I keep hearing about the need for a veteran presence on the Wolves roster. I agree that the need is there and wondered about the age and experience of the current roster. Some interesting things came to light when I sorted the roster by age. Mostly, it created more questions for me, and not many answers.

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Is it just me or is there not enough information on the NBA draft. I find myself going to Canis, ESPN.com, NBA.com, ESPN, NBAHD, DraftExpress, etc. for new NBA Draft info several times a day. Most of the time I am completely disappointed, only sometimes is there new interesting information, never is there enough good information to completely satisfy me. My biggest surprise ins the complete lack of NBA draft info on NBA TV. They are really missing something. I don't expect NFL TV level information, but something each day would be nice.  

Any advice on other sites to help feed my addiction would be greatly appreciated. 

23) Kevin Love.

35) Al Jefferson.

194) Jonny Flynn.

200) Ramon Sessions.

206) Darko Milicic.

238) Corey Brewer.

239) Ryan Gomes.

261) Damien Wilkins.

272) Ryan Hollins.

302) Wayne Ellington.

I was surprised that Love and Jefferson were rated as highly as they were. Could this be a flaw in the PER ratings or a statement that defense is not taken into account enough? Maybe we TWolve fans do not appreciate the value of Love and Jefferson enough. Jefferson put up this rating while not 100%.

I was also very disappointed in the ratings of the other TWolve players, especially Flynn, Sessions, Milicic and Brewer. I was not surprised that they did not have a top 150 ( starter ) rating, but I thought they may have a 6th man rating ( 151 - 180 ). Brewer's rating in particular was very shocking, a 238 puts him in the 8th man on a squad territory. 

What say you?

Many have stated that this years draft is much deeper than last years and deeper than most years. It sure seems that way to me. I believe that Griffin, Evans and Rubio would still be top of the draft talents. I am curious where Thabeet, Harden, Flynn, Curry, and the rest of last years lottery picks would fall in this years draft.

What got me thinking about this was the talk of trading the #16 and the #23 picks the Timberwolves currently own. I really like 3 wing players that could be available with the #16 pick, Paul George, Xavier Henry and James Anderson. These 3 have the possibility of developing into very solid starting players in the NBA. I would not want to trade this pick away unless I get very good value for it. 

As for the #23 pick there seems to be several players that may be available that could provide good bench play and may develop into a solid starter in the NBA. Ones I like are, Damion James, Larry Sanders, Lance Stephenson and Stanley Robinson. Again, because the of unusual quality at the #23 pick, I would not want to trade this pick unless we receive very good value for it.

I have 3 questions for the experts and not so expert among the fellow Canis BBall Junkies.

1) Where would last years lottery picks fall in this years draft?

2) Where would this years top 40 players be drafted in last years draft? I am especially interested in where the players I think would be available at the #16 and #23 picks would have fallen in last years draft. IE: if the quality of the #16 pick is so unusually great, we should be extremely careful in trading it, at the very least, we should not give it the same value of a normal #16 pick ( same for the #23 pick ).

3) I keep reading that we need to use the #23 pick to stash a player away in Europe. For such a bad team with a very low quality bench, I do not understand this. We seem to have plenty of roster space. We have 6 roster spots that need upgrading, IE: Cardinal, Hollins, Jawai, Pavlovic, Pecherov, Stiesma and Wilkins. I understand that some of these players are free agents and some have a contract that may have to be bought out, but that should not be an impediment to upgrading the roster with high quality first round draft picks from a deep draft. Am I missing something here?

I believe the Twolves need to improve their Defense, Length and Athleticism. My perfect starting five would be a 6'4" point guard, 6'7 shooting guard, 6'9" small forward, 6'10" power forward and a 7'0" center. Assuming they all play defense and are athletic.

We have a start with Rubio 6'4", Brewer 6'9", Love 6'10", Jefferson 6'10", Darko 7"0" and Sessions 6'3". It could be debated that some of these players don't play defense or are not athletic.

Most of us agree we need better wing players. With that being said, I would love a draft of Turner 6'7" SG, Xavier Henry 6'7" SG, and Stanley Robinson 6'9" SF. I believe these players could be available at 2,16 and 23 respectively.

Turner is known to be a good athlete and an aggressive defender. PLEASE DEAR GOD PLEASE.

Henry is "not an explosive athlete" and might have a problem "guarding the more quicker and dynamic SG's".  Even though I want Henry I worry about his defense.

Robinson is "an athletic lanky forward" that "moves his feet well on defense". Wolves would be very lucky to get Robinson with the 23rd pick.

Draft express has us picking Turner, Henry and Paul George ( 6'7" SF ). I would love this outcome also.

George is a "long athletic wing" with a "so so motor". Wolves have enough "So So Motors".

TheHoopsreport has us picking Turner, Devin Ebanks ( 6'9" SF ) and Luke Babbit ( 6'9" SF ).

Ebanks is an "athletic forward" with a "good motor" and an "excellent rebounder". The more I learn about Ebanks the more I like him.

Babbitt is "not a great athlete", who "lacks the size to play the 4" and the lateral quickness to guard a 3". Please dear god, Please NO!!!!!!!!.

HoopsWorld has us picking Turner, Ed Davis ( 6'10" PF ) and Gordon Hayward ( 6' 8" SF ).

Ed Davis is an "active big man" whose "motor runs very high" and is an "excellent rebounder" and "good shot blocker". Why in the world would be want ANOTHER PF like similar to what we already have?

Hayward is "not an elite athlete" and "lacks great lateral quickness". Pretty Please No!!!!

One caveat to all this is I would like the Wolves to pick Daniel Orton ( 6'10" C ) with the 23rd pick if he is available, which I do not believe will the the case. He breaks my 7'0" center rule but he has a "huge wingspan". He is a "strong, physical big man", and is a "good rebounder" and "solid shot blocker". I believe the probabilities are very high that if Orton stayed in school a few more years he might have been a very high lottery pick. This pick would be a good gamble for the Twolves to take with this late first round pick.