2013 NBA Draft Results: Utah Jazz Live Draft Grade
By Ben Beecken
Draft Grade: A (Utah Jazz), C (Minnesota Timberwolves)
This is actually the Minnesota Timberwolves’ pick, as they shipped Trey Burke, who they selected at #9, to the Utah Jazz for pick numbers 14 and 21. The Wolves selected Shabazz Muhammad out of UCLA, who is easily the most polarizing player in this evenings’ draft.
As a Wolves fan, I absolutely hate it. Muhammad isn’t super athletic, isn’t a good shooter, and doesn’t pass the ball. Why not just draft C.J. McCollum, whom they allegedly liked? That could easily by Stephen Curry 2.0 on the scale of draft regrets. Heck, at that point, just keep Trey Burke. He’d provide punch off the bench.
The combination of Muhammad’s shaky play as a freshman at UCLA, his alleged attitude problems (not to mention lying about his age), and overall not impressive measurements and statistics makes me wonder (out loud, in fact) why the Wolves would select him at #14.
There remains a chance he could be on the move (or at least, I keep telling myself that), but it appears as though he’s likely to stay on the Wolves. Hopefully playing with Ricky Rubio will help Shabazz out immensely, but you’d like for him to be a much, much better shooter than he actually is. We’ll see what direction Minnesota heads with their #21 selection.