The folks at SB Nation have put out their first NBA mock draft of the year, and while it would be nice if things worked out the way the guys at the mothership have them working out for Minnesota, there are a couple of obvious issues with what they've got.
The pick itself isn't terrible or anything like that, as they have the Timberwolves selecting Duke University guard Kyrie Irving in the lottery. Their reasoning, in haiku form. . .
It's more like Ky-wheeeeee!
when Wolves land Kyrie Irving
and Flynn joins Ricky.
Ummmm. . .yeah, okay then.
The problems with this are as follows. . .I don't have an issue with this pick if the Wolves have finally come to the realization that the chances of Ricky Rubio ever playing a game in a Timberwolves' uniform are between slim and none, and I think I just saw slim get up and walk out. Irving would darn sure be an upgrade over Jonny Flynn, proving that David Khan's strategy of "let's draft as many point guards as we can and see how many of them stick" from the draft a couple years ago was as foolish as. . .well, it's David Khan. Let's not act like we've hit rock bottom in the silliness department yet.
However, the bigger issue is that SB Nation is predicting that the Timberwolves will actually win this year's draft lottery, as they have Minnesota selecting Irving with the top overall pick in the draft. . .and anyone that follows the Wolves knows full well that this team is never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER going to win the NBA Draft Lottery, excepting the occasion where they have to give their first round pick to another team. That's just not the way the lottery goes for the Timberwolves. Going into this year's draft, if it's determined that there are three "can't miss" prospects in the draft, the Wolves will end up picking fourth . .if there are four "can't miss" prospects, Minnesota will end up selecting fifth, and so on. That's the way things have gone for as long as the Wolves have been around, and there's no reason to think the trend won't continue.