DAY 2 DRAFT REACTION: Timberwolves trade back, draft Rocco Zikarsky | How Did Wolves Manage Assets?

DAY 2 DRAFT REACTION: Timberwolves trade back, draft Rocco Zikarsky | How Did Wolves Manage Assets?

hello and welcome in to another episode of Locked on Wolves Today on the show we’re going to break down the Timberwolves second round pick Roco Zakarsski a Behemoth Center from Australia We’ll talk about the Wolves strategy to trade back where the roster stands now and why they traded back in the way that they did It’s all coming next Welcome in You are locked on Wolves [Music] You are Locked on Timberwolves your daily Minnesota Timberwolves podcast part of the Locked On podcast network Your team every day Hello and welcome to the Lockdown Wolves podcast Part of the Locked On podcast network Your team every day My name is Ben Beacon I’m the host of Lockdown Wolves Today’s episode is brought to us by our friends at Game Time Download the Game Time app create an account and use code lockdown NBA for $20 off your first purchase Happy Friday everybody Happy weekend Hopefully you enjoyed round two of the NBA draft on Thursday night The Timber entered it with pick 31 They came out of it with two future first round picks Excuse me two future second round picks Big difference there A little bit of cash And Roco Zakarsski a 7 foot4 center from Australia We’re going to talk about Zakarsski what he profiles to be as a as an NBA basketball player and also the the methodology behind Wol the Wolves tradeback why they did it the way they did my take on it There’s a lot of hot takes out there Um I want to start with the prospect first though and talk about Zakarski before we get to um the why behind the methodology There’s there’s um so here’s what we’ll do today I’ll spend the first segment talking about Zakarsski about him as a prospect and then we’ll spend the rest of the show talking about why Minnesota traded back the way they did the assets they got in return and what the roster looks like now which is part of why they traded back and didn’t pick somebody at 31 right the roster’s pretty full We’ll talk about where it stands and what’s upcoming on the schedule I mean like the next time we do a show on Monday that’s the deadline day for these player options for Julius Randle and Doz Reed So um a lot to get to here today So we’ll jump ahead here in just a moment First though a big thank you for making this show your first listen every day Of course you can find Lockdown Wolves anywhere for free You can watch on YouTube You can also watch on the Lockdown Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV All right let’s talk about the player first The Wolves trade back from 31 They end up after another trade back from 36 They end up at pick number 45 and they pick Roco Zakarsski 7 foot4 center from Australia He’s only 18 years old He has a 9 foot7 standing reach So we’re talking like tiptoes Eddie could dunk a basketball Seven foot five wingspan just a mammoth person Um weight wise I think I saw like 280 which is not super big for a guy who not super heavy for a guy who’s 7’4 which is probably a good thing Like he can always add strength You look there’s not a whole lot of definition or tone to his uh to his build right now And so NBA strength and conditioning as I always say with these guys is gonna be a big deal for him Um which side note apparently his entire pre-draft process was in Minnesota And I don’t know if like the Wolves just like kept him in the Twin Cities or were like “All right man We’re just gonna not let anybody else work you out.” Like obviously not literally that but I I mean like it sounds like he was just in Minnesota and and obviously went to Chicago for the combine and um and tested well there Like a really impressive pre-draft process And it seems like there were teams several months ago that had first like he was rumored to be a first round pick There was a chance he could get into the lottery and didn’t end up playing as much or have the role that I think would would have been beneficial to him in Australia Um in terms of his kind of uh his background his dad was a Olympic medal medalist as a swimmer and his mom was like an iron man competition person So like talk about an athletic family um apparently like you know watched some interviews of of him like seems to be a really personable guy with the media like a lot of things to like about him as a prospect for somebody that I I didn’t know really anything about other than the name and the position and the size and everything coming into the Wolves pick and cramming in what I’ve crammed on him I’m very impressed and and I’m gonna like do what I’ve done with the other picks and prospects over the last couple weeks and talk about like the the pros and cons of him as a as a um as a prospect And then next week we’re going to dig back in on these guys and I’m going to go even more in depth after watching more film on both really both Baron Jay and the first round pick and Zakarsski the second round pick But we’ll do one segment today on Zakarski and what he brings What’s most impressive to me is his mobility as a seven foot four guy with a 75 wingspan Um and speed really like in the open floor which is is important Um the the fluidity and the the mobility and and the quick feet are most important on an NBA court but also his top speed as a like there’s a clip floating out there of him um I can’t remember if he scored or like was near the rim on the offensive end and then gets a chase down block