For 11 years without a playoff berth, luck never came the Timberwolves' way. No matter how poor your management (see: David Kahn or the Joe Smith debacle), the NBA Draft Lottery always meant ping-pong balls could save a team. But for a decade, luck never favored Minnesota.
The last time the Timberwolves had the best odds for a lottery was in 2011. They fell to pick No. 2, which they used on Arizona star Derrick Williams. Kyrie Irving, the 2011 NBA Draft's one true prize, went first overall to the Cavaliers. Irving is an All-Star for one of the final four teams in the NBA playoffs. Williams is a backup for the Kings.
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So entering Tuesday night with the top odds felt like a setup for disappointment. There's no year-to-year correlation, but it can feel that way sometimes. So when deputy NBA commisioner Mark Tatum read that Minnesota had the No. 1 pick, it's understandable why the T-wolves' front office reacted the way it did.
We'll just let Flip and his staff sum up how excited we are about that No.1 spot... #NBADraftLottery #EyesOnTheRisehttps://t.co/Q3dfceFBsI
— MN Timberwolves (@MNTimberwolves) May 20, 2015Now what? According to coach and president Flip Saunders, the excitement was going to be there to a certain extent no matter where they picked.
“We thought of this as a five- or six-player draft,” he said shortly after the results were announced. “We thought we would be better whichever way we went. What happens is it gives you more flexibility. I think the other thing is, listen, in Minnesota, we’ve had some bad luck.”
Saunders' rhetoric hides his strategy, so it's hard to know what he thinks about this draft class. But it doesn't matter.
The Timberwolves now have their choice of prospect to add to the promising young core they've put together the past two years, with Saunders at the helm.
If everything goes well, they should have their No. 1 pick, Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio as part of their core for the next several years. In addition, Shabazz Muhammad and Zach LaVine should have significant roles in the rotation.
With lots of promise in the backcourt, the chance to ponder over Jahlil Okafor and Karl-Anthony Towns for the next month is a rare luxury. Gorgui Dieng is certainly a set fixture in the team's short-term future. Still, his spotty interior defense forces puts his status as a future starter for a winning NBA roster in serious question. Nikola Pekovic could be an answer at center if yearly injury concerns didn't overshadow his brute post play. The three years remaining on his contract are likely impossible to move at this point, but that won't stop Saunders from drafting one of the two prized prospect bigs come June.
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The debate of Okafor vs. Towns will be a fun, interesting one as the summer presses on. While early signs indicate the T-wolves' interest in Okafor, Duke's post-play aficionado, front office executives are never fully honest.
"I can say this right now: we don't know who we're going to pick," Saunders said. "We have an idea, and there's a lot of different directions that we can go. But we're going to evaluate these guys."
More than likely, this is where the Wolves were at. Like any other executive, he and his staff will do his due diligence, giving Towns and Okafor a fair shake. The process will be long, and not everyone will agree with the decision, no matter what ends up happening.
In the meantime, T-wolves fans, executives and the like are in the midst of celebrating something they haven't experienced since becoming a franchise: lottery luck. Things look like they're finally going in the right direction in Minneapolis.
After 11 years, it's okay to celebrate a little. Something fun is happening.