Team continues to host draft workouts, Forbes places Wolves among least cost-effective teams and more
From Phil Miller/Star Tribune:
Likely lottery picks generally decline the invitation, on the advice of agents who don't want to hurt their standing in group workouts. Players such as John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Evan Turner will wait for individual workouts with teams owning the top picks.
"For everyone else, though, this is a big opportunity," Babcock said. Players projected in the bottom half of the first round, or in the second round, are in Minneapolis this week, prospects such as Gani Lawal of Georgia Tech, Jordan Crawford of Xavier or Devin Ebanks of West Virginia.
"It's kind of like game pressure," said Cincinnati guard Lance Stephenson, a borderline first-round prospect who worked out Tuesday. "I was pretty nervous, and I missed some shots I normally make. But you can't be perfect every day."
And there are always more workouts; most teams will use this week to determine who to ask back for a private session. Babcock expects the Wolves, who own five picks in the June 24 draft, to have perhaps 15 players back, "but without this camp, it would be more like 50."
From Frank Hughes/SI.com: Top five settled at pre-draft camp
Because Minnesota already has Al Jefferson and Kevin Love down load, the Timberwolves will likely take Syracuse's guard Johnson -- a long, smooth wing player who fills a need for the long-suffering 'Wolves -- with the fourth pick.
From HoopsHype's twitter account:
Talked with Nikola Pekovic's agent. No lock that his client is going to the Timberwolves next season.
From Patrick Rishe/Forbes: The Most and Least Efficient NBA and NHL Teams for the 2009-10 Season
The 5 least cost-effective teams were:
1) New Jersey ($4.95 million per win), 2) Minnesota ($4.17 m.), 3) New York ($2.93 m.), 4) Washington ($2.81 m.), 5) Sacramento ($2.69 m.).
Compared to the median 'cost per win' reported above, New Jersey was 204% more inefficient than the typical NBA team, while Minnesota was 156% more inefficient than the average team.
It should be noted that the Knicks and Timberwolves were found to be the least efficient NBA franchises of the last 5 years based on my analysis from an earlier blog. An operational facelift is in order within these franchises.