in transition beats guys down the floor Um from what I’ve seen I don’t know that like the motor is like top level all the time Um but I mean getting back in transition for a guy that big is remember he’s 18 so like we’ve got a few years of him probably playing this hard with this much speed at that size and man it’s really impressive But even the feet in the in the half court um I think are pretty impressive And for a guy that’s so young I think he reads things okay Um right now in pick and roll coverage I don’t know that he’s going to do much other than than drop Um but again with with the feet that he has I think he’s got the ability to hedge and recover it Again I haven’t watched enough tape of him to see if he’s done much of that but from some sky reports that I u some videos that I watched of him and some clips that I’ve seen I do think he has the mobility to be able to hedge and recover and um you know kind of be mobile on the perimeter in that way He’s obviously you don’t want your 7 foot4 guy switched under guard So like that’s not something you’re doing with him but um quick enough to recover and and that’s super important Um the Oh there’s also I I wanted to mention there’s also a clip of him You can find his his agility drill at the combine and that looks really good to me I think I think light on his feet for a guy that big is very very impressive I think the um athleticism is pretty good His how quickly he can get up and jump is impressive his overall positionality when it comes to rebounding or I guess positioning is a more normal way to say that But the way he positions himself to rebound the basketball especially on the offensive glass activity level the instincts for where the ball is again with a player of that age of just 18 years old is very impressive The offensive glass the rebound rate was solid The activity level was very good Um and then along with that you can see around the rim he’s got really good touch around the basket And the free throw shooting is not great which is it’s not a big enough volume to be like genuinely concerned I mean we’re talking over two years in the NBL only 54 free throw attempts He was 54% Um so not great The form looks okay He shot six total threes over the last two years and made one Um the the form is okay for a guy that big I he like like bows his legs weirdly in and the the arms are a little I mean like he’s 74 to 75 wingspan so gangly is obvious right um but he appears based on what he’s done around the rim and and really the his shot release like I do think there’s upside there as a shooter I actually think he’s got pretty big shooting upside that he could be like a he’s not going to be you don’t need him to be a stretch five right like he doesn’t need to be um somebody who’s like reigning threes from the perimeter But if he at least has the ability to stretch the floor a little bit that’s a positive Now like with Baron Jay Baron Jay doesn’t stretch the floor at all It’s the vertical spacing that he provides The ability to stretch the defense north and south because you’re worried about him dunking on you right it’s like what um the easiest example for Wolves fans would be what the Mavs did to the Wolves in the playoffs last year with their with their bigs as roll bigs with Luca as the trigger man Not that Ant will ever necessarily be the same level passer as Luca but Luca but Ants always it’s a it’s a different it’s a it’s a different threat Ant and Luca are are different threats but they’re threats none nonetheless And Ant has not had the lob threat the vertical lob threat that Baron is going to provide And I’m not saying Zakarsski he’s certainly not the level of athlete as Baron Jay um or or level of a lob threat but he could be a big that just dives to the rim and have gravity that way There’s there’s really there’s also clips out there of of a couple of nice kind of where he slips a screen gets a pass and dunks on someone Like it’s going to be harder to do in the NBA than it was in the NBL but there’s upside there for him to do that And and I think he can do it now too I think right now he’s going to struggle with the speed of the NBA game And I don’t literally just mean speed up and down the floor although he might I think he could rush things Uh based on what I’ve seen I think Zakarsski is um you know he’s 18 he’s he’s going to get a little a little you know happy feet when he gets the ball and like I got to push this shot up on the rim And we see that happen to Rudy Goar Turns out Goar has had a Hall of Fame career So like it’s it’s not an unusual thing for a big to kind of get excited and and and like I got to get rid of this ball when they hot potato in the paint So that’s something that he’s going to work on I think some of the the strength in his like the positioning is good but I think the lower body strength He’s got kind of a almost a high torso where like the the center of gravity is higher than you’d like it to be and that could be an issue when it comes to rebounding Like he might be in the right place at the right time but the technique may not be perfect uh when it comes to how he’s going to try and go up for a rebound So there’s there’s definitely some work to be done there But I really like um like I’m I’m doing my best to not just make Andrew Bogot comparisons because of the Australian connection and the and the size and and everything Um but but I really like what appears to be the upside of Zakarsski I I would say his floor is lower than Baron Baron could step in