another key piece for the future.
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