The Q&A session with the GSoM bloggers (which was great by the way) got me thinking about the upcoming draft. Now, obviously, there's a lot of this season left to be played, the draft's a long way off and there's lots of uncertainty as to who might be available. It's still worth some discussion, though.

First, I'm a little unclear as to how many picks the Wolves actually have in this upcoming draft - I believe the Wolves still owe the Clippers a pick from the Marko deal, but I'm assuming that's protected if it's in the top however-many; they got a first-rounder in the Miami deal (lottery-protected); and the pick they got from Boston is for 2009 I believe. Does anyone know for sure the details?

Second, I've seen lots of discussion about Rose, Mayo, and Beasley, all good players, but one person I haven't heard many people talk about is Kevin Love from UCLA. One of the Wolves' biggest needs is a Center - Love is listed as a 6'10\", 250 lb C, and though I've only seen him a little this year, he looks like he can score, rebound and pass.

So, if all these top freshmen were to come out, I'm assuming that Rose, Beasley, and Mayo would be the most sought after, but if the Wolves had a top-3 pick, I wouldn't mind seeing them trade down a couple of spots if possible to grab Love and maybe get something else in the process. Thoughts?

Thanks for posting this wtd3... glad you enjoyed it.

Here is what he's talking about:

http://www.twolvesblog.com/daily-news/minnesota-timberwolves-news/golden-state-of-mind-q-a.html


Our picks regarding the Clippers and Heat:

We owe the Clippers a pick, but it is Top 10 protected for at least this year and next year. I *think* after that the protections start to diminish but I am 100% sure. Regardless, if we continue to suck we won't have to give it to them for at LEAST two more drafts.

Here is info on the pick the Heat owes us:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/12551931.html


EDIT: The pick Boston owes us:

It is correct that Boston owes us a #1 pick in 2009. That pick is Top 3 protected only.


Players:

Love is an undersized center, but I'd take him lower in the draft. I doubt he falls that low though. Still, there are other better \"true Center\" options in this draft.

I'd like for us to get one of the 3 or so top prospects at guard in this draft with our top pick: Rose, Mayo, or Gordon.

My ordering would go: Rose, Gordon, Mayo, Beasely. As of now those are probably the only four guys that we should be watching as I can't imagine we don't have the worst overall record this season.

The Wolves first-round pick is top-10 protected this season (and I think it's top 10 protected through 2010?? Does someone know?) So, barring any trades, we should will have our first and second round picks. We also have a protected second-rounder for the 2008 draft from the Spurs, but I'm not sure what the conditions of the protection are. We get a 2009, top-3 protected Celtics pick. So, going back to it, we basically just get our first and second rounders this upcoming draft and possibly another second rounder.

FROM EDIT - College Wolf put this up above, but I forgot about the Heat's pick. It's protected to a certain point and the Heat suck right now, so we might not be seeing that.

Assuming the Wolves finish with the worst record, the lowest we can draft is 4th. I don't watch much college ball until conference tourney time, but from what I've read and the limited amount I've seen, I think Rose is probably the guy you go with if you want the most immediate improvement. I think Mayo and Beasley give you the higher ceilings and the potential for star power from a marketing standpoint.

Anyone out there follow college ball right now? What do you think?

As far as our draft pick situation... I think the one for the Clips was Top 10 protected for five years. We traded for Marko the year we got McCants (2005), we then used the protection when drafting Foye (2006) and Brewer (2007) so I think we have two more years of sucktitude left before we have to fork it over.

Boston gave us their 2009 pick. Miami's is Top 14 protected, so we won't be getting that this year. The Spurs didn't give us their 2nd rounder, we gave them ours, but it's so protected and it defaults after this year, so they'll never get it.

So this year all we'll have is our 1st and 2nd rounder. That's fine because we've already got more youngsters than we know what to do with. Also, Miami's protection decreases every year and I have a feeling that they're going nowhere fast. I can't imagine them making the playoffs for the next two or three years with their financial situation.

I'm no college basketball expert, in fact I only watch the tourney - and that's if I have spare time. But after checking out nbadraft.net, I was surprised that they have OJ Mayo going 10th. I thought he was going to be LeBron or Durant-esque from hearing all the hype, but I guess not.

