Was Henk Norel Picked To Please Rubio?

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T'Wolves Get To The Point
Wolves grab two very talented PG's with picks 5 and 6...but will they stay?

	6/26/2009 12:36 AM Alec Schimke 5. Ricky Rubio PG International 1990 6'4" 180 lbs. First of all I think this was the right pick here at #5. Rubio offered the best value out of who was available at the time in the draft. I heard that the Wolves actually had Flynn rated higher on their board, but when Rubio was surprisingly available at #5, how could they pass up one of the most hyped up players in the draft? Essentially this was a PR pick for the Wolves. Sure he has a bunch of potential, but more importantly he helps turn around the image of this struggling franchise. The Wolves are counting on Rubio to bring in fans and put the Wolves back on the national stage. You are talking about a globally well-known player in Rubio, he is sure to bring along a huge fan base overseas. That in return means more jersey sales, tickets, etc. From a scouting standpoint, the good news is that he does possess point guard skills are only seen once every decade. His play making abilities are just what this team needs at the point guard position to give this team a pulse again. He has the making to be a very special player in this league. At 6’4”, he also has great size. His scoring is questionable, but he could easily be a 15 pts/10 ast/5 reb a night guy in this league in his prime. Think Jason Kidd in his prime but with better handles and more flashy. He wont compare to Kidd's defensive and rebounding skills however. Finally we have a point guard who can possibly lead the league in assists and create easy buckets for his teammates. He is an instant upgrade over Telfair who just didn’t seem to get the PG position in the NBA. Telfair was kind of just there, nothing too special. If Rubio is truly this good, Al Jefferson and Kevin Love will both be All-Stars very soon. I think everyone was a bit surprised that Rubio fell to the Wolves on draft day. A few days ago, he was a lock at #2. Most insiders believed even if he fell out of #2, he would end up as a member of the Thunder or Kings. Well that didn’t happen and he fell into the Wolves lap at #5, and the Wolves really could not pass him up. Now the question is will he stay, and if he does will he be happy? The Wolves received a lot of calls wondering if Rubio was available after they selected him, but the Wolves stood still. Teams that were and that are still coveting Rubio are the Knicks and the Blazers. The Knicks really don’t have anything attractive in a trade to get a done deal. Drafting PF Jordan Hill at #8 also doesn’t help their case either because the Wolves already have two PF’s in Al Jefferson and Kevin Love. The Blazers however, have plenty of pieces that could start up some serious conversations. One rumor I heard was Oden for Rubio, which I actually would not mind, however that is highly unlikely to be done. The Wolves have to be very careful with Rubio, if they do anything of the slightest nature to tick him off, he may never wear a Wolves uniform. I think he is already coming in to Sota a bit upset in the first place. We all know he wanted to play in a big market when he declared for the draft; instead he ends up in Minnesota, which he probably didn’t even know existed until he entered the draft. Not only that, he slipped on draft day, which will result in less money for him. I’m sure his agent has filled him on what kind of team we are and I’m sure most of those comments are negative. Luckily we can pitch the “fresh start” blueprint to Rubio as we have a new GM, will have a new coach and will have a roster full of new players. Finally I’m sure that this is also on his mind. The team that just so happens to draft him also drafts another PG right behind him. Right away you get the feeling that the Wolves have a safety net in Flynn just in case Rubio does not pan out. Boy what a great message to send to your top pick. This whole 2 PG thing scares me. I think its safe to say that if you play basketball, you know hard it is to play with two point guards on the court. Well it’s even harder to play with two “young point guards.” I have no idea how the Wolves will make this happen, and honestly I don’t think it will work out. If Flynn is really going to play the off-guard, is he really much better than Randy Foye? It looks we have now taken a few steps backwards in our backcourt after this season just for the sake of a fresh start to try something new. I was content with Foye at 2 for this upcoming season and trading him midway if he didn’t show vast improvement. At the end of the day this pick deserved an A because it was the right pick at the moment. However, the Wolves draft goes downhill from here. Hopefully Rubio’s buyout wont be too big of a deal. You never know, if it becomes a big hassle, Rubio may not wear a Wolves uniform for a year or two. But its safe to say that you can order your Rubio jerseys and get ready for some sweet behind the back passes to Mark Madsen. GRADE: A
