Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas agrees with the widely stated consensus that the 2020 NBA Draft lacks a clear-cut No. 1 pick.
With the draft looming and the Timberwolves on the clock, Rosas admitted that no prospect fits the prototypical top pick seen in many other drafts. However, Rosas believes the T-Wolves will find a player of their liking ahead of the Nov. 16 draft date, and the front office feels it has adequately prepared itself to make that determination.
“The analysis is fair,” Rosas said during Wednesday’s videoconference availability, via ESPN. “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.”
There has been abundant speculation that the Timberwolves are inclined to trade the top pick in the draft. In fact, the T-Wolves reportedly “prefer to trade down or out of this pick to bring in a win-now player to help Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell,” according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer.
Unfortunately for the Timberwolves, the aforementioned lack of a bona fide, can’t-miss talent atop the board makes the No. 1 choice nowhere near as attractive as it has been in many other years.
Minnesota is preparing to conduct in-person meetings with prospects. The front office continues to evaluating potential trade scenarios as well.
“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,” Rosas added.
All things considered, even if the T-Wolves, also holders of the 17th and 33rd draft picks, have already settled on whom the team would take at No. 1 — if the team indeed keeps the pick — it’s not like Rosas would tip the team’s hand anyway.
However, reports indicate that Minnesota is “high” on former Dayton forward Obi Toppin if the team does hold on to the No. 1 pick.
