Over the years it has been clear that the Timberwolves like to draft their fair share of white basketball players. I do not think this is a coincidence. Though I’m not willing to go through fifteen years of draft history for all the NBA teams, I did take the time to peruse what the Minnesota Timberwolves have done in their history as a franchise.
The details are below, but here are the stats. Of the Wolves first round picks, 38% (5/13) have been white. When given the chance to pick the first white player of the draft, Minnesota has taken that opportunity 43% (3/7) of the time. Of those times the Wolves did not pick the first white player when given the chance, only once would it have been remotely reasonable for the team to have taken an available white player - when the Wolves drafted Kevin Garnett over Bryant Reeves (who went 6th) in 1995.
At the end of this article I will give you my guess at the Wolves 2006 first round draft pick.
(FWG = First White Guy)
Minnesota (10) - Pooh Richardson FWG (2 Clippers) - Danny Ferry
Minnesota (6) - Felton Spencer FWG (12 Houston) - Alec Kessler
The Wolves may have been confused when picking Spencer, possibly thinking he was white. It would have been an extreme stretch for the team to grab Alec Kessler - until you realize he is a native Minnesotan. He also later became a doctor. Compared to Kessler, Spencer was actually a good choice.
Minnesota (7) - Luc Longley FWG (7 Minnesota) - Luc Longley
Longley was also the first Australian picked. Ever. Seriously, they drafted Longley one year after drafting Felton Spencer. Wow.
Minnesota (3) - Christian Laettner FWG (3 Minnesota) - Christian Laettner
After Shaq and Mourning, this draft did not turn out too many superstars - mostly just good role players. I’m guessing Tom Gugliotta was second on the Wolves list. They probably would have been better served picking him or maybe even Adam Keefe. :)
Minnesota (5) - Isaiah Rider FWG (2 Philadelphia) - Shawn Bradley
Minnesota (4) - Donyell Marshall FWG (9 Boston) - Eric Montross
Wow, I had forgotten that Glenn Robinson went first over Jason Kidd and Grant Hill. It’s actually a little surprising the Wolves didn’t go after yet another horrible center. Spencer and Longley were both off the team after the 1993 season.
Minnesota (5) - Kevin Garnett FWG (6 Vancouver) - Bryant Reeves
This is probably the first time the team “stretched” to avoid picking a white guy. Maybe the Minnesota brass had finally learned that they are horrible at evaluating centers.
Minnesota (5) - Ray Allen/Stephon Marbury FWG (11 Golden State) - Todd Fuller
Yeah. The Wolves gave up a future first round pick to replace a shoot first shooting guard with a shoot first point guard. Todd Fuller was again in the class the Wolves were now clearly avoiding. Horrible white center.
Minnesota (20) - Paul Grant FWG (2 Philadelphia) - Keith Van Horn
The Wolves must have been licking their chops, because this was the All-White-Guy draft of the 90’s. Keith Van Horn, Austin Croshere, Chris Anstey, and Scot Pollard all went before Minnesota picked the fifth white guy, Paul Grant. I believe the Wolves were planning on breaking their horrible center analysis streak by drafting Australian Chris Anstey. When he went number 18 to Portland (and was traded to Dallas for Kelvin Cato and cash), the Wolves basically said “fuck it, we’re taking the next available white center.” And then Scot Pollard went to Detroit. So the Wolves simply took the first white center they could dig up, he of the 110-minute NBA career, Paul Grant. At least the team didn’t get stuck with that stiff, Bobby Jackson.
Minnesota (17) - Radoslav Neterovic FWG (3 Denver) - Raef LaFrentz
And now Minnesota began drafting just any old white guys they could get their hands on. The fear of drafting a center is long broken. Oh, and this is probably easily the best center draft pick the Wolves ever made. Jason Williams, Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Doleac, Matt Harpring and Bryce Drew all went before the Wolves picked. Maybe 1998 was really the All-White-Guy draft.
Minnesota (6) - Wally Szczerbiak FWG (6 Minnesota) - Wally Szczerbiak
Back on track! Next four picks: Richard Hamilton, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, and Jason Terry. Ron Artest also went later. The upset of the draft, however, was the wolves picking William Avery at number 14 over Frederick Weis, the French center who went to the Knicks. I mean, Avery was a horrible pick, but…
Minnesota (51) - Igor Rakocevic FWG (5 Orlando) - Mike Miller
Contrary to what you are thinking, Rakocevic was actually a white guard. He played 42 games for the Wolves in 02-03. Not that I expect a second round pick to amount to much, but why did he only play one season, yet appear in 42 games in that season?
Minnesota (46) - Loren Woods FWG (3 Memphis) - Pau Gasol
As you can see, the foreign invasion is well underway with Gasol going 3rd. It’s possible this is the Wolves second best center pick, given the location they drafted.
Minnesota (52) - Marcus Taylor FWG (1 Houston) - Yao Ming
Minnesota (26) - Ndudi Ebi FWG (2 Detroit) - Darko Milicic
Darko is ironically a white guy. Hall of fame material here. A ton of useless white guys went before Minnesota picked, so they went with the obvious choice, Ndudi Ebi. Huh? Apparently Minnesota did not realize Luke Walton was available. Wait - that would have been a good choice.
Minnesota (59) - Blake Stepp FWG (8 Toronto) - Rafael Araujo
Minnesota (14) - Rashad McCants FWG (1 Milwaukee) - Andrew Bogut
And now it is time to present your number six pick for the year 2006. The Minnesota Timberwolves select…
J.J. Redick
OK, I’ll admit, this is a stretch. Most mock drafts one looks at show Redick far enough down the list to make it seem unlikely even the Wolves would stretch for him. But to achieve greatness one has to take risks. I’m hoping the Wolves do not risk this stretch of a pick, but I would not be at all surprised if Redick ends up in a Timberpuppies uniform.
Comments (6)
If the Wolves take Redick, put KG on the suicide watch.
I think KG is more likely to kill someone else rather than himself. McHale may need to get some bodyguards.
Intriguing prediction.
On one hand, the Wolves are really good at picking “promising” players that end up sucking. It seems like Redick could fit this mold….like Laetner.
On the other hand, the Wolves seems to generally stay away from players that can actually play a productive role on the floor. Like him or not, Redick did fill a role on the floor for Duke…he actually played his position, at least most of the time.
I think it all comes down to the question “Will Redick be good in the NBA?” If he turns out to be good they won’t take him; if he turns out to suck he’ll be sucking for the Wooves. Of course, no one can answer the basic question at this point…it’s more of a self-fulfilling thing.
Morrison.
He could fall to 6 (I know, probably not) and then is guaranteed to suck for the Pups.
Oh, the Wolves would pee their pants if Morrison fell to 6th. And the media would shout from the heights that the 70’s-porn-star savior had come.
Oh, that sounded horrible.
Anyway, I’ll still be fairly concerned if the Wolves end up with Morrison. His only upside, to me, is that he is not Redick.
No, not Morrison. Don’t want him.