	6/26/2009 2:06 AM Alec Schimke 6. Jonny Flynn PG Syracuse Soph. 6'0" 172 lbs. Jonny Flynn was very high on the Timberwolves draft board coming into the draft. He had a great workout with the Wolves during the massive point guard draft held last Friday. Flynn won over a lot of hearts that day amongst Wolves officials and that was the big reason as to why he was selected #6. It’s pretty safe to say that when the Timberwolves decided to stay at picks 5 and 6, Jonny Flynn was a lock at one of these picks if he was available.  Ideally they wanted to grab at least one natural PG with their picks. Flynn would be that guy if they stayed pat and then they would add a player like Tyreke Evans or James Harden to compliment him. However, what they did not expect was that the most hyped up PG in the draft, Ricky Rubio would end up falling to them at #5. They may not have viewed Rubio as the most talented PG, but his hype and PR possibilities were too good to pass up on when he was available. The question probably popped into David Kahn’s head, “ Crap! Okay now who do I take now? Rubio the guy we didn’t think would be here, but would be the popular choice or Flynn the guy we love and want really bad?.” The Wolves really did not have too much background info on Rubio and his interest in coming to Minnesota as he never met or worked out for the team. Flynn on the other hand, was much more of a familiar face to the Wolves as he showcased his game at Target Center and met with team officials. Instead of picking one or the other, Kahn made  possibly the biggest gamble in the draft, he drafted both players. I think Wolves officials just could not let their love for Flynn go. I think in their minds they thought James Harden or Tyreke Evans would fall to them at #5 and then one of those would have complimented Flynn at the 1. To draft two PG’s in a row may sound pretty silly, but considering what other options the Wolves had on the board, it makes some sense. Still it is frustrating to not walk  away with two players with different positions. We are now a team of PG's and PF's with no one in between that can make 3-point shot other than a rookie in Wayne Ellington. Personally I’m not a big fan of it, but because of the way the draft panned out, the Wolves had to go with the flow. Ideally the Wolves would have preferred to get a natural SG like Harden but, that’s like nature of the NBA Draft, you never know who is going where. When the clock started for the 6th pick, they then were forced with the decision to pick a player they loved or to go with a player in Stephen Curry who they were not that high on, but would fill their need at SG. I’m not sure why they were not high on Curry. It’s hard not to like kid with his shooting ability. They must not have had enough faith in his abilities to get his shot off as a SG in the NBA.  The Wolves went with their gut and grabbed the gutsy, tough nosed PG from Syracuse. By doing so they will also be praying that he will work out as an off-guard next to Rubio. If not, the Wolves will look like giant idiots for not taking Curry who will be a very good NBA pro as a SG. This already sounds like the Foye/Roy drama all over again as the Wolves went with arguably the less talented of the two players in Flynn. But back to my point earlier that taking Flynn can be justified in some sense. Lets look at the Wolves options here at 6. Their big pressing needs at this point were C, SF, and SG after getting a PG in Rubio. Well there was no centers or small forwards worth taking here, so the only option left was SG. There was only one or two other players here that would have made sense for the Wolves and would have been a good value pick, G Stephen Curry and G DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan canceled a workout with the Wolves and his skill level is still questionable so really Curry was the only other option for the Wolves other than Flynn. The Wolves were not that high on Curry in general and he did not participate in the Wolves point guard workout which may have been the deciding factor in this pick. Had Curry came and made a good impression, he would have probably been the pick here. In my opinion, the Wolves should have went with Curry, but their pick of Flynn does make sense in terms of what was available on the board. They went with the guy they really liked, and considering what was available to fill holes, the choices were pretty weak.  It’s also important to note that Flynn is also great insurance for the Wolves just in case Rubio does not work out/play here. By drafting Rubio, the Wolves gave themselves not only a great player, but a great trading chip. I’m sure if the Wolves would have got the right offer for Rubio, they would have maybe pulled the trigger because they got the PG they really wanted in Flynn. Flynn is now in a bit of an odd spot with the Wolves. He will play the off-guard as a 6’0” point guard. I have my doubts that this will work and that if at the end of the day if our backcourt is really that much better off than it was with Randy Foye here. To be successful, Flynn will have develop a solid outside shot and will have to have a go-to move to the basket. Being a short SG  can be done though, Iverson is a 6’0” shooting guard, but he was also a much better player out of college and played SG in college. Flynn has the potential to be great here, he will get all the playing time needed to be successful.In his career at Syracuse, Flynn was a clutch player and that is the type of player the Wolves need at guard, a big shot type player. He does a great job of getting to the basket and he will need to continue that in the NBA to stay as a threat on the wing. There is no one in front of  him to limit his playing time. The only thing he has to be worried about is Wayne Ellington. Ellington is a natural shooting guard and could take Flynn's minutes away when facing bigger opponents.  