Tyreke Evans head sank on the desk.
Minnesota General Manager David Kahn was described as “pissed” by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress after he saw his results.
For every winner, there must be a loser. Yin and yang. If the Wizards and Sixers vault up the NBA Draft board, someone must fall.
Minnesota had the second best chance of landing the top pick in the draft, Sacramento was third on that list. They will now draft fourth and fifth -- in a draft where the top two picks are locks and then the questions start to come.
And man, do Minnesota and Sacramento have questions now. And options -- there are reports Houston and other teams are looking to move up and get one of the big men available (DeMarcus Cousins, for example).
But both teams have fallen from getting what they wanted to needing to decide if they want what they can get. Losing sucks like that.
The Timberwolves need some help but they are overloaded at a couple spots -- point guard (at least they don’t have to deal with that now) and at the power forward spot. The Wolves are already starting a combo four/five guy in Al Jefferson at center (he should be a forward) and they have Kevin Love.
And the best player on the board for them is Cousins -- the freshman power forward out of Kentucky. Except they don’t really need him. Then they’d have a backlog somewhere else, plus there are questions of if Cousin fits the triangle offense well. Minnesota could take someone like Wesley Johnson out of Syracuse or Al-Farouq Amino out of Wake Forest, guys who are forwards, but neither of them are upgrades over Corey Brewer who they have now.
So do you take Cousins -- the best player available -- and figure it out later. Maybe trade him or one of your other forwards? Trade the pick? The Timberwolves have a lot of young players and could use a veteran so maybe a trade is a good call. Or package two or more picks -- the Wolves have three first round picks in this draft -- and try to move up the ladder? Kahn has a lot of questions to answer.
The Kings are in a little better spot -- they are not going to get the talent level they had hoped for, but they are going to get a good player to fill a need.
The Kings would love for Cousins to fall to them, then they could pair him with Carl Landry, Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes to create a nice little front line. If they can’t get Cousins and have to take Johnson or Amino and get a forward to go with Omri Casspi. They Kings will get a good player, but not the kind of big talent like Wall or Turner that they needed.
They also may be better of listing to trade offers to get a player that is a better fit.
Both the Kings and Jazz will get a good player out of this. But it’s just not the same a few notches down the ladder.