Glen Taylor, who has owned the Timberwolves since 1995, told Sports Headliners on Wednesday he has more confidence in the organization’s drafting expertise now than ever before. Taylor and staff are preparing for the June 26 NBA draft when the Wolves will have the No. 3 overall pick.
The Wolves finished last season at 22-60 record, tied with Memphis for the third worst record in the NBA. The team has missed the playoffs four consecutive seasons. Part of the performance can be traced to the annual NBA draft where examples include the disastrous drafting of high schooler Ndud Ebi (2003), questionable pick of Rashad McCants (2005) and wait-and-see selection of Randy Foye (2006).
When past drafts were mentioned to Taylor, he brought up choosing star players Kevin Garnett (1995) and Wally Szczerbiak (1999), two picks that go further back than the above listed threesome. “Some of them (drafts) have not gone as good as you hoped and some of them have gone better than you hoped,” Taylor said.
Why more confidence about the upcoming draft that also gives the Wolves two second round selections? Taylor said the organization’s drafting process is improved by adding staff, having more personnel involved in the decision making, increased scouting, more focus in Europe, and also evaluating players with tests. “We’re doing more testing to try to understand the person’s personality, and the competitiveness, and all their culture things through these tests, so we’re expanding that,” Taylor said. “Hopefully, that will just provide us more information.”
Comparing the draft process to his other businesses, Taylor emphasized the importance of opinions from different sources. He values knowing that people sometimes see different skills in players, or how those individuals will contribute to the overall team.
Taylor clearly likes the draft process in place and is looking for improved results. “I just feel better that we will just increase our odds (of success),” he said. “There’s no guarantee but I think we’ll increase our odds. …”
For much of the Taylor-Wolves era, vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale operated more autonomously in making draft decisions. Now McHale has increased staff and opinion from others, plus more information readily available to him. Taylor thinks that will be helpful to McHale. Taylor wants others to “challenge him and look at alternatives.”
Those alternatives, Taylor said, could include trading the first round pick. What if with all the choices regarding who to draft, or whether to make a trade, the Wolves have so many voices that there is no unanimity? “If that should happen, I will certainly sit down with the staff and help resolve it,” Taylor said.