Timberwolves Draft-Day Grades Thread

[Lipoli390]

I thought I'd start a fresh thread for all of us to evaluate, discuss and grade the Wolves draft day, including transactions, picks and undrafted signings yesterday.

I'll probably have the most negative take in this thread. And as much as I've tried to convince myself to be positive about what Rosas and his minions did yesterday, I can't get there. I really liked, dare say, loved the Wolves 2nd round pick of Nowell. But other than that, I'm hugely disappointed. To me, last night was a continuation of the Wolves' long history of front front office mediocrity. So I give the Wolves an overall grade of C. They get a C for drafting Nowell at #43 and not totally f-ing up the draft. But otherwise, I can't rate what the Wolves did overall higher than average because what Rosas did last night can't be considered better than average. In fact, I might be a bit generous with that grade. Here are the main factors that lead to a C in my opinion:

1. The trade up was an amateurish failure. Rosas traded a pretty valuable asset to move up to #6 in pursuit of a particular high-upside prospect, Darius Garland, who plays a position of need and has the skill set this team desperately needs - elite 3-point shooting, an elite handle and shot-creating ability. He made that trade without knowing for sure he could get the player he was targeting. And he ended up not getting him. I'm not going to give Rosas credit for being aggressive. Being aggressive but not smart is a bad combination. Even if you don't think Saric was worth keeping as a player for the Wolves, he obviously had decent trade value. So dealing him for #6 carried with it an opportunity cost - the lost opportunity to use Saric in some other deal to help get more of what this team really needs. Moreover, there were a lot of players at least as good as Culver (Alexander-Walker) or with much higher upside (Doumbouya, Little, Langford, Claxton) who were going to be available from #11 on down. Good reporters like Woj were reporting that the Wolves front office was scrambling after they made the deal and found out the Cavs were taking and keeping Garland. In my view, Rosas looked like a rank amateur. What he did was David Kahn like in this regard. It signaled to me, along with the hiring of Ryan, that we don't have anything special in Rosas.

2. The Culver pick fails to provide what this team needs. Instead of ending up with the guy he traded up to get, Rosas ended up with what I and many pundits see as a relative low upside but pretty high floor player who was a poor 3-point and free-throw shooter as a sophomore and who isn't a particularly good ball-handler. As I've said many times, this franchise needs to focus on getting potentially elite players to pair with KAT. I don't see Culver as potentially elite. We needed to draft high-upside guys, especially if trading up to #6. Rosas failed to do that after missing on Garland. This team desperately needs to improve its three-point shooting. Culver's numbers strongly suggest he won't help with that. This team desperately needs an elite ball-handler who can break down defenses and create shots for himself and perhaps others. I just don't see that in Culver's game. Watching Culver I see a relatively slow, methodical player who is sold and smart. But the more I watch him, the more I realize how lacking he is in explosive athleticism and quick-burst speed. With only an 8'4.5 overhead reach, I don't seem him translating well to the NBA as anything more than a decent role player off the bench. To me, that's a terrible waste of a high lottery pick and the assets used to get that pick.

3. Rosas did very little last night while other teams were highly active. After his initial failed move to get Garland, the Wolves did nothing. I'm sure there were opportunities to swap the #6 back for multiple lower 1st round picks or perhaps a lower 1st and a high 2nd round pick to get a Nic Claxton. I would think the Wolves could have purchased another 2nd round pick or traded a future 2nd for a pick to get Gafford or Fernando. But instead, the Wolves stood pat until their 43rd pick.

4. Signing Reid to a two-way deal was not optimal. I'm not totally down on the Reid signing. But the Wolves have a limited number of 2-way contracts to offer. So they need to be highly selective in optimizing those contracts. I like some of what I see in Reid. But he was a poor shot-blocker for his size, and a good but not great rebounder. He looks out of control a lot and not particularly explosive. He doesn't seem elite in any area. And worst of all, there are questions about his motor. That is the red flag of all red flags. There were and are much better options for one of our two-way deals - including King, Ponds and Jeffries. King looks like a potentially elite shooter who can create his own shot. He has excellent size for the SG or SF position. Ponds is an elite ballhawk, garnering 2.6 steals per game. He's also a good 3-point shooter, hitting 35.3% of his threes and a very good shooter overall with a 45.3% FG percentage. He's actually a terrific rebounder for a PG, averaging 5.3 boards per game. Signing him as an undrafted FA would be a coup. Jeffries has great size for a SG. He's a terrific shooter with a 59.2% FG percentage and 36.6% 3-not percentage. These would be above-average signings. Signing Reid, with his mediocre numbers and motor concerns, is average at best.

I'm sure many others will disagree with much of my analysis and give Rosas a higher grade. That's fine. I'm sure I'll learn things from those posts. Part of how we grade depends on what we consider average. I often see Bs handed to for what I think should be more critically viewed as average. A grade of C isn't bad; it's average. I'm just tired of the Wolves front office and organization being average - at best.

