I was able to talk with Timberwolves General Manager Milt Newton on Tuesday before he took off for the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. Newton said he’s probably been at 15 combines. This is probably one of the more important ones as the Wolves have three quality picks in the 2015 Draft, including a guaranteed top-4 pick.
Newton was very honest when it came to draft strategy and what exactly the team is looking for this week. Check out our conversation below.
KR: The Draft Combine is obviously an important event. For you guys, you’ve done nearly all of your scouting already. What exactly are you looking for when you go into the Combine? What makes it such an important event for teams and players?
MN: The process that we go through, especially for the combine, like you said, we’ve already done a bulk of our work. In essence, I wouldn’t necessarily say that we need to see a player play, but it’s always good to see them compete against the top level players on a consistent basis for at least two days. But the more important thing is the interview process.
You really get to dive in to their background, ask them questions which is very important for us because you know, we’re going to be spending millions of dollars on these players. There are a lot of hard questions that they’re going to have to answer. And one, see if they answer them truthfully. It’s gotten to the point now where they don't duck the questions and they’ve been coached. So what we try to do is to approach it from a point of view where some of the questions will be a surprise.
This year we’re going to implement a slightly different take and you know how (Jon) Gruden does with his quarterbacks? That’s the approach that we’re going to try to take. Show video broken down on each player and then ask them to explain why they did certain things, so we’re going to include that piece as well.
But it’ s a very important process. You get to know the players and even in those 30 to 45 minute brackets, you get to know the players a little bit better by the time they leave and how they answer the questions. Do they look you in the eye? You don’t try to judge a book by its cover, but I’ve always told players that this is a job interview. So if you come to us in the interview process and your pants are hanging below your butt, that’s something that we try to address because if we draft you, you’re going to be representing the organization. It’s all how they view the process. If they take the process for what it is, which is a very important process, and they present themselves like that, that will show in their interview. How they answer the questions, how they communicate with you. Those types of things.
KR: I remember hearing that most franchises ask players questions they already have the answers to – making sure the player is honest. Is there any truth to that?
MN: We won’t ask a question we don’t know the answer to. Sometimes, we will throw out different questions and get back more answers than we anticipated and that’s a good thing because basically what that tells you is that at least that player is being honest. There might be something we don’t know. Sometimes we’re fishing a little bit. When I was with another team, we had players acknowledge they use recreational drugs. And that’s not the answer we thought we were going to hear or were looking for, but we acknowledged that and appreciated them for their honesty.
KR: As far as drafting players go, are you a fan of the “Best Player Available” model or are you looking to fill a specific need?
MN: Overall, we like to take the best possible player. What the best player allows you to do is maybe move a current player for something better. I think a lot of time when you try to draft for position, if that position is not something out of necessity, like you absolutely need to have that position, then you kind of shortchange yourself because you’re not getting the most talented or valuable asset. Our practice has always been to select the player that is the best possible player on the board. We’re on the business of accumulating talent. The best talent available. Once you do that, then you can in turn move other pieces and fill that position of need that you may not do in the draft you may do in free agency. It’s our practice to get the best possible players we can.
KR: While all eyes are on that top-4 pick, a lot of us forget about picks No. 31 and 36. We’ve seen so many quality players sneak through the cracks into the second round including Nikola Pekovic. How valuable are those two picks for the franchise?
MN: Very valuable in that usually the top maybe six to eight picks (in the second round), those guys usually get guaranteed money. They are always treated like a first-round pick. We had a former player with my previous team who became one of the better players in the league and was able to get a bigger contract faster than guys who were locked into first-round picks. It kind of works in their favor as well… Those are very valuable picks.
Also what you can do is because they are so high, you can package them together and move up into the first round. If there’s a player that you really want or you can package them with a current player on your team to get a better veteran. There are so many things you can do with those early second round picks.