The Wolves Player Hierarchy In Relation to Draft Position

[Lipoli390]

I thought it would be interesting to correlate the Wolves best players from top to bottom with their original draft position. Here's my list:

1. Edwards (#1): Best talent and soon will be our best player.
2. KAT (#1): Best player right now and soon will be our second-best.
3. Gobert (#27): Likely our 3rd-best player. Late 1st round surprise.
4. McDaniels (#28): Not sure he's our 4th best yet, but top 3 or 4 talent; should end up top 3 or 4 player.
5. DLO (#2): Probably our 4th best player now.
6. Kyle Anderson (#30): I'd put him slightly ahead of Prince as our 6th best
7. Prince (#12): Hasn't lived up to his #12 draft position, but he's good if healthy.
8. Jaylen Nowell (#43): Still lots of untapped upside in my view. Could end up 5th best
9. McLaughlin (undrafted): Still underrated in my view. Excellent backup PG
10. Naz Reid (undrafted): A solid rotation big with offensive gifts. Still untapped upside
11. Josh Minott (#45). Tremendous talent. Could end up top 3 talent on team in a few years
12. Wendell Moore (#26): Not impressive in Summer League. Wish Tim had talent Ty Ty. But still promising talent.
13. Nathan Knight (undrafted): Has shown flashes over last couple years. Could end up as solid rotation big in NBA

So my take aways from this list?

One take-away is that it's nice to have the top pick in the draft and thankfully the Wolves make the right choice the two times in the organization's history that they had the top pick.

But another takeaway is that teams often do much better with picks in the bottom of the 1st round than they do with picks at the top. Gobert, McDaniels and Kyle Anderson are good examples of that on our roster. Compare them to DLO as the #2 pick in the 2015 draft. And teams sometimes hit the mark in the second round or with undrafted free agents as I believe the Wolves have done with Nowell, McLaughlin and Naz Reid. The Spurs built a championship team drafting Tony Parker at #28 and Manu Ginobili at #57 to pair with their #1 pick Duncan. I think we'll look back in a few years and see that Connelly hit a home run with Minott at #45.

Yet another takeaway is that the Wolves have done a nice job in the last 7 years building organically with KAT, Edwards, McDaniels, Nowell, McLaughlin and Naz Reid as their own picks or undrafted free agent signings. That's half the roster comprised of players the Wolves drafted or signed as undrafted free agents in the last 7 years and all of them are rotation players.

[Monster]

Lip why you gotta disrespect Bryn Forbes like that?

Other than that GLARING omission :) this is a pretty good write up. One of the key things is that good organizations don't always nail every pick but they usually make up for one pick or misstep by finding value elsewhere.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Good post, Lip, and thanks for doing the heavy lifting. My list would be a bit different, though.

1A. Karl-Anthony Towns (1)
1B. Rudy Gobert (27)

~ Towns and Gobert are equally dominant on different ends of the floor. Either one will likely be the best and most impactful player on the Timberwolves most nights. At their very best, I think Towns is better. ~

3. Anthony Edwards (1)
4. D'Angelo Russell (2)

~ I'm expecting a starlike leap from Edwards and a mini-breakout campaign from Russell. There will be nights where either/both of these guys carry Minnesota. This top-four looks very strong to me. ~

5. Jaylen Nowell (43)
6. Jaden McDaniels (28)
7. Kyle Anderson (30)
8. Taurean Prince (12)
9. Jordan McLaughlin (UDFA)

~ This concludes what I expect to be the nightly rotation. Other players will make appearances, but this is how I'd expect the top-nine to be configured. ~

10. Bryn Forbes (UDFA)
11. Naz Reid (UDFA)
12. Wendell Moore Jr. (26)
13. Josh Minott (45)
14. Nathan Knight (UDFA)

[TAFKASP]

What did I miss, wasn't Naz traded?

Forget it, it was Vanderbilt.

[Lipoli390]

Good post, Lip, and thanks for doing the heavy lifting. My list would be a bit different, though.

