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I thought it would be fun to go through old drafts and who I wanted (that was available at that pick) and compare it to who we picked and compare their career trajectories. Of course this sort of post-hoc analysis can easily lead to all of us conveniently remembering the good players we wanted and convincing ourselves that we didn't actually want Gerald Green in the draft. I'm going to do my best to keep it honest:

2005:
Wanted: Joey Graham, Antoine Wright, Danny Granger and Gerald Green
Drafted: Rashad McCants

Net result: I remember being very upset because I wanted all 4 of those guys more than McCants, but unfortunately I would have bitten on Gerald Green.

2006:
Wanted: Rudy Gay
Ended up with: Randy Foye

Net result: Win for me.

2007:
Wanted: Corey Brewer or Brandan Wright
Drafted: Corey Brewer

Net result: I wanted Brandan Wright, but he hasn't done much either.

2008:
Wanted: OJ Mayo
Ended up trading for: Kevin Love, Mike Miller

Net result: Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!

2009:
Wanted: Ricky Rubio, Stephen Curry, Sam Young
Drafted: Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn, Wayne Ellington
Net result: I also wanted to keep Ty Lawson

2010:
Wanted: Wes Johnson
Drafted: Wes Johnson
Net result: my flaccid penis

2011:
I only watched the first half of the season, did not start paying attention again until after the draft. I was fine with Williams.

If I had been drafting:
Gerald Green
Rudy Gay
Brandan Wright
OJ Mayo
Stephen Curry
Ty Lawson
Sam Young
Wes Johnson
Derrick Williams

I'm not putting Rubio in there because we never would have gotten him without the Love/Mayo trade.

Ladies and gentlemen I present the 2011-12 Minnesota Timberwolves if I had been drafting:

PG: Stephen Curry/Ty Lawson
SG: OJ Mayo/Gerald Green
SF: Rudy Gay/Wes Johson/Sam Young
PF: Derrick Williams
C: Brandan Wright

Looooots of small ball with Lawson/Curry/Mayo/Gay.

Post yours!

Didn't know that much about the drafting process from 2002-2005
2006 Foye
2007 Haven't been high on anybody in our range in that draft. Noah would've turned out pretty good, though.
2008 OJ Mayo and Pekovic. Oj turned out not so good but Pek seems like a good pick.
2009 I wanted Rubio badly. DeRozan or Earl Clark(lol) were my prefered choices for the #6 pick.
2010 Cousins
2011 Williams was the only choice but I wanted to trade the pick.

2010: Demarcus Cousins
2011: Enes Kanter/Jonas Valenciunas

Choice 2010: Wes Johnson: I don't like seniors. Right now, players who are still in college after their sophomere year are very unlikely to be good players. I did expect better from him than what he's showing.
Choice 2011: Derrick Williams: An undersized PF, a bit of a tweener too.

2005: I wanted Bynum but he was gone by the time we picked and after that I wanted Granger.
Result: McCants, I was actually fine with this for a while. He seemed to have a great scoring ability and the potential to become something good.

2006: Roy then Gay
Result: Foye. Wasn't at all happy about this since we originally drafted the guy I was really hoping for. Worked out alright since Roy is now retired and Foye netted us Rubio in a roundabout way.

2007: Wanted Yi Jianlian then Julian Wright
Result: Corey Brewer. Never was a big fan but that draft sucked outside of Oden, Durant, and Horford. Noah would be nice but I think he's overrated and thought he was gonna be awful back in 2007

2008: Wanted Mayo, Brook Lopez, then Eric Gordon
Result: Love. Couldn't be happier about the result from that draft. Though in my defense the other 3 would still look good on this team

2009: Wanted Rubio, Harden, DeRozan, James Johnson, Thornton
Result: Rubio, Flynn, Lawson, Eliington. Loved the Rubio pick, was sad that Harden was gone, and was mad we took Flynn over DeRozan. Also was mad we took Lawson even with Johnson already being gone. Wanted Thornton over Ellington because of a few times I saw Thornton he looked like he was a born scorer.

2010: Wanted Turner, Monroe, Henry
Result: Wes. Turner was already gone and Wes is still better than Henry. Monroe would look really nice on this team though.

2011: Wanted Derrick Williams
Result: Derrick Williams, not a great start to his rookie campaign but I still feel his ceiling is better than anyone else's in this draft.

Lineup had I drafted:
PG: Rubio
SG: Mayo
SF: Granger
PF: Williams
C: Monroe or Lopez

Looks like a really good lineup but I usually liked players in drafts that I thought fit the team. Had we drafted some of these players then the others wouldn't have been a possibility such as had we drafted Roy instead of Foye.

2005:
Wanted: I was okay with McCants (silly me), but not super excited about anyone.