[BloopOracle]

I hate the Culver pick as much as you lip but I don't understand why you're so set in stone that Rosas got worked. We have no idea if he was locked in on only Garland, I feel like you've got some lingering Wolves front office PTSD affecting your view on Rosas. Again I hate the pick but I don't see how he's in over his head at all.

[rapsuperstar31]

I think the C grade is fair. It really seemed to be a 5 player draft to me, many said it was a 3-4 player draft but I really liked Garland early on in the process and would have been ecstatic to get him. I always liked Dario more the others seemed to, so losing one of our decent PF that could shoot 3's wasn't great for me. I watched Culver play a few games in the tournament and never thought much of him, but of course that was a limited sample size and I didn't really pay attention to him during the draft process as I never considered him as someone we would draft. Assuming we made the trade to 6 thinking we would get Garland and than panicked, Rosas is going to have to really prove himself with a good move this summer to gain some trust back...ie getting value for Wiggins contract or finding a way to sign Russel without giving much value to clear salaries. I liked our 2nd round pick a little bit, but I wish we would have tried to buy another 2nd round pick to take a chance on one of the bigs. That being said, we never really know on some of these players, and maybe Culver turns out to be everything we wanted Wiggins to become. I'm willing to see how this plays out....not that we have any choice with that!

[thedoper]

I think C is a fair grade. We moved up to get the guy we didn't want at a position where barring injury there isn't going to be a ton of playing time. That's insane. The grade can easily move from a C to and F if Culver ends up being as mediocre as I think he's going to be. I am biased though, he was literally the one guy I didn't want us to come away with. He has some strong scouts who believe he has potential so I'm willing to wait it out but I'm not thrilled with this first move. I know you and others didn't want White but when the trade was made I thought it was for one of the two point guards, both of whom were good to great ball handlers and shooters. I'm still wondering how someone analyzing our team doesn't see how much we need that type of player right now.

[BloopOracle]

I think C is a fair grade. We moved up to get the guy we didn't want at a position where barring injury there isn't going to be a ton of playing time. That's insane. The grade can easily move from a C to and F if Culver ends up being as mediocre as I think he's going to be. I am biased though, he was literally the one guy I didn't want us to come away with. He has some strong scouts who believe he has potential so I'm willing to wait it out but I'm not thrilled with this first move. I know you and others didn't want White but when the trade was made I thought it was for one of the two point guards, both of whom were good to great ball handlers and shooters. I'm still wondering how someone analyzing our team doesn't see how much we need that type of player right now.

Rosas sees Covington as a 4 which clears up the logjam somewhat

[thedoper]

I think C is a fair grade. We moved up to get the guy we didn't want at a position where barring injury there isn't going to be a ton of playing time. That's insane. The grade can easily move from a C to and F if Culver ends up being as mediocre as I think he's going to be. I am biased though, he was literally the one guy I didn't want us to come away with. He has some strong scouts who believe he has potential so I'm willing to wait it out but I'm not thrilled with this first move. I know you and others didn't want White but when the trade was made I thought it was for one of the two point guards, both of whom were good to great ball handlers and shooters. I'm still wondering how someone analyzing our team doesn't see how much we need that type of player right now.

Rosas sees Covington as a 4 which clears up the logjam somewhat

There can be some fundamental changes to make up for this. I think Roco can play some 4 but I'm not sure he's KATs ideal complimentary big. That's a lot of banging underneath for Roco. I wouldn't want to see this team go too unconventional just to get Culver some playing time. He's not good enough to warrant that. If the rest of our personnel matched the idea great, but the real play now is more trades and Free Agency which is never a guarantee in this market, and Rosas just burnt one asset in that area.

[Porckchop]

Losing Saric not even a year after the Butler trade makes said trade look terrible.

[60WinTim]

You guys are spinning sour grapes if you think the Rosas was "caught off guard" when Garland was not available at 6. As Jon has reported, the Wolves were perfectly happy "settling" for Culver at #6 if that was the way it played out. And yes, they did look for other opportunities to improve the roster when they were on the clock, but that is just good due diligence.

And I suggest you catch the Rosas presser last night. The Wolves are changing the way they play! A traditional PF will not be part of the starting lineup, which means Dario was not going to start the season as a starter. As of now, that role belongs to Covington.

Personally, I love what the Wolves did last night. When was the last time we had a FO actually move up in the draft?!? The draft is a crapshoot, but the higher the pick, the more weight the dice are in your favor. I really like what I see in Culver and am glad Rosas is holding true to his philosophy that you win with high end players.

[60WinTim]

Another thing worth pointing out: Rosas said the draft is a 3 to 4 year process. The real work for creating the roster that starts THIS season begins with free agency and trades. Despite the draft hype, it's extremely rare that a rookie significantly contributes to winning basketball.

[bleedspeed]

Or maybe Rosas meant it will take him 3 or 4 years to get the draft right.