1A. Karl-Anthony Towns (1)
1B. Rudy Gobert (27)

~ Towns and Gobert are equally dominant on different ends of the floor. Either one will likely be the best and most impactful player on the Timberwolves most nights. At their very best, I think Towns is better. ~

3. Anthony Edwards (1)
4. D'Angelo Russell (2)

~ I'm expecting a starlike leap from Edwards and a mini-breakout campaign from Russell. There will be nights where either/both of these guys carry Minnesota. This top-four looks very strong to me. ~

5. Jaylen Nowell (43)
6. Jaden McDaniels (28)
7. Kyle Anderson (30)
8. Taurean Prince (12)
9. Jordan McLaughlin (UDFA)

~ This concludes what I expect to be the nightly rotation. Other players will make appearances, but this is how I'd expect the top-nine to be configured. ~

10. Bryn Forbes (UDFA)
11. Naz Reid (UDFA)
12. Wendell Moore Jr. (26)
13. Josh Minott (45)
14. Nathan Knight (UDFA)

That's a good hierarchy, Cam. I wouldn't fall on my sword disputing your rankings. I actually agree with your top 4 hierarchy. As I noted in my list, I was elevating Edwards to #1 based on talent. I did the same with McDaniels. If I had been completely consistent I probably would elevated Nowell above Prince and Anderson based on Nowell's potential. But I'd still rank McDaniels above Nowell. And if I gave even more weight to upside, I would have placed Minott higher. I have a higher degree of confidence in Edwards and McDaniels reaching their potential.

But we're quibbling. It was the bigger take-aways that interested me when I looked at this.

And I think Monster had a nice take-away - namely that good organizations don't nail every pick but make up for missteps by finding value elsewhere. That's why I've always been a believer in maintaining a healthy quantity of draft picks. You need quantity to make sure you hit the mark on at least a few. And that's why I have a problem with the Wolves dealing so many picks to get Gobert. But the good news is that the Wolves should put a really good team on the floor next season. Moreover, they have some nice young players in Edwards, McDaniels, Nowell and McLaughlin along with some talented young prospects in Minott and Monroe. All that young talent will help mitigate the negative effect the Gobert deal might otherwise has on long term sustainability. Meanwhile, it puts more pressure on Tim to hit the mark with the few remaining picks he still has over the next 7 years - namely three 1st-round picks and five 2nd-round picks.

[Monster]

Good post, Lip, and thanks for doing the heavy lifting. My list would be a bit different, though.

1A. Karl-Anthony Towns (1)
1B. Rudy Gobert (27)

~ Towns and Gobert are equally dominant on different ends of the floor. Either one will likely be the best and most impactful player on the Timberwolves most nights. At their very best, I think Towns is better. ~

3. Anthony Edwards (1)
4. D'Angelo Russell (2)

~ I'm expecting a starlike leap from Edwards and a mini-breakout campaign from Russell. There will be nights where either/both of these guys carry Minnesota. This top-four looks very strong to me. ~

5. Jaylen Nowell (43)
6. Jaden McDaniels (28)
7. Kyle Anderson (30)
8. Taurean Prince (12)
9. Jordan McLaughlin (UDFA)

~ This concludes what I expect to be the nightly rotation. Other players will make appearances, but this is how I'd expect the top-nine to be configured. ~

10. Bryn Forbes (UDFA)
11. Naz Reid (UDFA)
12. Wendell Moore Jr. (26)
13. Josh Minott (45)
14. Nathan Knight (UDFA)

That's a good hierarchy, Cam. I wouldn't fall on my sword disputing your rankings. I actually agree with your top 4 hierarchy. As I noted in my list, I was elevating Edwards to #1 based on talent. I did the same with McDaniels. If I had been completely consistent I probably would elevated Nowell above Prince and Anderson based on Nowell's potential. But I'd still rank McDaniels above Nowell. And if I gave even more weight to upside, I would have placed Minott higher. I have a higher degree of confidence in Edwards and McDaniels reaching their potential.

But we're quibbling. It was the bigger take-aways that interested me when I looked at this.

And I think Monster had a nice take-away - namely that good organizations don't nail every pick but make up for missteps by finding value elsewhere. That's why I've always been a believer in maintaining a healthy quantity of draft picks. You need quantity to make sure you hit the mark on at least a few. And that's why I have a problem with the Wolves dealing so many picks to get Gobert. But the good news is that the Wolves should put a really good team on the floor next season. Moreover, they have some nice young players in Edwards, McDaniels, Nowell and McLaughlin along with some talented young prospects in Minott and Monroe. All that young talent will help mitigate the negative effect the Gobert deal might otherwise has on long term sustainability. Meanwhile, it puts more pressure on Tim to hit the mark with the few remaining picks he still has over the next 7 years - namely three 1st-round picks and five 2nd-round picks.

