The Timberwolves select

Those are chilling words. You get quite a cocktail when you combine bad luck with incompetence. And the Minnesota Timberwolves have both in spades. The Wolves had the worst record in the league in 1991-1992. The lottery didn’t go in their favor and they received the 3rd pick in the 1992 draft. Shaquille O’Neal went first followed by Alonzo Mourning. The Wolves drafted Christian Laettner. Such is the luck of the T’Wolves.

In the twelve years the Timberwolves have participated in the lottery, they’ve never - I repeat - never moved up. The year they picked Laettner was the highest they’ve ever picked in the draft despite a four year stretch in the 90s when they were one of the league’s worst two teams.

So that’s the bad luck. How about the incompetence? The Wolves entered the 1996 draft in an enviable position. In 1995, they took a chance and drafted high schooler Kevin Garnett and had the number five pick in one of the deepest drafts of the 1990s. They had a good core around KG but wanted a point guard to run the show.

Enter Stephon Marbury. This promising point guard out of Georgia Tech looked to be the guy to take. There was also some guy from Santa Clara that the Star Tribune did a story on as a possible pick. But everyone knew the Wolves wanted Marbury, including the Milwaukee Bucks, who had the number four selection. So the Wolves ended up trading Ray Allen and Dean Garrett for Marbury. In hindsight this looks like a ridiculous trade, but at the time Marbury and Garnett looked to be the next Stockton and Malone. How foolish that prediction turned out to be. Marbury turned out to be as selfish as a three year old who refuses to share his toys. Marbury complained that he didn’t like Gugliotta so the Wolves unloaded him to Phoenix. Then he didn’t want to play with anyone who made more money than him. So they traded him to Phoenix where he was reunited with the despised Gugliotta. The rest is history.

You could have handed the keys of the franchise to anyone at this period and it couldn’t have turned out any worse. For some reason, Kevin McHale’s greatness on the hardwood overshadowed his ineptitude in the front office. Glen Taylor stuck with him for years and years.

McHale got caught violating contract rules in the signing of Joe Smith and the Wolves were stripped of five draft picks. The Wolves selected the forgettable Paul Grant in 1997. In 1999, they had two first round picks and selected Wally Szczerbiak ahead of Rip Hamilton, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, and Jason Terry. With their second pick, they selected William Avery out of Duke over Ron Artest, James Posey, and Andrei Kirilenko. But hindsight is 20/20 so we’ll forgive and forget.

But it was clearly McHale’s fault that for the next three years, they didn’t have a first round pick. So with their next first round pick, three years later, they selected Ndudi Ebi. Wonderful. Great addition to the team.

Oh, and in the meantime, they let future -NBA finals MVP, Chauncey Billups walk.

In 2006, they appeared to have pulled another Allen for Marbury when they selected Brandon Roy only to trade him for Randy Foye.

But this post is supposed to be about the 2009 NBA draft, right? Ok, I’ll get to that. Foye appears to be a serviceable two guard although they drafted him to play point. Sebastian Telfair has shown flashes of competence, but hasn’t shown he’s a starting point guard of a playoff team. They have a solid core with Kevin Love, Al Jefferson, the aforementioned Foye, and solid forwards, Craig Smith, Ryan Gomes and Mike Miller. What the Wolves really need is a point guard.

But in the NBA draft, do you pick the best player or do you draft for need? With both Ricky Rubio and Stephen Curry off the board, that leaves Jrue Holiday and Johnny Flynn as the best point guards available. Demar DeRozan and James Harden could potentially be better talents, but what the Wolves need is a facilitator.

Neither Holiday nor Flynn are the type of floor general the Wolves want. Flynn appears to have a slight edge as a facilitator but is small at 6 feet, 175 pounds.

With all that said, the Timberwolves are going with the best player available, DeMar DeRozan. Harden is more polished, but they’ll select DeRozan because of his upside. They’ll have to make-do with their point guard situation because both Holiday and Flynn are reaches at this point.

If Roy was manning the two guard spot, a point guard would be a no-brainer. But this isn’t the case, is it?