2019 NBA Mock Draft: When simulating the lottery gets wonky
player. 86. . PG. Murray State. Ja Morant. 3
What Minnesota would give to have one last bite at the apple before undertaking Karl-Anthony Towns’ max extension — at which point they seem to be heading for the treadmill of mediocrity unless their new President of Basketball Operations hire knocks it out of the park in an unforeseen manner. Towns is great, but there’s not much else here. Morant would change that.
As Towns’ career has progressed, the main improvement has come in his capability to make plays with the ball in his hands. He can burn teams who fall asleep by taking it up the floor in transition and doing a whole assortment of things — pull up to shoot, dish it to a cutter, rest into the post against a mismatch. All this means the Timberwolves are slowly suiting up to be a good and unpredictable transition team if coach Ryan Saunders commits to it and the front office gives him the personnel to pull it off.
The Jimmy Butler trade was a nice first step, drafting Morant would be another. Butler begot Robert Covington, who can ignite transition by creating turnovers, and Dario Saric, a big playmaker in the same mold as Towns. Feeding off the flexibility of Minnesota’s players, Morant could blossom.
He will be thrilling if his team lets him run — and it’s where his passing and court vision will pay off most. In the half court, where teams will try to expose his lack of shooting, Towns’ presence is something no other lottery team can offer the Murray State product.
Minnesota has just a 13.9 percent chance of a top-four pick, but a lucky bounce of the ping-pong balls could give us another consistent playoff competitor in the West.