2006:
Wanted: Roy or Gay

2007:
Wanted: Noah

2008:
Wanted: OJ Mayo

2009:
Wanted: Ricky Rubio, James Harden the most (figured they'd probably both be gone at our pick though) and Derozan and/or Holiday at our pick (I expected Curry to be kinda like Redick with worse defense and better dribbling/passing though, so I underestimated him a bit).

2010:
Wanted: Cousins

2011:
Wanted: To trade down from #2 for either Kanter or Jonas

Esohny wrote:2011:
Wanted: To trade down from #2 for either Kanter or Jonas

Same, or trade the 2nd pick for McGee

can't remember everything b/c there's always a bunch of guys that sound interesting to me, but the stuff that stands out to me:

2005: I wanted Hakim Warrick, though I'm sure I was pumped when Gerald Green fell. I also remember there were rumors of the Wolves being interested in Monta Ellis w/ their first rounder and I was appalled, thought that was horrible value.

2006: I liked so many people in this draft, even Adam Morrison and Rodney Carney. I think it had already been leaked the Wolves liked foye and I'd long since talked myself into him. My eyes probably lit up when Gay fell though, didnt expect him to fall.

2007: After Horford solidified himself @ 3, I think I was most interested in Jeff Green and Al Thornton b/c we had KG still and if not a center, then needed a SF. Can't remember my thoughts on Noah, but I think I ironically thought of him as more of a PF and Horford as a center.

2008: Beasley and Rose started looking unlikely so I liked Lopez and Gordon a bit, but ended up really wanting Love. Didn't have any interest in Mayo or Bayless. 2nd round I thought Jordan was automatic and thought CDR and Chalmers were solid value options, so pissed when I found out the pick was traded.

2009: was really really hoping for Evans or at least Harden. Didnt expect Rubio to even be on the board. Already knew Flynn was likely so I'd talked myself into him like I did Foye. Didn't want Derozan or Jennings much at all

2010: mostly wanted Turner, warmed up to Favors' future potential, liked Aminu a lot, but ultimately felt like Cousins was the proper choice w/ Favors off the board for superstar potential and the Wolves were so horrific at the time, seemed like they needed to take a gamble on upside and couldn't afford to worry about position or fit or chemistry. So of course they draft Smiley McBricksalot.

2011: Derrick for value or else trade down for Biyombo

2005: McCants (Was excited to have him, that changed pretty quickly.)

2006: Gay (Was disappointed we ended up with Foye.)

2007: Brewer (Looked pretty good in college and needed to complete our backcourt.)

2008: Mayo or Westbrook/Jordan (Thought Mayo was going to be that All-Star SG.)

2009: Rubio/DeRozan (Rubio was excellent value at 5 and wanted a SG to pair with Rubio & Love for the future.)

2010: Johnson or Monroe/George (Liked Johnson by default. We really needed a wing player at the time and thought he could be a solid starter. I wanted us to trade down originally with Warriors/Pistons to grab Monroe and flip Flynn for George.)

2011: Williams/Valanciunas or Biyombo/Brooks (Glad we took the BPA but was concerned with Williams' fit on our team. I didn't mind us trading this pick for a proven SG/C or trading down for Valanciunas/Biyombo. Wanted Brooks at 20. Definitely wanted Lee in 2nd round and thought he would've gone sooner.)

2007 Brewer. I was pretty happy on draft day
2008 Mayo or Bayless. I was wishing for a way to snatch up Beas though
2009 Rubio and Curry. 1 out of 2 aint bad though..
2010 Turner,Wes or Cousins or find a way to get Iguodala
2011 Trade for a veteran or Derrick Williams or trade down for Klay Thompson

Devilzsidewalk wrote: 2nd round I thought Jordan was automatic and thought CDR and Chalmers were solid value options, so pissed when I found out the pick was traded.

Ah yes, I only mentioned the 1sts, but I was furious when they passed on Jordan multiple times in the 2nd round.

Esohny wrote:

Devilzsidewalk wrote: 2nd round I thought Jordan was automatic and thought CDR and Chalmers were solid value options, so pissed when I found out the pick was traded.

Ah yes, I only mentioned the 1sts, but I was furious when they passed on Jordan multiple times in the 2nd round.

I second this.

2002 - pissed we didn't have a pick, think Stern is Evil.
2003 - wanted Josh Howard, fairly pissed we took Ndudi Ebi before him.
2004 - no pick again - I still hate David Stern
2005 - Liked McCants, but he is crazy.
2006 - Wanted Brandon Roy, we took Brandon Roy, I went out to smoke, we traded Brandon Roy - Very pissed at the time still generally unhappy about that one.
2007 - Wanted Spencer Hawes - Still do.
2008 - Wanted Russel Westbrook - Love was a better idea. Jordan... Chalmers??? insane. Angry again.
2009 - Wanted Tyreke Evans and Ricky Rubio, got that half right. Hoped Jonny would work out, that hip injury wrecked him. I liked Ellington he shot great in college.
2010 - Wanted Evan Turner, Paul George, and Jordan Crawford. Blew that big time. Thought Wes would work out, I have no clue where his brain is these days.
2011 - Figured we had to take Williams, I think he's going to be good, very young still. I wanted Jonas Valanciunas and MarShon Brooks.