Anyway, after reading the profiles of Beasely and Rose, I'd take Rose in a heartbeat with the 1st pick. Beasely may potentially be a more dominant player, but Rose sounds like a phenomenal point guard and has zero character issues. \"Lazy\" was brought up several times with Beasely. We definitely don't need that.

Rose/Foye/Brewer/Jefferson/Whoever is a lineup with a lot of potential.

A bench of Telfair/McCants/Gomes/Smith isn't so shabby either.

The key is getting a quality coach as I think this team is falling vastly below its potential. A big trade would help the cause as well as we certainly have the pieces!

Thanks all for the helpful replies. I would agree that the Wolves have enough youngsters at this point that getting quality over quantity would seem the way to go in the 2008 draft.

My point about Love, though, is that, as appealing as some of the top prospects in this draft are, it would be nice to see the Wolves really focus on how to use their pick to address the team's biggest needs, which most are saying are at PG and C, rather than just automatically take the \"best player available.\" Maybe taking the best player does fill one of those needs (e.g. Rose), but it might not be a bad idea to consider trading down if a good deal was available. For example, if the Wolves were lucky enough to end up with the #1 pick, would it be better to just take Rose outright or, if a team behind them really wanted Beasley/Mayo/Gordon and was willing to make a deal, trade down and grab him later? Or trade even further down, getting a veteran and a mid-round pick to grab someone like Love? Now, that's making a lot of assumptions, I realize, but it's worth thinking about.

On another note, I definitely think that the Wolves need a legitimate C (but those are hard to find league-wide). On the PG front, though, if Telfair can actually keep up his recent play, maybe that need is less acute than an outside shooter or center come next year, which could totally change the draft strategy.

On the other hand, if Rose really is as good as advertised, it might be foolish to pass on him no matter who's on the Wolves' roster...

Personally, I'm with DeROK on this. I take Rose in a heartbeat. From everything I've read, he's THE player in this draft that instantly improve you in the win column. I like looking at NBA history, and the only teams to win an NBA title without either a good point guard or good center are the 1996-1998 Chicago Bulls. Every other team over the years has had either a hall-of-fame calibur center or hall-of-fame calibur poinnt guard combined with a decent-all-star calibur PG or C (and in some cases, both).

That being said, none of the C's in this draft are sure-things, but it sounds like Rose is a sure thing, especially given Al Jefferson's faux-center status.

Seeing that only 8 teams have won since 1980, here's what I'm talking about:

Lakers - Magic - Kareem (HOF-HOF)
PGx - Shaq (decent-HOF)

Celtics - DJ/Aigne - Parish (All-star-HOF, notwithstanding three other HOFs, in Bird, McHale, and Walton for the last one off the bench).

76ers - Cheeks-Malone (4-time all-star-HOF, along with Dr. J, Andrew Toney)

Rockets - Smith/Cassell-Olajuwan (Decent/all-star - HOF)

Pistons - Isaiah/Laimbeer (HOF-Allstar)

Spurs 99 - A. Johnson/Robinson (Decent-HOF plus Duncan)

Spurs 02 - Parker/Robinson (All-star-HOF plus Duncan)

Spurs 05 - Parker/Duncan (All-star-HOF, Duncan tech. PF, but really C)

Spurs 07 - Parker/Duncan (All-star-HOF)

Heat - Williams (but basically Wade)/Shaq (Decent/all-star-HOF + refs)

Bulls 1st threepeat - Paxson/BJ Armstrong-Cartwright (Decent-Decent + MJ/Pippen/Grant - BJ Armstrong started on all-star game after)

Bulls 2nd Threepeat - Washed up Ron Harper/Longley (Crap-Crap - Jordan cements all time best status as only player to win with crap at both PG and C)

You forgot about the 04 Pistons, but overall your point is well taken...

Yes, I did forget! Man. I actually forgot about the Laker's threepeat, too. I had to add it in an edit.

Billups-Wallace - Allstar-Allstar, although I kind of doubt anyone on that team will make the HOF.