Look no further than GS. In 3 of their titles they had an undrafted guards play legit minutes that season and 2 of them played legit minutes in the finals. These are illustrious players named Ian Clark, Quinn Cook and Gary Payton Jr. 2 of those guys didn't do a whole lot after they left GS. It was surprising that Quinn Cook didn't get a bigger deal I remember this board having conversations about adding either clark or Cook when they were available. So far we didn't miss out on anything too significant. I know I liked the idea of Cook at the time it I'm bringing it up just cause it's kinda fun to look back on. At least we had that amazing year with Rush!! Lol

Let's look even deeper. From 2013-2018 the Warriors only drafted 3 players all in the first round as they had traded away draft picks some of them due to making room to bring in a 29 year old Iggy as a FA. Those selections? Kevon Looney in 2015, Damian Jones in 2016 and Jacob Evans in 2018. Looney was the only one that was any good. I think they may have paid to get rid of Jones and Evans they dumped on the Wolves in the Russell deal. So basically all the Warriors got for 6 years of drafts was Kevon Looney.

[Lipoli390]

Good post, Lip, and thanks for doing the heavy lifting. My list would be a bit different, though.

1A. Karl-Anthony Towns (1)
1B. Rudy Gobert (27)

~ Towns and Gobert are equally dominant on different ends of the floor. Either one will likely be the best and most impactful player on the Timberwolves most nights. At their very best, I think Towns is better. ~

3. Anthony Edwards (1)
4. D'Angelo Russell (2)

~ I'm expecting a starlike leap from Edwards and a mini-breakout campaign from Russell. There will be nights where either/both of these guys carry Minnesota. This top-four looks very strong to me. ~

5. Jaylen Nowell (43)
6. Jaden McDaniels (28)
7. Kyle Anderson (30)
8. Taurean Prince (12)
9. Jordan McLaughlin (UDFA)

~ This concludes what I expect to be the nightly rotation. Other players will make appearances, but this is how I'd expect the top-nine to be configured. ~

10. Bryn Forbes (UDFA)
11. Naz Reid (UDFA)
12. Wendell Moore Jr. (26)
13. Josh Minott (45)
14. Nathan Knight (UDFA)

That's a good hierarchy, Cam. I wouldn't fall on my sword disputing your rankings. I actually agree with your top 4 hierarchy. As I noted in my list, I was elevating Edwards to #1 based on talent. I did the same with McDaniels. If I had been completely consistent I probably would elevated Nowell above Prince and Anderson based on Nowell's potential. But I'd still rank McDaniels above Nowell. And if I gave even more weight to upside, I would have placed Minott higher. I have a higher degree of confidence in Edwards and McDaniels reaching their potential.

But we're quibbling. It was the bigger take-aways that interested me when I looked at this.

And I think Monster had a nice take-away - namely that good organizations don't nail every pick but make up for missteps by finding value elsewhere. That's why I've always been a believer in maintaining a healthy quantity of draft picks. You need quantity to make sure you hit the mark on at least a few. And that's why I have a problem with the Wolves dealing so many picks to get Gobert. But the good news is that the Wolves should put a really good team on the floor next season. Moreover, they have some nice young players in Edwards, McDaniels, Nowell and McLaughlin along with some talented young prospects in Minott and Monroe. All that young talent will help mitigate the negative effect the Gobert deal might otherwise has on long term sustainability. Meanwhile, it puts more pressure on Tim to hit the mark with the few remaining picks he still has over the next 7 years - namely three 1st-round picks and five 2nd-round picks.

Look no further than GS. In 3 of their titles they had an undrafted guards play legit minutes that season and 2 of them played legit minutes in the finals. These are illustrious players named Ian Clark, Quinn Cook and Gary Payton Jr. 2 of those guys didn't do a whole lot after they left GS. It was surprising that Quinn Cook didn't get a bigger deal I remember this board having conversations about adding either clark or Cook when they were available. So far we didn't miss out on anything too significant. I know I liked the idea of Cook at the time it I'm bringing it up just cause it's kinda fun to look back on. At least we had that amazing year with Rush!! Lol

Let's look even deeper. From 2013-2018 the Warriors only drafted 3 players all in the first round as they had traded away draft picks some of them due to making room to bring in a 29 year old Iggy as a FA. Those selections? Kevon Looney in 2015, Damian Jones in 2016 and Jacob Evans in 2018. Looney was the only one that was any good. I think they may have paid to get rid of Jones and Evans they dumped on the Wolves in the Russell deal. So basically all the Warriors got for 6 years of drafts was Kevon Looney.

Some great information on Golden State, Monster. Thanks for doing the digging on that.