This is who I thought they should pick at the time. Although things would have changed (draft order/posional need) if they had actually made my preferred alternate choice.

2005 Granger instead of McCants
2006 Gay instead of Roy or Foye; Although if they had Granger?
2007 Noah instead of Brewer
2008 Brook Lopez instead of Mayo; Although if they had Noah?
2008 Pekovic; Didn't know anything about him other than he was a lock at the first pick in the 2nd
2008 Jordan instead of Trade/Chalmers
2009 Rubio
2009 Derozan instead of Flynn
2009 Jeff Teague instead of Trade/Lawson;
2009 Ellington
2009 Danny Green instead of Calathes/Trade;
2009 Dozier instead of Norel
2010 Greg Monroe instead of Johnson
2010 Jordan Crawford instead of Babbitt/Webster trade
2010 Quincy Pondexter instead of Trade for Hayward and Bjelica
2011 Enis Kanter instead of Williams
2011 Marshon Brooks instead of Montajunas/Trade
2011 Malcoln Lee instead of Trade/Bogdanovic

I would have taken Granger, Gay, Curry and Noah. I wanted Paul George too.

2003 - Josh Howard. Loved him at Wake, stunned he fell that far. An absolute no-brainer pick.
Ndudi. Eff'ing. Ebi.

2005 - Granger, like Howard it surprised me that he was there. Talked myself into liking McCants pick since he had a freakish wingspan & was an important piece of NC's title team.

2006 - Roy. I didn't expect him to be THAT much better than Foye but like Devilz, I quickly bought into the Foye hype once I knew our FO wanted him.

2007 - Noah. He was my favorite player in 2007. In the days leading up to the draft he gave an interview about liking Minny since we have a large Swedish population and he himself being half Swedish. Hook. Line. Sinker. I thought a super intense KG-Noah front line was our awesome destiny.

2007 TRADE: Al Jefferson/Green/Gomes/Bassy/picks - I drank the McHale Cool Aid on this one.

2008 - Mayo. As a SoCal boy I liked Love & Russell but I thought O.J. would be a superstar.

2009 - My dream was a Harden/Evans backcourt.

Prior to the draft I would have probably given into Memphis outrageous trade demands and given up #5 & #6 to get the #2 and draft Harden just ahead of Presti. Would have then targeted Jrue Holiday or Ty Lawson at 18 both of whom I loved. (I thought Holiday would be gone in the top ten.) Didn't mind Ellington at #28. Really wanted Danny Green at #45.

Given picks 5/6, Rubio-Curry with a possible Curry trade down to nab a GF (probably DeRozan or Henderson.) Would have loved to keep Curry but not sure if we could have talked him into playing here.

2010 - Cousins. Clear BPA. Then trade down (probably w Detroit) for either Wes, Monroe or Aminu. Would have jumped all over Flynn for #10. Expected Wes to be a lot better than he has been.

2011 - D Will. Clear BPA. I was nervous Kahn was going to blow this one. Wouldn't have hated a subsequent trade-down for Jonas. Should have grabbed Brooks @ #20. Liked the Lee pick @ #43.

Did you lose your password or something?

2005 - I didn't follow the draft as much as now, but I remember wanting Granger the most, and was okay with McCants.

2006 - Gay, badly. Then Roy was okay, and Foye was a disappointment.

2007 - I wanted Noah because I thought he would of been a great fit with KG, was okay with Brewer though.

2008 - Mayo, I actually really wanted Rose..but knew that was a pipedream.

2009 - I wanted Rubio the most. Then I love Harden but knew he'd be gone...once the Rubio pick was in I said Derozen had to be the pick, but Curry would be okay. Absolutely hated Flynn pick.

2010 - I wanted Favors/ET badly...and was also a huge fan of George, I settled on Wes once I knew he'd be the pick...but wasn't overly thrilled with it.

2011- Dwill. I liked Kanter though, would've loved a Kanter/Burks trade.

yep Lupy, I couldn't log in to my account.

Now if a mod could help get me back in to my old account that would be great.

I'll see what I can do.

05 .. I didn't care

06 .. I wanted Gay in the worst way.

07 .. I wanted Brewer and was excited when we got him. I remember him being compared to Stacey Augmon.

08 .. I wanted Mayo and I was pisssssssed when we got Love. couldn't be happier now, though.

09 .. I wanted Harden sooooooo **** bad. I remember jumping out of my seat whine Rubio was on the board, however. With the 6th pick I didn't care because we had Ricky.

10 .. I wanted Cousins and I hoped we would still take him even with him declining a workout with him. I was neutral with Wes ANSI even stalked myself into him.

11 .. I wanted Derrick Williams, buti wouldn't have minded Kanter or Val.