Well it’s finally official the most drawn out rumored trade in NBA history has finally been confirmed. Andrew Wiggins’ 30-day “grace period” is over after signing his rookie contract July 25th, officially making him an active player for the Minnesota Timberwolves. As a result, Kevin Love’s awkwardly irrelevant tenure in Minnesota has ended.
In case you were keeping score, this is the second time in seven years that the Timberwolves organization has traded an All-NBA caliber Power forward due to the obvious fact that their team was not good enough to compete for a championship. So why did this happen?
It’s hasn’t even been ten years yet and the Minnesota Timberwolves have managed to draft a legitimate Top-10 NBA caliber player, yet somehow Minnesota ended up trading him for draft collateral. What’s the deal? It’s finally time to really go in-depth into why Minnesota has not managed to become a consistent NBA playoff contender despite having elite players like Kevin Garnett & Kevin Love.
As stated in my last column there was a lot of hoopla about whether Kevin Love’s lack of winning in Minnesota was a product of his poor individual defensive play, lack of a “Killer Instinct”, or the inability to win close games. Often times fans listen to analysts go in depth about these “Theories” about why a particular team is not performing to expectations. Unfortunately, a lot of the time they are making their case way too complicated in order to sound interesting & compelling to the viewers (after all they aren’t on TV talking for charity.) But when it comes to the Timberwolves & Kevin Love not making the playoffs in the six years he’s been in the league, their team problems can be summed up in two words: POOR DRAFTING. As a matter of fact, the use of poor may be an understatement. The kind of ineptitude displayed by the Minnesota Timberwolves front office when it came to the NBA draft is the SOLE REASON why their team is not only on the verge of losing one of the best players in the league, but also have not been in the playoffs in the past TEN YEARS. And they have only themselves to blame.
In order to fully grasp this truth, one has to fully understand the importance of drafting in the NBA. If there is one constant in any major league sports it’s a player draft. Without it there is no way for new players to enter the league. Teams technically could go a whole season without signing a free agent, or making a trade. But every year a franchise HAS to draft a player (unless the pick was traded or otherwise forfeited.) It is this simple fact that makes the Draft processes the most critical element in team building in all of sports. Sure you can always get a “Big Time Free Agent” or a “Blockbuster Trade” to boost your chances, but without the foundation of solid draft picks that free agent has no chance to flourish (Carmelo Anthony is somewhere nodding in agreement). For example, just look at all the great Championship teams in Los Angeles. Sure they were able to lure in Wilt, Kareem, & Shaq through trade & free agency; but when they came to the Lakers they ultimately won championships with their best teammates that were drafted by the team (Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant.) Even when you look at other great teams in the history of the NBA, what team didn’t win multiple championships with their BEST players being drafted? Notice the Iconic combinations below.
Those guys (above) were all drafted by their respective teams. So you can see that every legit NBA dynasty of the past 40 years was mostly built from players that were homegrown. Not only that, but they were all Top ten picks outside of the Spurs trio of Parker, Ginobli & Leonard (Although Ginobli is the only second round pick of the bunch.
The basic point I’m trying to make is that drafting in the NBA is important when building a winning organization. Obviously the draft just like everything else in sports can be unpredictable, and the likelihood that a team is going to draft the RIGHT player EVERY year is unrealistic. There are just way too many variables; injuries (R.I.P. to Brandon Roy’s knees) off the field troubles (R.I.P. to Michael Beasley’s weed smoking) & the occasional tragedies (R.I.P. Len Bias.) But at the same time let’s not kid ourselves. The NBA is a multi-billion dollar industry, with each franchise easily worth over 9 figures. Each team has a group of scouts on payroll that probably are never at the games, never at practices and never at shoot-arounds. NBA scouts probably don’t even get to go to their own team’s championship parade. All they do is travel across the country, evaluating potential NBA prospects. Some scouts are even sent to other continents. Therefore, it’s not like these NBA front offices are flipping coins to decide which prospect to draft. Having said all that, a team missing on 1 or 2 picks in the lottery is not only forgivable but understandable. A franchise can make up for drafting a 1 or 2 busts in the lottery after all there’s always trades & free agency. (Memphis Grizzlies are a prime example), But when a team goes two,three, four years straight without drafting a NBA prospect who can’t even maintain a starter position?! That ladies & gentleman…..is a poor drafting team; which brings me to the sad case of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Just to put things in proper context you have to go back to the very beginning of when the Timberwolves officially started their first of many trips to the lottery. The 2005-2006 seasons for the Timberwolves marked the first losing season since Kevin Garnett’s rookie season in 1995. As we all know in the following two seasons Garnett ends up being traded to the Boston Celtics for Al Jefferson & a few draft picks, the rebuilding process was in full effect. By the time Kevin Love comes along, the Timberwolves have already drafted two Top-Ten picks for Randy Foye & Corey Brewer along with Al Jefferson who averaged 20 points & 10 rebounds while in a Timberwolves uniform. In theory that group of Foye, Brewer, Jefferson, & Love SHOULD have been a solid group of young players to grow together and eventually become an elite team with championship potential. But unfortunately neither Randy Foye nor Corey Brewer developed into All-star caliber players, let alone legitimate starters. And by 2010 Foye, Brewer, & Jefferson were all playing for other teams, leaving Kevin Love on a still losing team. Of course because of those two flops in 2006 & 2007, along with a young Kevin Love still learning how to average 26 points & 14 rebounds; the Timberwolves were still a lottery team the first couple of seasons in Love’s career.
So what did the Timberwolves franchise do in the lotteries after getting Love?
Let’s show these players next to their career All-Star selections, since that is an easy indicator of an NBA player being…..you know…somewhat above average. Timberwolves Fans are welcome to turn away, it’s about to get ugly…..
2009
5th Overall Pick: Ricky Rubio (Zero All-Star Appearances)
6th Overall Pick: Johnny Flynn (Zero all-Star Appearances)
2010
4th Overall: Wesley Johnson (Zero All-Star Appearances)
2011
2nd Overall: Derrick Williams (Zero All-Star Appearances)
And there you have it….the Minnesota Timberwolves were in the NBA Lottery with a Top-10 pick from 2006 to 2011 and managed to draft only ONE PLAYER that would eventually make an All-Star team. Furthermore, out of the four lottery picks that I just named, only Ricky Rubio is still playing on the team. And although he has shown progress, he has yet to find a way to make opposing defenses actually guard him throughout an NBA game. Mind you, I only named draft picks that made the Top Ten, this doesn’t even mention the plethora of other draft picks they managed to have later outside the lottery, nor does it display the players that they passed on. Six consecutive years, seven Lottery picks & only one NBA All-Star out of those draft picks?! That is why Kevin Love demanded a trade, and why the Minnesota Timberwolves are once again a potential lottery team this upcoming NBA season while Kevin Love will be playing with LeBron James in Cleveland doing this in practice.
Bring on the NBA Season!
-JRC
Product Of Society 