if he needed to now and be impactful defensively Zakarsski I don’t think he has an NBA floor right now Like uh he can’t step on an NBA floor and be effective right now But the reports are and we’ll talk about the contracts Minnesota’s going to sign him to a two-way deal This has been reported in multiple places So he’ll have a chance maybe to see to see the floor in a game or two next season Not that most of the two-way guys did for Minnesota My guess is he spends the entire year basically in the G-League and then when possible he’s up to Minnesota to practice with the team and get exposed to those habits and everything um and how how NBA players function But um I really like the selection I think Zakarsski has really big upside a low floor but a really high ceiling And there’s gonna be absolutely no pressure on him over the next two years Uh you know when that two-year two-way deal is up in two years then it’s decision time but he’s still going to be 20 So plenty of time to find out what you have in Roco Zakarsski Now the Wolves get an exclusive two-year window to do just that in their own facility and in their own with their own G-League affiliate Let’s talk about the process behind this and how Minnesota ended up with Sakarski at 45 and the the weeping of nashing of teeth we saw in X over the the Timber Rules tradeback and acquisition of cash and the whole thing So we’ll talk about that We’ll talk about why they did it the way they did it Uh all that is upcoming here next Today’s episode of Lockdown Wolves is brought to us by our friends at Skiims When I found out that Skiims was making underwear for men I was intrigued I’d heard a lot about their quality from friends and family and I had to give it a try And I’ll tell you lives up to the hype Ski actually sent a couple of pairs Uh and you know I’m pretty picky about the underwear that I wear the fit the comfort I walk around a lot for my job and and it’s got to and I also sit a lot Like I don’t know I guess I do both of those things a lot And it’s important to find the right style and the 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select podcast in the survey and select this show in the dropown menu that follows again.com You can shop skims men’s atks.com All right so the Timberwolves entered the draft They entered the second round of the draft as well on Thursday night with pick 31 My prediction coming in was that Minnesota would draft one guy for their roster and kick ahead one of their picks for a future first round pick I was close to correct They drafted two guys Only one of them will be on a standard NBA contract Zakars will be on a two-way He apparently won’t be a stash overseas They’re going to bring him over and sign him to a two-way So technically that part was true And they did acquire future picks but they acquired two future second rounders and not a future firstrounder I I was surprised at how things went down So they entered with number 31 An hour hour and a half before the draft started it was reported that they were going to be trading 31 moving back to 36 to get two future second round picks which and I I tweeted this out at the time Fantastic value To move back only five spots in the second round and get two future second round picks is really really good value One of them’s next year Uh it’s the it’s the the lesser of a d of Denver and Golden State So probably not a great second round pick but a second round pick nonetheless Um I mean they just got Zakarski at 45 Like it’ll probably be a pick depending on what you think of Denver Golden State next year in the West but they’re both probably playoff teams So we’re talking about a pick plus or minus pick 50 most likely next year And then also a 2032 pick which will be the better of the picks between Phoenix and Houston which obviously that’s way too far in the future to know anything um about I mean like at this point it’s hard to imagine Phoenix figuring things out especially based on the last couple of days I don’t know based on the last couple of years you could say Uh Houston appears to be in a much better position but again we’re talking seven years from now So two future second round picks move back five picks in the draft Is awesome value There’s no other way to to to put that Just fantastic fantastic value It just is Then at 36 they traded back again This is where things got a little bit diceier They trade from 36 to 45 They lose nine spots and all they get back is cash considerations which or or cash I guess which I know that Wolves fans have a have a painful relationship with that I’ll never forget I’m sure we could all remember where we were when David Khan did the Kurt Rambus buyout uh tradeback situation I remember was in my buddy’s apartment Like I the whole thing I remember it I remember realizing in real time what was happening It was awful It was terrible A bit of uh a bit of light uh PTSD for Tim WS fans who are draft heads Like I get it It was awful It was And because of that the NBA put rules in place as far as how much cash you can actually acquire on a draft night by trading back by selling draft picks Um or or I don’t even think you can straight sell a pick anymore You used to be able to do that and now it’s you have there has to be another asset attached to it which is how you get the workarounds of like top 55 protected picks that you’ll see occasionally Weird stuff We didn’t see as much of that this year but the trading back nine spots to get cash isn’t ideal It It’s not you’d love to be able