2017 NBA Draft

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The Wolves acquired Justin Patton on draft night as part of the Jimmy Butler trade. Patton was the 16th pick in the draft out of Creighton. Here are five facts you might not have known about the big man:

5. Patton grew up a Timberwolves fan. He told us on draft night that growing up in Omaha, the two options were the Wolves and the Nuggets. He chose the Wolves. Funny how things work.

4. Patton redshirted his first year at Creighton in 2015. It paid off. He was named Big East Freshman of the Year in 2016-17 and a member of the Second Team All-Big East while averaging 12.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

3. Per 40 minutes, Patton was an animal, averaging 20.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.

2. From his freshman to sophomore year of high school, Patton grew from 6-1 to 6-9.

“It was a long process, that’s the main reason why I had to redshirt,” Patton said after the Wolves acquired him. “I had to get used to my body again and lift weights and get acclimated to everything. That’s a reason I was falling down a lot was because I was clumsy and not used to my body.”

1. After being a first-round pick, Patton became the fourth Creighton player to go in the first round and the first freshman from the school to be drafted in any round.

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5 Facts About Wolves Rookie Justin Patton

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Gallery | 2017 Member Draft Party

Adding an All-Star in the NBA Draft isn’t an easy thing to do.

The Timberwolves did just that on Thursday night, just not the conventional way.

Minnesota agreed to acquire Jimmy Butler from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for the No. 7 overall pick, Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine. The Wolves also acquired the No. 16 overall pick, which ended up being Creighton center Justin Patton.

“I think as time went along, we realized the depth and the activity we were getting on the seventh pick,” Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach Tom Thibodeau said after the draft. “We were looking at all the possibilities . . . We felt if we had the opportunity to get a player of Jimmy’s caliber that we would do it.”

The move reunites Butler and Thibodeau. The two were together from 2011-2015 in Chicago and appeared in the playoffs every season. During that stretch, the Bulls were 193-119 (61.9-win percentage).

With Thibodeau, Butler saw his points per game average jump from 2.6 points to 20.0, which included a 2014-15 All-Star nod.

“I think it’ll be big. Jimmy found his way immediately defensively he was very good,” Thibodeau said. “And then of course, offensively he’s grown every year. His work ethic was always there, how he practiced, how he prepared, how driven he is. Those are things that carry him to this day.”

Butler has emerged as one of the best two-way players in the NBA, which is pretty incredible considering he slid to No. 30 in the 2011 NBA Draft. Butler is a three-time All-Star, a three-time All-Defensive player, the 2014-15 Most Improved Player and was a member of the 2016-17 All-NBA Third Team.

At 27, Butler is in his prime as a player. In 2016-17, he averaged a career-high 23.9 points to go with 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game. He shot 45.5 percent from the field, 36.7 percent from the 3-point line and a career-high 86.5 percent from the free-throw line on 8.9 attempts per game.

For the Wolves, a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2004-05, they are getting a player who has appeared in the playoffs in each season of his career.

Minnesota now has a core of Butler, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, becoming one of the best trios in the NBA with an eye on the playoffs.

“He has the most experience, so I think that’s important,” Thibodeau said. “A lot of the things our young players are going through, Jimmy’s gone through those same things. . . It was step after step. I think our players are going through that. I think that will be valuable for our players.”

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By Trading For Butler, Wolves Win 2017 NBA Draft And Hopefully More

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Twitter Reacts To Wolves Acquiring No. 16 Pick Justin Patton

Mitchell HansenWeb Editorial AssociateTwitter

In the 2017 NBA Draft on Thursday night in Brooklyn, the Minnesota Timberwolves acquired center Justin Patton from Creighton University via the Chicago Bulls.  

“Yeah, first off I'm excited to be in Minnesota. It's a great city. It's close to Omaha. I've been there a lot of times,” Patton said after being drafted. “And to start off with the team, it's a great team, and with the acquisition of Jimmy Butler, there's more great things happening.”

Patton, who left Creighton after his freshman season, is a 20-year-old post that appeared in 35 games for the Bluejays in the 2016-17 season.

In those 35 games, the 6-foot-11 center averaged 12.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals in 25.3 points per game.

Per 40 minutes, Patton averaged 20.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.

Patton is a very good athlete for his position. The promising thing about Patton is that he’s extremely active. He has a high motor and effort is rarely a problem, which is what you like to see from any young player.

Patton shows some potential from the 3-point line, making eight of 15 attempts last season, which is a small sample size.

Overall, he’s a player that may need some developing, but he’s got tools that should make him successful at the NBA level.

“I would say me being on the team is a step in the right direction just because the ability with which I pass the ball and my IQ for the game, not many people at my size can do things I do with the ball,” Patton said. “Whether it be making a play on the offensive end or the defensive end, whether it's rotating and blocking a shot or being able to be in the right spot at the right time, just knowing the game.  I would say the biggest thing is my IQ.”

