The Minnesota Timberwolves capped off a miserable season by finishing in fifth place in the Northwest Division by virtue of their 31-51  record. Despite this horrid season, there exists reasons for optimism in Minnesota as this season’s roster was decimated by injuries. Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love both missed significant chunks of the season and these two stars managed to simultaneously suit up for only three games together.

A bright spot did emerge from Love’s absence and that was Nikola Pekovic. Pekovic averaged a tidy 16.3 ppg and 8.8 rpg on the year. Downside to this for the Timberwolves is that Pekovic had this success as he entered his restricted free-agent year; meaning he will undoubtedly garner interest from numerous teams. The Timberwolves will need to make a decision on his future with the club prior to the draft and they need to have an idea as to what kind of offer sheets they might need to match.

Areas of Weakness:

For the Timberwolves their weakness stems from lack of depth on the roster and in the teams offensive efficiency. Very few rosters could sustain the loss of it’s two best players and the Wolves are certainly no exception; however, most teams do have serviceable players who can fill temporary voids. The Timberwolves do not have these guys. As a result the offense sputters greatly and there is general confusion as to who should be taking the shots.

Draft Projections:

There are two players in this draft slot that could potentially be good fits and neither one of them is named Shabazz Muhammed. The last thing that the Timberwolves need is another draft pick with questionable character issues. Instead of going with the UCLA product another shooting guard who would likely be available here would be Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from the University of Georgia. This 6’5” two-guard would be an athletic shooter for the Wolves to deploy in the offense. The drawbacks and criticism for Caldwell-Pope are that he relies on his jumper too much and that he can be at times inconsistent with his accuracy. Nonetheless, he doesn’t come with the hype nor media scrum of a Shabazz Muhammed and he certainly doesn’t have the character flaws either.

While I do think that Caldwell-Pope would be a solid fit into the rotation an even more compelling pick for the Wolves just might be Lucas Nogueira from Brazil. Nogueira is a true 7’0” with a tremendous wingspan. He has the ability to change a game defensively and with some work he could round into a decent enough offensive threat. The word surrounding Nogueira is ‘raw’. As in the development and skills are raw, the natural gifts are unmistakable; however, it remains to be seen if this now 21-year old will grow into the potential or if it will just continue to go under developed.

This kid has been on the NBA scouts radar for quite some time already; however, it appears as though the hype has reached a fever pitch for this draft. Given the perceived lack of depth in this draft, teams might be more tempted to reach and draft the guy they want over a guy who might come with a higher draft rating. if Minnesota does pass on Nogueira it shouldn’t take too long for him to hear his name called as he is still projecting as a lottery selection.