Most 20-year-old players aren’t all that excited about development.
Wolves rookie big man Justin Patton isn’t most 20-year-old players.
At the NBA Combine, he said how much he was looking forward to improving his game.
“I’ve been getting good feedback,” Patton said in Chicago during the combine. “One thing I’m looking forward to is developing.”
And that seems like it’s just a thing young players say to impress. But that’s before you look at Patton’s path to the NBA.
Patton redshirted his first year at Creighton after not being heavily recruited out of high school. And that redshirt year was extremely valuable for him considering he was still getting used to his body. Patton surged from 6’2 his freshman year of high school to 7’0 his freshman year of college. He went from playing guard to having to play center. There was plenty to learn.
He did and it paid off. In his redshirt freshman year with Creighton, he averaged 12.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while being named the Big East Freshman of the Year.
After scouting Patton throughout the season, the Wolves were in a position after trading with the Chicago Bulls to acquire Patton and they did just that.
“We were really excited to have the opportunity to draft Justin,” Wolves President Of Basketball Operations and Head Coach Tom Thibodeau said during Patton’s introductory press conference. “We think he fits our team extremely well. We were looking for an athletic big that could run the floor and put pressure on the rim and we think he does it as well as anyone in the country. When he started his career, you see that he has gotten better and better every year. To the point this year where he started off the season playing well and just got better and continued to develop.”
Patton will likely need some time to mature. He needs to add weight and that’s not exactly a shocking thing for player his age.
The Omaha native grew up a Timberwolves fan after watching the team play in Nebraska as a youngster (funny how things work out).
And he’s confident, but it’s not over the top. While he feels like he has plenty to offer, he also knows there’s a lot more to be done.
“Me being confident, I feel like I’m ready already,” Patton said. “There’s steps and there’s always a process, just like there was a process at Creighton.”
With Patton starting out as a guard, he is a big man (who is still learning the nuances of that position) with guard skills. He has the vision and passing abilities already that some players in the league never pick up.
“Just growing up being a guard, you develop all the things that you’re always practicing and I guess you kind of have the mind of a point guard,” Patton said. “It just so happens that I grew to seven feet tall and I can still use that skillset that I have and just add everything together.”
There’s a good chance that Patton will benefit from the organization’s recent purchase of the Iowa Wolves. Whether that is one game, five games or 20. While some mid first-round picks would scoff at the idea of that, Patton welcomes it with open arms. Anything to help him improve.
“Whether that means me being in the G-League or attacking the weight room or attacking what I need to do,” Patton said. “Whatever it is, I’m just going to do whatever I’m told and start working hard.”
A hard worker? Sounds like the Thibodeau type.