At first glance, I am upset that we did not get the #1 pick. However with a weak draft, #1 pick would have been a pain in the butt. All of the constant media attention about who we are going to take, it would have been a distraction. #2..not so much hype. We can do some research and get a feel for what direction we want to go. Good luck, Timberwolves.
I think we go one of 2 ways.
1. Draft Williams anyway as he looks like he will be a beast and we need all the help we can get. We can run a 3 man SF/PF rotation of Beasley/Love/Williams that would destroy everyone.
2. Trade the pick to either Toronto for pick 5 and Ed Davis and we take Knight with the 5th pick. Trade the pick to the Wizards for the 6th pick and McGee and once again take Knight or Walker.
I know everyone would love a veteran defensive minded C but how many of those are there out there that are still relatively young? Both McGee and Davis are exceptional shot blockers and could really help our frontcourt whilst we still get a PG. We then still have players that would need to be moved at the PG and C positions (Ridnour or Flynn and Darko or Pekovic) pair those players plus the rights to Rubio with the 20th pick and move up again or get another solid veteran.
Why draft Williams when we have Johnson, Beasley, and Love at the 3/4???
Too high to draft anyone else, and there will be plenty of takers if we want to trade down 1 slot, or 10.
I agree with you. We should trade down. We have too many players at the 3-4 spot. Plus we have 2-4 points guards. I would trade down in order to pick up another late rounder or a vet...someone with a lite contract and can actually play..now.
I think you have to go with Derrick Williams here. This is a very weak draft, but I feel Williams is an All-Star talent, and the only other player in this draft I can say the same for is Kyrie Irving. Sure, we could try to trade down and pick up one of the many foreign bigs (5 main ones this year!) as a developmental project, but I have a feeling that if Minny passes on Williams here, a few years down the line he'll be a budding star and it'll be similar to how the T-Wolves let Roy slip through their grasp in 200-whatever. I realize there's going to be a logjam, but for a team as bad as the T-Wolves, you have to take talent over need and look for trades later.
I think the Wolves could still find a way to make things work. Johnson can always play the 2, so Williams could sub in for both Beasley and Love and share the minutes. Looking down the line, I see Williams ultimately replacing Beasley as the better hybrid forward, and I see him as a better piece to have on a winning ball club than Beasley.
Maybe I'm just higher on Williams than most, though. If you don't see him as an All-Star then guys like Kanter are suddenly a lot more appealing. We need to get a replacement for Darko in the near future, he's not in the long-term plans and in the short term I think we'd be better off grooming a young big next to Love anyway.
We end up with the #2 pick
