Wolves will define future, look to hit it big at NBA Draft
There's a house on Durham Road in the Piscataway, N.J., suburb of South Plainfield, Karl-Anthony Towns says, with a fence that's tall enough that prevents even his 7-foot frame from seeing over it. It was here, in the backyard, the 19-year-old's father Karl Sr. first taught him the craft of basketball. A local high school coach, the elder Towns had his gargantuan young buck practicing with the Piscataway Technical High School junior varsity by fifth grade, then watched him leave the backyard hoop behind for the future -- a legendary high school career at St. Joseph's in Metuchen, N.J., and a stellar collegiate season at Kentucky.
Thursday night, Karl-Anthony, Karl, the pending NBA center's mom and about 40 other relatives will crowd into Brooklyn's Barclays Center, just an hour's drive from Towns' childhood home. At the same time, Timberwolves president, head coach and part owner Flip Saunders will sit in his new, pristine office overlooking the Courts at Mayo Clinic Square and add the next piece -- in all likelihood, Towns -- to an ever-evolving attempt at returning pro hoops relevance to the Twin Cities.
Thursday will define futures. Minnesota's. Saunders'. Towns'. Fellow big man Jahlil Okafor's. The league's. Minneapolis-area products Tyus Jones and Rashad Vaughn's. At least two dozen other prospects who at one point said goodbye to their own, personal basket standard in the driveway or a nearby park.
Towns' journey is expected to land him in Minnesota, which he visited last weekend for dinner with Saunders and owner Glen Taylor before the versatile big man's only private workout. Wednesday, during pre-draft media availability streamed on NBA.com, Towns salivated over the prospect of joining reigning rookie of the year Andrew Wiggins and future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett while retaining diplomacy about the fact his future won't be official till shortly after 7:40 p.m. local time in the Northeast.
"If you were blessed and honored and privileged to play with a talent like that, you're just thinking about how explosive the team really could be," Towns said. "Not only Andrew Wiggins, as talented and explosive as he is. You also have Ricky Rubio, Zach LaVine -- you're talking about some really explosive players."
Saunders says Towns is the best player, analytically, in this draft. No promises have been made. But the front office's collective mind appears mostly made up.
"Everyone talks about his versatility," Saunders said from the team's new practice facility Wednesday. "He's known right now (as) more of a defensive player. He's very much underrated offensively, I think because of playing (in coach John Calipari's) situation (where Towns was part of a platoon and played just 21 minutes of back-to-the-basket post offense). By far, he's the best pick-and-roll defensive big man in the draft."
But Okafor, of Duke national champion fame, is to the offensive block as Towns is to rim defense; the Lakers, picking second, have expressed keen interest, and if they pass up on him, Okafor won't fall far. Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell, meanwhile, might have a case in calling himself the draft's best player during an age where hot-scoring guards like him rule the day.
The Wolves also have a pair of second-round picks, 31st and 36th overall, they could package to try and trade back into the first round -- say for Apple Valley/Duke's Jones or Robbinsdale Cooper/Findlay (Nev.) Prep/UNLV's Vaughn.
Minnesota needs outside shooting and backup point guard behind Rubio. If it isn't able to address that during the draft, it'll look to free agency, where the Wolves could have at least $10 million to spend.
But today is one of the biggest in Twin Cities sports history because of the opportunity wrapped up in the No. 1 overall pick, a decision Saunders, Taylor and the franchise in their care have never faced before. "Hit it right," as Saunders likes to say, and the Wolves will have two superstars under contract for less than $10 million per year the next half-decade in an era where salaries will rise with the league's new TV deal. A supporting cast includes LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng, all of whom are on rookie-scale deals, too.
"You get these guys cheap right now," NBA scouting consultant Ryan Blake said. "It's not as brutal."
Brutal characterizes the throes of a land-locked, middle-American club that's been past the playoffs' first round once and hasn't reached them at all in 11 years. Even if Saunders does succeed in building a viable roster, the next step will be keeping it together -- something the Wolves couldn't accomplish even during their Garnett-led heyday.
But that's for later. Today is about dreams.
Towns passed by the beginning of his on a recent tour of Piscataway. He tried to catch a glimpse of that backboard, rim and net, of a time when the game was just him and his dad, "before all this madness started," Towns said.
He didn't get much of a view, though. "I had no chance to see behind the fence and see if (the hoop is) still there," Towns said.
Doesn't matter. Today, the past's only import is its bearing on what's to come.
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