Minnesota Timberwolves: A look back at NBA Draft history before 2017

The Minnesota Timberwolves have experienced recent success in the NBA Draft. Despite the newfound draft success, the also have plenty of draft-related regrets.

The recent draft history of the Minnesota Timberwolves is very good. That is largely in part to the Wolves selecting Karl-Anthony Towns out of the University of Kentucky during the 2015 NBA Draft.

Towns is turning out to be a franchise player even though some experts thought that D’Angelo Russell and Jahlil Okafor were more NBA-ready than Towns. The Wolves stuck with their gut and it ended up paying off big time as Towns is coming off a monster season.

The year before that, the Timberwolves made what seemed like another risky pick. They selected Zach LaVine with the 13th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. LaVine was not overly dominant in college so many disagreed with the pick. Despite the scrutiny, the Wolves scouts obviously did their due diligence. LaVine has transitioned well to the NBA and is a solid starter for the Wolves.

The 2014 NBA Draft was the Timberwolves’ last good draft dating back to the six years before. That timespan was filled with failure after failure. You’d have to go all the way back to 2008 to when the Wolves drafted O.J. Mayo and traded for Kevin Love to find a successful draft. With that being said, lets look at the Timberwolves’ biggest draft fail in franchise history.

What happened in 2009?

The 2009 NBA Draft will forever haunt the Minnesota Timberwolves. They had the fifth and sixth picks of the draft.  Here is what they decided to do with them.

The Wolves passed on future two-time MVP Stephen Curry twice. Once is enough to look back a kick yourself for not drafting him. Passing on him twice is completely unacceptable. To be fair Ricky Rubio is having a solid career with the Timberwolves. The worst part about Rubio was that he did not play until the 2011-12 season because the Timberwolves just drafted the rights to him.

Now Jonny Flynn, on the other hand, was a disappointment in every way possible. The athletic point guard never translated his game to the NBA. He was so bad that he played his last NBA game in the 2011-12 season. That season he only played in 18 games where he averaged 5.2 points a game.

If the Wolves would have got that pick right, they would have had a duo of Kevin Love and Stephen Curry to build around. The NBA might look very different today, especially since both of those players have appeared in the last two NBA Finals matchups.

It is worth highlighting that Curry was picked seventh during that draft, which just so happens to be the pick the Wolves possess in the 2017 NBA Draft. It is time for them to redeem themselves since talent from that pick can clearly dominate the NBA.

History of the No. 7 pick

The Timberwolves have picked seventh twice before, taking Luc Longley in 1991 and Corey Brewer in 2007.

Longley played only two and a half seasons for the Wolves, averaging 5.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game during his time there. He was then traded to the Chicago Bulls, where he would aid Michael Jordan and company during their second three-peat.

Brewer stayed in Minnesota for nearly four seasons after being drafted, but returned later in his career for another two seasons. The swingman averaged 9.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game during his two stints with the franchise.

Prior to acquiring Kevin Love in 2008, the Wolves had a long stint of not getting better during the draft.  We have to go back quite ways to find draft success.

Rocking in the ’90s

The Timberwolves made some excellent draft choices in the ’90s. They still were not perfect though, and left fans forever thinking what if.

In 1999 the Timberwolves drafted Wally Szczerbiak. He played a crucial role in some of the best years in Wolves history. Szczerbiak was a fan favorite and helped the Timberwolves get to the playoffs five times.

In 1996 the Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Ray Allen. They ended up trading him to the Milwaukee Bucks for Stephon Marbury. Talent wise it was a fairly even trade. Marbury helped the Timberwolves get to the playoffs in 1997 and 1998. Unfortunately, he was unhappy in Minnesota and ended up demanding a trade that broke up a duo that could have dominated the NBA.

The other half of that duo was 15-time All-Star Kevin Garnett. The Timberwolves selected Garnett with the fifth pick of the 1995 NBA Draft.

To date, this was the best pick in Minnesota Timberwolves draft history. Garnett gave the Timberwolves his best for 12 seasons before going to the Boston Celtics to team up with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

Next: NBA: 30 Greatest Draft Steals In Lottery Era

The Minnesota Timberwolves are on the right track as of late. They are a couple key players away from ending their playoff drought. This upcoming season will tell if they can finally get over the hump or if they continue to allow their past to haunt them.