At the end of the day, drafting Flynn was not the ideal pick, but he is a leader with a good attitude for the NBA and had too many intangibles for the Wolves to pass up at 6. The Wolves liked him a lot and Flynn liked Minnesota a lot. That is good news. While drafting him creates a log jam, and his size is not ideal at the SG position, Flynn will get every chance to be something special here in Minny. At the end of the day, the Wolves need either Rubio or Flynn to turn out really good for fans to be happy. If both of these guys fail in this system, they will point the finger at the Flynn pick as the one that could have turned out okay with Stephen Curry. I’ll give this pick a B as Flynn is a very talented player, but  there are many questions that will need to be answered by his play for passing on Stephen Curry to be justified. GRADE: B
	6/26/2009 3:00 AM Alec Schimke 18. Ty Lawson PG UNC Junior 6'0" 195 lbs. (Traded to the Nuggets) Okay now this is where the Wolves really ticked me off on Draft Day. They worked so hard to get this pick and then they just let it go for a future “protected” first round pick from the Nuggets via Charlotte that may not be seen for a few years. It really irritates me that we will not be getting a player out of this pick this year considering we have so many holes to fill on our roster. While I am pretty upset that we will not be getting a player out of this pick, I can’t blame Kahn for passing on his options at 18. I will say that I was disappointed to see guys like Terrance Williams, James Johnson, Earl Clark, and Austin Daye gone at 18. Had one of those guys been available, there should have been no excuse not to take one. That may have made the decision to trade the pick easier, but I hate trading this pick, especially to a divisional foe. The only guy that would have made sense here on the board would be center BJ Mullins, but I think everyone and their mom knows this guy will be nothing special. Look at the picks in between the Wolves' 18th and 28th picks. This part of the draft may be known as the dead spot. A lot of surprises went here. There were some solid PG’s in Lawson, Teague, Maynor, and Collison, but we already had drafted two so none of those guys made sense. Everyone else is a big ? here. I could not see us taking any of these guys at 18 and keeping them. So I do agree with Kahn trading the pick, I just don’t like what we got in return. I’m tired of waiting on picks, I want help now. 18. Minnesota-Ty Lawson 19. Atlanta- Jeff Teague 20. Utah- Eric Maynor 21. New Orleans- Darren Collison 22. Portland- Victor Claver 23. Sacramento- Omri Casspi 24. Dallas- BJ Mullens 25. Oklahoma Cty-Rodrigue Beaubois 26. Chicago-Taj Gibson 27. Memphis- DeMarre Carroll This is what I would have liked to see. Why not use the 18th and the 28th picks to grab a veteran player? Why not trade Ty Lawson for someone with NBA experience? Or how about trading up for a guy like James Johnson at 16? This team needs help ASAP at the SG and SF positions after the Wizards deal and the Wolves needed to address that here through a trade. While it will be nice to possibly have 3 picks next year, I’m not sure I want to go into another draft with this many draft picks. We already have plenty of young talent and like I stated above we need to start adding some players with NBA experience now. Here is what scares me the most about this pick, Ty Lawson could turn out better than Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn. Lawson is a Top 10 talent in this draft and just the fact the Wolves drafted and then traded him worries me. If Lawson turns out to be a great PG in this league, it will really be a big blow to know that we drafted him even IF we had drafted two PG’s ahead of him. No one really knew where Lawson was going to fall, so I can’t blame the Wolves for grabbing their PG’s early, but Lawson offers so much great value at 18. The Wolves could have held onto him and traded either Flynn or Rubio for other more pressing needs and I would have been completely content with that. I know Lawson had somewhat of an average workout with all of the other PG’s at Target Center, but he was a clutch player at UNC and will be a starting point guard in this league in a few years, mark my word. I'll give the Wolves a C here for not getting anything in return that will help their roster immediately, but I can't blame them for trading the pick, there really was not anyone on the board worth paying here. GRADE: C