to get another future second round pick even if it is one of those kind of uh you know BS like hey top top 50 protected pick in 2032 like that would have been better than cash right especially from a fans perspective um but the reason they kept trading back is clearly they were targeting Zakarsski and and Tim Connelly said in his media availability after the draft like they clearly had a higher grade on him than a lot of people but again I’ll go back to what I said at the start of the draft start of the show today the like a few months ago people thought he could be a first- round pick and I mean like a lot of people thought he would get drafted It it’s just Minnesota thought they could get him at 45 Clearly that was a he was a target they had They could have drafted Ad Theoro who I really liked at 36 They could have drafted Fle Rashir Fleming who a lot of people liked I was less high in him at 31 Like there’s a lot of guys they could have had there And I know that people that fans are sitting here like this is who I want Like why would they draft this guy well they have a full roster and we’re going to get into the roster here in a minute but like this isn’t you can’t just acquire 20 guys and then be like “All right we’ll figure it out now.” Like you can’t have you know 20 19 20 and 21 year olds just all kind of on your roster with unlimited roster spots and like the whole thing That’s not exactly how this works And so if you find someone that you want to have on a two-way deal or is willing to be on a two-way deal then that makes sense from a front office standpoint The other thing Tim Connelly said a in his media availability after the second round was how surprised he was And I’ll credit Dane Moore for for putting this on X Um and uh D let’s see I’m just going to pull up his exact quote Um but watch the clip from Tim Connelly He said he was surprised it was he was how curious the a and a how agent driven the second round had become He said they called players left to right There were 20 deals done before the second night of the draft even started 31 is fun but maybe not as fun as we thought it was going to be What that means is um remember second round picks don’t have guaranteed contracts They it’s only first round pick which is why 31 it used to be extra valuable It’s still valuable Um but that that’s that’s the um the deal with the the first round versus second round picks is that they’re not they’re not guaranteed So what are teams looking for teams are look or players looking for players are looking for teams that will guarantee them money in the second round Players are looking for team Yes players are looking for teams who will give them multiple years Players are looking for teams that are guaranteeing anything right because you don’t have to promise anything You could cut a second round pick no questions asked Um think back to when the Timberwolves got Jaylen Nowell and Naz Reed They actually got identical contracts Nas Reed was undrafted Jaylen Noel was a second round pick But it was a really smart partially guaranteed deal that Gerson Rosas at the time running the Wils front office signed them to where this was a I think it was a full guarantee for the first two years and then partial guarantees for years three and four A very smart contract and for it’s a win-win and for the player it’s like all right I’ll take the guarantee of I don’t remember what it was what what the contract value was I’ll take this guarantee for the next year or two years and the partial guarantee beyond that and it’s a win for the team because you have the cost certainty You know what they cost you could sign them for whatever that minimum is and then have the partial guarantee if if you get them in your building and they’re not what you want them to be over the next two years you only have the partial guarantee beyond that Um and so there’s there’s it’s a sliding like teams agents and players and teams looking for what’s the best thing we could do for obviously the teams are looking for themselves and the player agent for the player Um and so if there was a guy at 36 that like if if the Lakers or whoever ended up with Theo I think it was Lakers said like “Look we’re going to give you this guaranteed contract then you’re not going to take Theoh if he doesn’t want to go there and he’s got a guaranteed deal with the Lakers You don’t want to mess that up with the agent Um and the Lakers are you know no matter where they get him this is what they’re going to sign into or whatever that might be.” And that’s just I don’t know all the details to that but it’s that sort of a transaction So that’s why a team would move back like that in the second round because that’s one of the reasons we’re going to talk about the roster implications for Minnesota here in a minute But if there’s all these guys that have promises essentially you hear about this all the time in the NFL draft a promise from a team and they know they’re going to get guaranteed or partially guaranteed money Um and then like third on that list would probably be a two-way deal which is what the Wolves were going to offer Uh then of course that’s where you want to go That’s what you that’s how you want this thing to unfold There’s so many other layers to this that I think people don’t always think about uh when when reacting Now I think the criticism of not getting anything other than cash to move back nine spots is is somewhat fair Like you’d love to be able to get some sort of future asset that that you can