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Eric WoodyardESPN
The 2020 NBA draft is less than a month away, but the Minnesota Timberwolves still don’t see a can’t-miss guy to take with the No. 1 pick.
After months of planning to make the top pick for the second time in franchise history, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas is confident that the team will identify that player by Nov. 18.
“The analysis is fair,” Rosas said during Wednesday’s videoconference availability. “There’s no guy that has separated himself from the pack from public or external view, but I’m very confident that as we go through this process, the talent will rise to the top and we’ll be confident about identifying one guy as the best guy, the best talented player with the most upside and most ability for our organization.
Rosas said that after studying players for six to seven months, the front office feels good about the talent at the top and the depth throughout the draft.
Minnesota (19-45) also holds the 17th and 33rd draft picks after missing the postseason for the second consecutive season. Karl-Anthony Towns (2015) was the last Timberwolves player to be selected No. 1 overall. Minnesota will begin conducting in-person meetings with prospects and is closely evaluating all situations, including trade scenarios, before coming up with a set plan on draft night.
“For us, we typically study the draft from 1 to whatever number we feel like is a draftable player,” Rosas said. “And we’ll evaluate those guys for trade scenarios, trade back, trade out, for undrafted free-agent opportunities, for minor league opportunities, so we really beat up the draft board as much as can all the way up until the draft.
“But I do, now, at the stage that we’re at, about a month out, we have formulated a lot of opinions, but you want to challenge those as much as you can here as you go all the way up to draft night, but our staff has done an unbelievable job.”