	6/26/2009 2:50 PM Alec Schimke 28. Wayne Ellington SG Junior UNC 6'5" 190 lbs. Hmmm the Wolves just drafted a Junior Shooting Guard out of UNC who just won a national championship, this sounds all too familiar. Fortunately for us this time around, Ellington is no where near the head case that Rashad McCants was in Minnesota when they selected him in 2004. Ellington offers just as much potential as McCants did and don't even pay attention to where he was drafted, Ellington has plenty of skills to make him a solid player in the NBA. He was a steal at 28. This could quite possibly be one of the best late picks in the draft because Ellington is coming into an excellent situation in Minnesota. If Ricky Rubio indeed does not play here next year, that means Jonny Flynn will see a majority of his playing time at the 1. That leaves the Wolves with no one to play shooting guard. Ellington could end up as the possible starting shooting guard on opening day. A great shooter from all spots on the court and with good size at 6'5", Ellington will win a lot of fans over in Minnesota. You really can't hate on this pick, Ellington fills a big need at SG and he was one of the best shooters in the draft. I can see Ellington being a T'Wolf for a very long time if performs well during his rookie contract. The Wolves are getting him at a very reasonable price right now as well. Remember this guy also just won a national championship so he is a winner. The Wolves did a great job waiting on Ellington here, grabbing him here at 28 is a great value pick. There were a lot of good shooting guards on the board here in Meeks, Taylor, Thornton and Budinger. I think the Wolves grabbed the most NBA ready guy in Ellington out of that group and also the most proven player in the college game. Kahn shows great instincts here with this pick. GRADE: A-
	6/26/2009 3:45 PM Alec Schimke 45. Nick Calathes PG Soph. Florida 6'5" 186 lbs. (Traded to the Mavs) The Wolves drafted their 4th PG of the night when they selected Nick Calathes out of Florida. Of course I rolled my eyes when I heard this pick because it made no sense and it sounded like another Chalmers scenario waiting to happen. I should not get to worked up about 2nd round picks because most of them dont turn out anyways, but the Wolves just wasted way the 45th and 47th picks just like they did to both their early 2nd rounders last year. The Wolves should realistically have 1-2 or two players that could help fill holes on their roster right now from these 4 picks, but wont have any in 2009-10. First of all Calathes is a great prospect and is guy worth keeping, trading him for a future 2nd round pick and cash is essentially giving him away for free. If we take Nick here we have to keep him. He recently signed a contract in Greece, so we could have let him play overseas for a few years and let him develop. His size also makes him a possible combo guard so he could have possibly player shooting guard here. What he got of him on draft night is a joke, Nick would have been better used a nice filler in a bigger trade the Wolves could make in the future.Potential wise, he reminds me of a poor man's Ricky Rubio, but with more of a scorers mentality.He could be a solid reserve in this league. Overall, I never really expect much from our 2nd round picks. Year after year we trade them for future 2nd rounders. We honestly have a never ending cycle of trading a guy for a 2nd round pick, then trading that pick for a future 2nd round pick, etc. When will we just take a guy that will help our ball club? Calathes may not have been the right guy here to keep, but I I like Calathes as a prospect, he is definitely a different type of point guard. A taller guard at 6'5", Calathes could play the 1 or 2 in the NBA, but right now he is best suited at PG. This pick was part of our Chalmers deal last year, so lets recap what we got out of the deal. Wolves trade Mario Chalmers for Nick Calathes who will be turned into a 2nd round pick next year and case and ...wait for it....Henk Norel. YUCK! Essentially we should have just given the Heat Chalmers for free. The Wolves really should have packaged up picks 45 and 47 and moved up a few spots as there were players that fell into the 2nd round that were 1st round talent. Guys like Sam Young, DeJuan Summers, Jodie Meeks, Chase Budinger, and Jonas Jerebko were all just sitting there. I'm really upset we would not made a move for Sam Young. Young will be a very good player in the NBA and would have been a very nice player to help fill our hole at SF. Instead we walk away with nothing with these picks. Very poor execution from Kahn in the 2nd round, there was potential to make a trade and move up, but instead he stayed very conservative and failed to get at least 1 player who will be on the 2009-10 roster. GRADE: F
	6/26/2009 3:51 PM Alec Schimke 47. Henk Norel PF/C 1987 International 6'11" 212 lbs. So the only player we end up with in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft is Henk Norel from the Nederlands? Sounds like a guy from Beer Fest to me. I think its pretty safe to say that this pick was made to please Rubio. Norel plays on Rubio's team in the Euro League, which may help Rubio feel more comfortable if he has a teammate that is also a T'Wolf. Norel won't even have a chance to play in Minnesota for 2-3 years. I don't know much about his game, but if he helps bring Rubio to Minnesota it was a good pick. Reading his scouting report, he seems pretty average skill wise and there are questions if he is tough enough to play in the NBA. He does have good size though and he seems athletic enough to play in a fast paced offense which is a good thing for a big man. My guess though, Norel is another guy we say will be over a in  few years, but will never wear a Wolves jersey. I'll give it a C just because it was a pick to please Rubio and we need all the help we can get to get him in a Wolves uniform. Henk looks just as confused(picture to the right) as I am as to why he is a Timberwolf. GRADE: C