hang your hat on on some level that even if it’s an asset to trade later which is a lot of times what these picks end up being that would have been better And that that’s my only real criticism of this I don’t have any problem with moving back from 31 cuz here’s the thing If they if they hadn’t moved from 31 to 36 in the middle if it had just been 31 to 46 and they’d acquired two future second round picks that’s even not all that bad Like I was hoping they’d trade out and get a future first Um I was I thought that that was a real possibility Um and you look at what some of the other teams were able to get in trading picks both first and second round I still don’t think that was a crazy desire for me for them to get a future first for 31 but ultimately they move back 15 spots or 14 spots actually to 45 and they got two future seconds So you take out the 36 in the middle and that actually doesn’t sound too bad The problem was they landed at 36 in the middle and took cash to go back nine spots which doesn’t look as good certainly and and not is not a the optics aren’t fantastic But it’s also not like I think saying like Michael Bloomberg’s in this ownership group What are they doing like that’s that’s not exactly that’s not a fair criticism of what’s going on here Um I want to talk about the roster situation now and what some of the upcoming deadlines are because the roster situation did influence what Minnesota was able to and not able to do on draft night We do all that here next to close the show today Today’s episode of Lockdown Wolves is brought to us by our title sponsors at Game Time Have you ever decided at the last minute to head to a ball game with friends or family it’s summer There’s ball games all the time Twins games whatever Maybe it’s game day You suddenly realize that you want to be in the stands over at Target Field That’s exactly where game time comes in It is the easiest way to grab last minute tickets without the stress With the money you save on tickets 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free agent That count does include Julius Randall and Nas Reed Okay So if Julius and Nas both opt in and that deadline is Monday actually according to to Spotrak um or Spottrack or however you say this URL of this website Nas’s is actually um Nas is the 30th and Julius Randle is the 29th Either way Monday by Monday we’ll know But if both of those guys opt in which I think they will but if both those guys opt in Baron Jay signs his rookie deal Now you only have one roster spot One roster spot That doesn’t include your free agents who are Nico Alexander Walker and then I guess the only other one would be Joe Engles would be an unrestricted free agent The other decision So so that’s the number one thing is that you can’t just keep adding guys Like if they drafted Rashir Fleming at 31 and he’s guar he wants a a full guarantee or he wants an NBA standard roster contract and isn’t interested in a two-way now You got a full roster Your roster’s full What are you going to do that’s it No free agency no like uh no uh you can’t take two guys back in a deal if you were to trade somebody like you’re you’re kind of locked in at that point Now the one piece of wiggle room here are some of the contract options we have upcoming So on Sunday according to Spotra the 29th Josh Min has a club option for just under 2.2 million for next year Luca Garza also has a team option the same day for a little bit more than that 2.35 million So you’ve got two team options Minot and Garza You could choose to decline both of them and now you freed up two roster spots At the same time you still have to fill those roster spots with somebody So yeah you could have drafted somebody at 31 and said “We’re gonna let go of Garza or my not and we’re gonna keep Rasher Fleming and guarantee him a spot.” Well do you think that rookie Rashir Fleming or rookie whoever you draft at 31 is definitely going to help your team that’s in winown mode more than say Josh Binard or Luca Garza could there be more upside yeah sure Absolutely There there probably would be But it’s those two things you have to weigh if you’re the Timberwolves front office When you’re building a team you can’t have only 21 and 22 year olds and 19 year olds and guys that are are long-term projects with high ceilings Like right now on this roster Leonard Miller is probably the biggest like quote unquote project in terms of well not anymore with Baron Jay I guess but but like now you’ve already drafted Baron Jay So you got Baron Jay and Leonard Miller as both kind of longer term project guys I know Miller is going to be 22 this year but I would still put him in that same category Um Josh Minat now is a little past that age but he’s a little bit of both where I’ve said for a year I think he I know he lost his opportunity last year because he had some bad games and and I understand why the Wolves didn’t play him But I would if I’m the Wolves I I would keep both those guys I would I think there’s value in continuity I think there’s value in the floor of you know what Luca Garz is going to give you and he’s a great locker room guy the team loves him all that stuff the intangible stuff that you also have to consider is whoever you could get at 31 going to have a higher ceiling than Luca Garza yes absolutely unquestionably would they help more this year probably not probably not as much as everybody wants Chris Finch to have this massive rotation it’s never going to be more than nine guys 10 at the absolute max in the