The Wolves acquired the No. 16 pick in a trade that sent Butler to Minnesota from Chicago.

“To Minnesota, I'll bring a good versatile big man who can either play the 4 or the 5, who's great at passing the ball and has a high IQ and a great teammate,” he said. “That's where I want to start off.”

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Wolves Acquire Big Man With Plenty Of Promise

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Gallery | No. 16 Pick Justin Patton

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Minneapolis/St. Paul – The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired forward Jimmy Butler and the draft rights to center Justin Patton, the No. 16 selection in this year’s draft from the Chicago Bulls, in exchange for guards Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn and the draft rights to forward Lauri Markkanen, the No. 7 selection in this year’s draft.

Butler, a 6-7 forward, has played six seasons in the NBA, all with the Bulls. The three-time NBA All-Star (2015, 2016 and 2017) averaged career highs with 23.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game this past season en route to earning 2016-17 All-NBA Third Team honors. Butler scored 30+ points 14 times in 2016-17, including a season-high 52 points vs. Charlotte on Jan. 2.

Butler, 27, owns career averages of 15.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals in 399 games. The Houston, Texas, native has been named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team three times (2014–2016) and was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player after the 2014-15 season after increasing his scoring average from 13.1 ppg to 20.0 ppg and his rebounds from 4.9 rpg to 5.8 rpg while averaging the same minutes in each season. Chicago originally drafted Butler with the 30th overall selection in the 2011 NBA Draft out of Marquette University.

Patton, 6-11, played in 35 contests over one season at Creighton, averaging 12.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 0.9 steals per game en route to earning Big East Freshman of the Year honors. Patton, 20, led the Big East and ranked second nationally with a field goal percentage of 67.6%, which stands as the highest field goal percentage of any freshman from a major conference in NCAA history. The Riverdale, Georgia, native also shot 53.3% from the three-point during his line season as a Bluejay. Patton sat out the 2015-16 season as a redshirt. 

In 206 career NBA games, all in a Wolves uniform, LaVine averaged 13.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 28.9 minutes per contest. LaVine was drafted by the Wolves with the 13th overall selection in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Dunn, originally drafted by the Wolves with the 5th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, averaged 3.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 17.1 minutes per contest in his rookie season with Minnesota.

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Timberwolves Acquire Three-Time NBA All-Star and 2016-17 All-NBA Third Team Selection Jimmy Butler

With less than 30 hours until the 2017 NBA Draft, a lot can happen.

We’ve already seen the No. 1 pick traded for the No. 3 pick. And that could set up a pattern in what could be a crazy draft.

On Wednesday morning, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tom Thibodeau and General Manager Scott Layden addressed the media. The two talked about the draft, its strength, but of course, gave away no secrets because that’s generally not a very smart thing to do a day before the draft, especially when you have as much flexibility as the Wolves do with the No. 7 overall pick.

“We’re ready. We have great flexibility,” Thibodeau said. “There’s been a lot of talk about trading the pick so we know there’s great value in it. We like the players that are in the draft both at our position and if we decide to trade down, there’s a possibility of moving up as well. It’s a great position to be in.”

The team could stick at seven, and there’s plenty of talent, no matter who will be drafted before, that will fall to that spot. The team also has plenty of assets to trade up. And if the team decides to trade down, it will acquire another asset while still picking a player with plenty of talent and upside. Lots of options, which is why the NBA Draft is so fun and so unpredictable.

The 2017 draft class has plenty of talent. There are players who could be top-5 picks in other draft classes, but will slide to the late lottery in this one.

“I think this has the chance to be a historic draft,” Layden said. “You look at the top end of the draft and I think there’s a chance there’s going to be a lot of very good players. It also runs deep into the late first round. I think that’s why there will be a lot of activity at this draft because I think teams see potential to get a great player. So, we’ll evaluate and we’ll see where that fits as far as making the selection. In all likelihood, the picks are so valuable this time of year, you end up wanting to keep the pick. But we’re leaving all options open.”

In the NBA Draft, crazy things happen. Most front offices have a pretty solid idea of what’s going to happen. What players will go where based on talent and team need. But there are also curve balls thrown throughout the night (trades, a player rising or falling) that can switch up everything.

“You have a pretty good feel for it, but here are always outliers,” Thibodeau, who enters his second draft with the Wolves, said. “Last year when you look back there’s always a player who jumps up a little bit. But you also study that possibility, who you think has the capability who does jump up and then you have to be ready. Does that knock somebody back? So, you comb through all those scenarios. You played out every possibility. You want to be ready for everything.”

The draft starts at 6 p.m. on ESPN and NBA TV. We’ll have plenty of coverage here at Timberwolves.com.

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Plenty Of Opportunities For Wolves In What Could Be 'Historic' Draft

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