Changes HAVE to come to this roster.

D-Will (big)- Do you want the Wolves to spend the #2 pick on a guy who may not even be Mike Beasley-Lite with a better head and a weaker all-around game? If this sounds like a plan, then Derrick Williams is the man for you. I think there is a legitimate argument that the Wolves absolutely cannot draft this guy, as he could not be any more similar to B-Easy and I honestly have no idea where you’d play him, especially (and mainly) because of Kevin Love. Let’s call this the Red Pill Argument. That being said, the Wolves have exactly 1 player that can consistently play at an above-average level and this pick is their best shot at picking up a player that has a chance to develop from an awesome rookie into a superstar-level player, which is what gets you lots of wins in a capped league. This is the Blue Pill Argument.

Let’s be very clear: this is a 1 person draft with a bunch of similar players at 2-5. That being said, I think what matters most with the pick is how other teams view the top of the draft and it seems that the league views this as a 2-man affair. If this is the case, and if you are in the position to have to make this pick, I think you have to play the hand in terms of what the other guys at the table are going to do. In this case, they probably can’t pass on Williams. In terms of talent, I’m fairly certain Biyombo is the 2nd best player available, and that in terms of pragmatic drafting the best idea would be for a trade down to 4 or 5, but if they trade him for an established (and possibly massively overpaid in the new CBA structure) player like Iggy or Granger, I think they are once again missing the entire point of the draft. Good GMing and coaching can get you to .500. Hell, coaching and a culture of winning got Memphis into the 2nd round. Hitting on a top pick, even with an incompetent owner, a clownish ex-son-in-law behind the curtain, and an awful coach, is something that Wolves fans can hang their hat on for a very long time. With the possibility of a hard cap or a reduced cap, rookie contracts are a very good thing, especially if they are awesome rookies (awesome rookies on their 1st deal and superstars are the best two assets in the league).

So, do you find yourself wanting to swallow a red D-Will pill where the Wolves should trade away the pick because there is no possible way they can have their 5 best players at a single position (Love, Randolph, Tolliver, Beasley, Williams), or do you take the blue one and draft what the rest of the league views as the 2nd best player in the draft and hope for the best with a future trade? Can you crack open both pills and cut out a few lines on the table that will allow you to draft him and then trade him for someone like Biyombo plus additional assets? Will Biyombo ultimately move up everybody else’s draft board? We’ll just have to wait and see. For the purposes of this draft board, Williams is the 2nd most valuable player in the draft and he is so primarily because of the hands of the other teams at the table. Oh, if he has a decent mid-range game or can hit 3s above .400 and can get to the line, he might be worth it.

9- Kawhi Leonard, wing:

If you cannot find a player who can carry a high usage rate while scoring efficiently and not turning it over, the next best thing you can hope for is a guy with a lower usage rate who can really produce off the ball while not turning it over. Leonard isn’t going to win any shooting awards but he will rebound the hell out of the ball, defend multiple positions, and be a decent passer.

Of all the players I put into the spreadsheet, Leonard carries the 4th highest reb/40 mark (13) behind Markeiff Morris, Kenneth Faried, and Thomas Robinson. Throw in his age (19), ridiculous measurements (7’3" wingspan, gigantic hands), and solid net production and you have a guy that you can pair with Wes Johnson (who, for better or worse, seems to be a part of this team’s long term core) at the ⅔. The team would still need a high-usage point guard to bring it all on home, but they certainly could do a lot worse at this point in the draft by passing on the top ranked wing player in the 11/12 class. Oh, he can’t shoot a lick….so there’s that.

10- Derrick Williams, wing

He’s not a 3. I don’t know what else to say about this.

11- Nikola Vucevic, big

Gigantic, earthbound, can rebound, shoots well, does decent things off the ball, and he doesn’t turn it over. Would Enes Kanter be better than this guy after a year in college? It’s really too bad Kanter didn’t get to play at Kentucky.