regular season so who’s like what What are we doing then like Luca Garza knows his role He knows he’s not a rotation guy except for the you know small handful of games when Rudy Gobear or Julius Sando and Naz’s unavailable and then he does what he does That’s the role Like you have to have guys that are okay in that role Josh Min is not quite the same And so that’s why I think there’s actually a chance Minnesota keeps Garza and lets Minot walk I think Minet has too much value still I I truly believe that there’s upside there that there’s a team that would say “All right he’s our eighth guy and he’s going to go out there and wreak havoc for you know whatever play hard and dunk on guys and play defense I think there’s value to Josh Minot I would keep both of them and then I would still try and sign Nikquille You figure out what happens with Julius and maybe you end up with a full roster That’s if you bring Alexander Walker back you’ve now got a full roster and you could always wave somebody and eat the money but you can’t really not when you’re up against the second cav That’s not realistic So there’s a there’s a real possibility that that happens Now I’m on record of saying this and I still believe this to be true I I think Nikil goes somewhere else he’s just going to get too too much attention in free agency There’s too many teams that are going to throw an exception or more at him a mid-level exception or more and the Wolves aren’t going to be able to match that And and good for Nikquille Like you got to do what you got to do And there’s there’s good teams that’ll try and sign him too or he could get a little more money probably go to a bad team Um but that that’s just the reality of this That’s that’s the second apron NBA is you can’t keep everybody together So if Nquille leaves now you’ve still got one roster spot to play with even if you bring back Gars and Minot And not that you have cap space you’re going to sign somebody for a minimum or I believe they still qualify for the buy the by annual uh midle which is a smaller dollar amount that they’d be able to to sign somebody for Um I thought I had the number in front of me but I don’t I believe they still have that So um that’s still my prediction I think that both Randall and Reed opt in I think they get an extension done with Nas Reed I think ultimately Randall probably doesn’t sign an extension anytime soon and I think Nikil goes somewhere else They have one roster spot to play with throughout the offseason and we’ve seen Minnesota kind of leave that spot open and see how things shake out even into the season Now of course in the offseason you could expand your non-g guaranteed roster all the way up to 20 players So there’s room for like another five guys Um or I guess another three guys Uh if once they sign their two-ways which by the way if uh if Zakarsski signs this two-way deal their two-way deals from last year have expired So Jesse Edwards Tristan Newton and and uh Bones Highland are all free agents restricted free agents So that’s another thing we’ll keep an eye on They’re still gonna be news but I just they’re not gonna be major free agency players But that’s why Minnesota did They’re not gonna pull a Brooklyn Brooklyn drafted five guys in the first round for some reason the other night and like I don’t know what they’re what they’re up to but like that’s not what Minnesota’s gonna do They didn’t have the roster space to do something like that Um is it was it poor asset management the big picture is no You turn 31 into 45 and two future second round picks Was going from 36 to 45 for cash bad asset management Yeah that’s fair But in the grand scheme of things like not that big of a deal And they landed in a great spot with a with a high upside prospect in Roco Zakarski Next week we’re going to dig in Monday By the time we record for Monday we may not know the answers to the options that of what’s going to happen but we’ll do an more expanded version of this last segment here We’ll also next week dig a bit more in on some of these uh well both these Baron and Zakarsski the new newest Wolves We’ll have press conferences and all that stuff coming up next week that we’ll we’ll talk about what happens there and and free agency starting So there’s a lot happening We’ll have a couple of guests next week too A lot upcoming Uh that’s all I got for you today though A big thank you for making Lockdown Wolves your first listen every day Of course this show is free and available everywhere That includes YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms Wherever you like to listen to podcasts you can find Lockdown Wolves You can also watch on the Lockdown Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV Of course the Lockdown Wolves podcast is part of the Lockdown Podcast Network Remember the Lockdown Network is your local experts on all the biggest stories Once again I’m Ben Beacon This is the Lockdown Wolves podcast and we’ll catch you next time

The Minnesota Timberwolves traded back in the second round of the NBA Draft and picked Australian teenager Rocco Zikarsky — a 7-foot-4 giant with a massive ceiling. Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) breaks down what his future could look like, as well as why the Wolves’ asset management on Day Two of the draft wasn’t as bad as it may have looked. Also, where the Wolves’ roster currently stands — and why it was part of the rationale for trading all the way back to No. 45.

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