The Minnesota Timberwolves surprised this Wednesday with the selection of guard Anthony Edwards as number one in the NBA college sweepstakes that this year took place virtually for the first time in its history due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Against all odds, Edwards, 19, a University of Georgia trained, He joins a team in the middle of rebuilding to partner with point guard D’Angelo Russell.
Edwards, who averaged 19.1 points in his freshman year will be key in the Timberwolves’ offense, that last season they had trouble scoring.
While, the Golden State Warriors, with number two, who were initially interested in getting Edwards, they had to change their plans and they decided on the 19-year-old center James Wiseman, trained at the University of Memphis.
The Warriors, with their stars guard Stephen Curry and guard Klay Thompson recovered from the serious injuries it cost them to miss last season, they acquired a player of great athletic power who, together with power forward Draymond Green, can form a dominant front in the paint and in the inner game.
The surprise came from guard LaMelo Ball, 19, whom experts placed as the number one selection and in the end he had to settle for the three after the Charlotte Hornets decided on him.
The legendary Michael Jordan, majority owner of the Hornets, trusts that the brother of fellow point guard Lonzo Ball, of the New Orleans Pelicans, you can become the leader who leads the attack and leads them to be a winning team.
Aspects to improve
The weak point of LaMelo Ball, like his brother Lonzo Ball, is that they do not have a good defensive game, something that will have to improve if in the end he wants to be a leader in the NBA.
The Chicago Bulls settled on forward Patrick Williams, trained at Florida State University, with the number four and gave the big surprise of the night.
The new Bulls executive vice president of operations, Lithuanian Arturas Karnisovas, he had not shown indications that a player would decide that his best quality is defense.
In fact, the forecasts placed him as the ideal selection of the San Antonio Spurs, with number 11, in his project also of reconstruction like the Bulls, whose new coach is Bill Donovan, who until last season managed the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The fifth pick went to the Cleveland Cavaliers who chose forward Isaac Okoro of Auburn University; the Atlanta Hawks (6) got center Onyeka Okongwu; the Detroit Pistons (7) got the French guard Killian Hayes and the New York Knicks (8) got the power forward Obi Toppin.
The pandemic, in addition to forcing the virtual realization of the draw, also forced to change the headquarters in New York, where it is held every June, and took it to the headquarters of the ESPN television network, in Bristol (Connecticut).
