When the picks are announced during Thursday’s NBA Draft there could be some game-changing talents entering the best basketball league on the planet.
The top picks are expected to be Auburn’s Jabari Smith, Minnesota native and Gonzaga star Chet Holmgren, and Duke’s Paulo Banchero. And according to Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, the draft class is deep and could produce “up to three franchise-level” players.
“Most people will tell you that it’s actually pretty strong all the way through to the mid-20s in the first round. There could be, and some analytics models project, up to three franchise-level players in this draft alone. Most drafts, a good draft, will give you two,” Finch said during an appearance on Twin Cities-based KFAN radio Tuesday morning.
“These are analytic models so they take a lot of things into account that might not translate when it comes to actual basketball, but I think it’s a pretty strong draft. I think it’s one of those drafts that we’re going to look back on in a number of years and be like, ‘Hey, a lot of good players came out of that.'”
Drafts in the past with three franchise-level players definitely include 2003 with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, 1984 with Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and John Stockton, and 1996 when Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen and Steve Nash were selected.
Finding a franchise-level player with the 19th pick will take some luck for the Timberwolves. In fact, Finch says the statistics suggest that finding a player who will still be on the team in three years will be hard.
Finch said only 17% of players picked later than the 17th pick in the draft are still a rotational player in the league three years after being selected.
As for the Timberwolves, what they will do in the draft is a mystery. They own one first-round pick three picks in the second round. Finch did say they need to improve on defense and rebounding and that they could use a veteran two-way player.
“We gotta continue to find complimentary pieces around our young core. We need some defense. We need some rebounding. We need some really good, experienced two-way players,” said Finch.
One two-way player Finch mentioned as an example is Otto Porter, who played a key role for the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
“If you look at these teams who are making these deep runs, they have the experience of like an Otto Porter for example,” Finch continued. “He can make threes but he’s also very reliable and he plays both ends and he can take a matchup that you need to shut down.”
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