Minnesota Timberwolves: What To Make Of The Recent Murmurs

In a blink of an eye, the Finals are suddenly over and the 2015 NBA Draft sits a mere five days away.

At this time of the year, rumors surface in bunches. Everything you hear — unless reported by Yahoo’s own social media reporting guru, Adrian Wojnarowski — should really be taken with a grain of salt.

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For the Minnesota Timberwolves, just when all signs pointed to Karl-Anthony Towns as their selection at No. 1, the Wolves brass has gone on a face-to-face meeting binge with the draft’s consensus top-4 prospects.

Most notably, Minnesota has met with Towns, Jahlil Okafor, D’Angelo Russell, and Emmanuel Mudiay in a private setting as the final days of the draft preparation process adjourns.

By all accounts, Minnesota C.O.P. (coach, part owner, and President of Basketball Operations) Flip Saunders has had a prolonged obsession over Okafor since the beginning of the college basketball season; and as the team continues to gather intel and do its due diligence, indications are that they would roll the dice on Russell — a modern-day, highly skilled combo guard — with the No. 1 pick if the Wolves started with a clean slate with no material building blocks on hand.

However, when taking the team’s dire defensive needs into account — not to mention, the idea of which prospect would ideally fit best alongside Saunders’ adored duo of young pups in Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine — Towns has emerged as the likely top overall selection.

Nevertheless, it seems as though the Wolves roster will continue to be a clutter of unmitigated mayhem until the day of the draft. But while the roster maybe in somewhat of a flux, things should start to clear up after June 25.

In addition to having the No.1, No.31, and No.36 picks of the 2015 NBA Draft, Minnesota’s prized draft-and-stash and the reigning Euroleague MVP, Nemanja Bjelica, is looking poised to take his talents to the NBA next season.

The Wolves may seek to leverage Bjelica’s value on the trade market by packaging him with their two second-round selections in an effort to acquire the rights of hometown prospect Tyus Jones by moving into the mid- to late first round.

However, as draft day nears, Jones’ draft floor appears to be at the No. 21 selection, as the Dallas Mavericks will most likely pick the diminutive floor general if he’s still on the board.

Can Bjelica and two early second-rounders net a top-20 pick? Highly unlikely.

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If everything goes according to plan, though, and the Wolves follow the script of drafting Towns and bringing over, as well as keeping, Bjelica, Minnesota could house a contemporary 4-5 combo that induces versatility and floor spacing.

It seems as that with each passing postseason — and in particular, with each passing NBA Finals tracing back to 1997 — as teams go deeper and deeper into the playoffs, they usually opt to go with smaller, more skilled lineups.

The Timberwolves, for the first time in over a decade, will have the luxury of star power and positional interchangeability. Adding a two-way inside-outside center who handles, bangs on the block, and drains 3s (a 45 percent 3-point shooter on eight attempts a contest at the 2011 FIBA U-17 World Championships), Towns will give Minnesota two potential bonafide superstars — the other being Wiggins — going forward.

Five days and counting … don’t hold your breath, people.

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