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Rewind | When The Wolves Turned One Into Two

We want answers now.

After each NBA Draft, we try to grade every single move.

Did my team have a good draft? TELL ME, EXPERTS! I must know now so I can brag to fans of other teams (like the Kings) who got bad grades!

But grading drafts hours after isn't all that valuable. It's the equivalent of tweeting the pizza you ordered is going to be great 30 minutes before you know you’re going to order it.

The Wolves picked Kris Dunn with the fifth pick in Thursday’s Draft. Most experts generally liked or loved the pick and Dunn seems like a hard worker and a great guy. But we really have no idea how he'll do in Minnesota and we won't for another five or six years.

In all honesty, it’s probably even too early to look back at the 2013 NBA Draft. After all, that was only three years ago. Players drafted who have done nothing up to this point will find a niche in this league somehow. That’s how it works. But since we’re America and we need answers now (and more importantly, today, June 27, marks three years since the Draft), we’ll take a look at how the Wolves managed during that Draft.

First off, the 2013 Draft was weird. Like super weird. Anthony Bennett was taken first by Cleveland and is no longer in the league. Victor Oladipo was taken second by Orlando and he just got traded. Out of the 60 picks in the Draft, the class has yet to produce an All-Star.

With that being said, the Wolves managed pretty well.

Minnesota had the ninth pick and drafted Michigan point guard Trey Burke. That seemed odd considering the Wolves already had Ricky Rubio and J.J. Barea on their roster. Normally when a draft pick seems suspect, it’s probably because it is.

The Wolves ended up trading Burke, an NCAA Tournament darling, to the Utah Jazz for picks 14 and 21.

With the 14th pick, the Wolves took at-the-time polarizing wing Shabazz Muhammad out of UCLA. Muhammad was the top freshman entering the year, but had an up-and-down season with the Bruins and there were some questions regarding his character.

With the 21st pick, Minnesota selected center Gorgui Dieng, who was fresh off of celebrating a National Championship with the Louisville Cardinals.

“On a team, you want a melting pot,” Wolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders said after the Draft. “You want players who can bring something we don’t have. That’s what (Muhammad) does. What Gorgui brings is a guy who is a shot blocker.”

Three years later, it looked like Saunders was spot on about Muhammad, and even he didn’t realize how good Dieng would end up being. Three years later, it's obvious he's much more than just a shot blocker.

With Muhammad, character issues have not been a problem. There was a slight bump shortly after being drafted, but after that, he’s been exactly what you want in a young NBA player. After his weight ballooned during his rookie season (he played just 37 games and 290 minutes), he took himself to San Francisco to workout with a man they call Crazy Frank (and for good reason). After that, he came back in the best shape of his life and it showed. In his second season, Muhammad averaged 21.3 points per 36 minutes and was a mismatch nightmare for defenders. With his strength, he could post up smaller defenders and he found his stroke from the 3-point line as well, shooting at a 39.2 percent clip. But a finger injury limited Muhammad to just 38 games, ending what should have been a confidence-building season.

Last season wasn’t as great for Muhammad. He played in all 82 games for the first time, but his points per game dipped to 10.5 from 13.5 the season before and he struggled from the 3-point line, shooting just 28.9 percent.

That drop in production might not have been all of Muhammad's fault. In the second half of the season, he pretty much was the bench for a team that bought out Kevin Martin and Andre Miller. Much of the pressure to score was on his shoulders. And he still pumped out eight 20+ point nights, including a 35-point night against the Golden State Warriors on April 5 in an epic upset.

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Compared to the rest of the draft class, Muhammad is ninth with 9.7 points per game, above No. 3 pick Otto Porter, No. 4 pick Cody Zeller and No. 5 pick Alex Len.

And then we move to Dieng. Besides Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert, Dieng might be the most pleasant surprise to come out of this Draft. Out of Louisville, he was supposed to be a shot blocker and a 10-15 minute player who could play in certain situations. Chances are he wouldn’t be very gifted offensively at all, and that was fine. With pick No. 21, you can’t expect too much.

Dieng wasn’t listening to that nonsense. In his first season, he recorded two 20-point, 20-rebound games and put in countless hours working with former All-Star and Timberwolves assistant coach Jack Sikma. Suddenly, he was able to hit midrange jumpers. They weren’t pretty, at all, but the ball went in.

“I listen. I listen. I think that’s (it). If I listen, it will get me where I want to be,” Dieng said during his rookie season. “I just listen to all of (the coaches) and everything they tell me is probably going to (pay off) in the long run.”

The listening has paid off as Dieng has improved in each season throughout his short but productive career.

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Dieng played in 82 games last season at both the power forward and center position and averaged a career-high 10.1 points per game to go with 7.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

None of Dieng’s numbers will make you say, “Dang…”, but when you put them all together, that’s when it becomes impressive. Compared to the rest of the Draft class, here’s how Dieng’s resume stands up:

  • 215 games (8th)
  • 5,231 minutes (6th)
  •  1,494 rebounds (2nd behind only Gobert)
  • 328 assists (10th)
  • 51.6 FG% (6th)
  • 24.3 MPG (8th)
  • 6.9 RPG (3rd)
  • 13 win shares (4th)
  • 2.2 box plus minus (2nd)
  • 5.5 value over replacement player (2nd)

Considering he was expected to just be a shot blocker in the NBA, well, that’s exciting for Wolves fans. And those numbers will only improve considering he’s still a big piece of the team's core.

Of course you can’t claim the Wolves as “winners” of the Draft-day trade if you don’t also look at Burke’s career thus far.

Burke has averaged 12.1 points per game throughout his career, but has shot just 38.4 percent from the field during that time – 38th in the Draft Class and the worst for players who have played more than 200 career games. The 2013 NCAA Player of the Year doesn’t look like he’ll have a place in Utah’s rotation considered last year’s No. 5 pick Dante Exum is expected to return and the team just traded for above-average point guard George Hill. Last season, when Exum was hurt, was supposed to be Burke’s time to shine, but instead the Jazz went with Raul Neto (who?) before later trading for Shelvin Mack. Basically, Utah decided someone who was unknown (Neto) and someone who was an outsider to the organization (Mack) were better choices at point guard than Burke.

It’s not always the sexy move to trade down in a draft. Sacramento Kings fans aren’t very pleased right now. But this Draft Day trade for Saunders was a win, the first of many for him during his second tenure with the Wolves.