Wolves Draft and Early Offseason Free Agency Recap

Since I didn't get my draft recap off in time for the fireworks of free agency, I am combining them!

Draft Recap
The 2022 NBA Draft took place a couple weeks ago and the Wolves were very active in it, especially compared to last year's draft in which the Wolves were not participants. This year, with draft maestro Tim Connelly at the helm, Minnesota was extremely active in a very deep draft. Here is the list of picks and my grade attached.

2022 NBA Draft 
1st Round:
Pick 22 (From Memphis): C Walker Kessler (Auburn)
Minnesota went with a 7 foot 1 center to begin their draft after they traded down with Memphis with pick 19. Kessler is a very athletic defensive big from a strong SEC school in Auburn. The big question going into the draft was how this would translate to the NBA after a strong showing in the last two years in college? I will speak more on this pick later.
Grade: B+

Pick 26 (From Memphis): SF Wendell Moore Jr. (Duke)
With their second pick of the night, Minnesota traded again to get to this position. The Wolves nabbed one of Duke's star shooters this past March in Wendell Moore. A highly graded small forward from out East, Moore looks to make an immediate impact in the Wolves rotation. He is a great and accurate shooter from outside and with nice ball-handling skills. He should work himself into the Wolves top 8 by season tipoff.
Grade: A-

2nd Round:
Pick 45 (From Charlotte): F Josh Minott (Memphis)
Minnesota traded yet again, with this pick at 45th overall from the Charlotte Hornets. The Wolves picked another forward here, who was not a recent standout during a breakout year from Memphis. He struggled to find his footing the rotation late in year but shined for the early parts of the season. Minott has very real potential though, as his physicality and perimeter skills translate fairly well to the modern day NBA. Expect him to show up in a few years (if he is still with the team).
Grade: B+

Pick 50: G Matteo Spagnolo (Cremona - Europe)
With the only true pick belonging to the Wolves in this year's draft, they selected a euro league guard in Matteo Spagnolo. Using him mainly for depth and role player purposes, I believe Minnesota sees Spagnolo as a two-way player who will most likely play lots of minutes down in Iowa. Spagnolo has great tangibles as well, but maybe not as much that will fully translate to the team in the future.
Grade: C+

Overall Draft Grade: B+
Minnesota's Tim Connelly made his presence known during this year's draft, making multiple draft night trades and loading his future arsenal of draft picks if any trades needed to occur. The Wolves acquired a couple players who should make a somewhat immediate impact next season. The other players are more development projects.

Early Free Agency
The Wolves started the first day of free agency with some quiet and expected moves. They signed free agent G Kyle Anderson on a small one-year deal. Then they resigned Taurean Prince to two year deal. C Karl-Anthony Towns finally got his full veteran maximum extension in the first summer it was available, it adds 4 years to his contract and bring his total to $246 million over the next 6 years. It keeps Towns in Minnesota until at least 2028 and for most, if not all, of his prime years.

Minnesota made a huge splash on the second day of free agency when it was reported that the Wolves traded PG Patrick Beverley, SG Malik Beasley, SF Jarred Vanderbilt, G Leandro Bolmaro, and 5 future first round picks with one in 2029 being top-5 protected: for 3x All-Star and 3x All-Defensive player C Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz. This was a HUGE bomb shell. There is a lot to unpack here with a lot of differing opinions coming from all directions. But they are all in agreement in one thing: new ownership wanted to make a splash in the front office and in free agency this year. They sure got that, and more! The Wolves will be a big center to take over the rim protection and rebounding duties from KAT so that he can focus on doing what he does best: dominating everything else. This also means Minnesota has no remaining ammunition to deal anyone else away, including fan-not-so-favorite D'Angelo Russell. Russell now appears to be staying in Minnesota for at least one more season. Gobert's game also tends to lend more to DLo's style, so this could mean the Wolves want to push Russell to see if he can return to his Brooklyn-level form in time for the Wolves open-contending window. One thing that Jon K said in the Athletic a few days ago that resonates with me: Minnesota is no longer the push-over, afterthought, or punch line; they are done with mediocre and they are done waiting. The time is now for the Wolves! It will be an exciting year!

Look for more Wolves content towards the middle of September when we start preparing for the 2022-23 season to begin. 

Until next time, Wolves fans

We are all #RaisedByWolves