For Timberwolves fans, the 2009 draft has always been one of those what-if moments that stings a little harder every time Stephen Curry hits another absurd shot. Minnesota had a chance at him twice and passed both times, taking Ricky Rubio at No. 5 and Jonny Flynn at No. 6 instead. From there, Curry became one of the greatest players in NBA history, and it’s easy to imagine what it might have looked like if he’d been paired with Kevin Love after the Wolves traded for Love on draft night in 2008.
But that dream version of events has a hard ceiling. Even with Curry in the building, Minnesota’s problems ran deeper than one star could fix.
Curry entered that draft as a serious prospect after leading the nation with 28.6 points per game in his final season at Davidson. He also averaged 5.6 assists per game, but Bleacher Report’s scouting report noted his thin 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame and described him as something of a tweener between shooting guard and point guard. In other words, the talent was obvious, even if the fit questions were there.
The Wolves, though, were entering a mess of a new era. Kevin McHale was replaced by David Kahn after the 2008-09 season, and Kahn brought in Phil Jackson’s top assistant, Kurt Rambis, as head coach after coming over from the Los Angeles Lakers. Minnesota had landed the fifth overall pick in a pre-draft trade with the Washington Wizards, and Curry was on the board when the Wolves were up.
Rubio made sense to a degree after becoming a young phenom on Spain’s 2008 Olympic team. Flynn, by contrast, was a reach despite his success at Syracuse.
There was also Curry’s camp to consider. Dell Curry did not want his son going to Minnesota because of the franchise’s state and preferred the New York Knicks, who held the eighth pick. According to a 2017 Sports Illustrated story written by Jeff Austin, Curry’s agent told Kahn “there would be no visit and perhaps even hell-to-pay” if Minnesota ignored that request.
The Warriors took Curry at No. 7 and built a dynasty with him, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Still, the idea that Curry would have produced the same kind of run in Minnesota ignores everything around him.
Rambis’ attempt to install the triangle offense was one major problem. The system had worked for Jackson with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s and Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the 2000s, but Minnesota did not have the personnel to make it work.
Curry and Love would have been natural fits in a pick-and-roll-heavy, 3-point-friendly attack. Instead, they would have been squeezed into a setup that blunted what they did best, and the spacing would have been ugly.
Then there was Curry’s own injury history. His career included multiple ankle sprains and two major surgeries, one in May of 2011 and another in April of 2012.
Golden State needed an overhaul of its training staff to help him get through it. Minnesota, as the source makes clear, did not have that kind of support.
The Wolves’ own injury issues were already piling up around them. Flynn, who finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2009-10 with 13.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, later had major surgery to repair a torn labrum and remove extra bone from his left hip. That procedure took away the speed that had made him such an intriguing prospect, and he was out of the NBA after three seasons.
Love had his own run of bad luck, too. He broke his right hand doing knuckle pushups in October 2012 and re-fractured it after coming back too soon the next January, following season-ending surgery.
And all of it sat on top of Kahn’s rough stretch as general manager. Missing on Curry twice was only part of it.
He took Wesley Johnson fourth overall in 2010 and Derrick Williams second overall in 2011, traded for Darko Milicic and then extended him to a four-year, $20 million contract in the summer of 2010, and later offered Love a four-year deal instead of a maximum five-year deal so he could save the extra contract slot for Rubio. Kahn was fired after the 2012-13 season, and Love asked out to the Cleveland Cavaliers after the 2013-14 season.
Put it all together and the picture gets pretty clear. Even if Curry had landed in Minnesota, he would have been dealing with a bad schematic fit, an overwhelmed training staff, multiple head coaches and one of the worst GMs in NBA history. It wouldn’t have been shocking if he eventually wanted out, too.
So yes, Wolves fans can still wonder about Curry and Love bombing away from deep. It might have brought a few more wins. But it would not have saved a franchise that was breaking itself in too many other ways.
In Other News...
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Edwards, for his part, answered in the way Minnesota needed, turning the page and playing well the rest of the series. Finchs regret also highlighted something bigger for the Timberwolves: the relationship has been strong enough to survive an awkward public flashpoint and still keep Edwards moving forward as a leader and player. For a team that leans so heavily on its franchise cornerstone, that kind of coach-player connection matters just as much as any in-game adjustment. [Read more 🡒]
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Timberwolves Have A Frontcourt Problem Ayo Dosunmu Shouldn't Have To Solve
The Timberwolves spent the offseason reshaping their roster around the backcourt, bringing in LaMelo Ball to bolster the guard rotation and signing Ayo Dosunmu to a five-year contract. Dosunmu gives Minnesota another ball-handler with versatility and shooting, and he looks like a real part of the long-term plan rather than a movable piece for quick help.
Still, the frontcourt remains the more obvious concern after the departures of Julius Randle and Naz Reid left the Wolves thinner at power forward. It is the kind of hole that can tempt a team to use whatever assets it has left, but Dosunmu does not appear to be among them, even if the roster balance would be easier to solve if Minnesota had more options in the frontcourt. [Read more 🡒]