The Timberwolves selected 21-year old power forward Henk Norel with their final pick of the NBA Draft. Norel played in 23 games in his three years in Spain and he averaged 5.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Norel appears to be a project so don’t look for him to play big minutes as a rookie in 2009-2010.

The Timberwolves needed a shooting guard after trading Mike Miller and Randy Foye to the Wizards and they got one in Wayne Ellington. The 21-year old Ellington played in 115 games in three seasons with North Carolina and he averaged 14.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Ellington is a solid shooter and he could get big time minutes as a rookie for the Timberwolves.

Many experts think the Timberwolves reached in taking Jonny Flynn with the 6th pick in the NBA Draft but I don’t agree with them. Flynn is a legit point guard who makes everyone on his team better. The 20-year old Flynn played in 73 games in two seasons at Syracuse and he averaged 16.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Flynn is a dynamic player despite his size (6′0″, 185) as he’s a good shooter, penetrator and passer. This was a excellent pick by the Timberwolves unlike the earlier pick of Ricky Rubio.

The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted 18-year old point guard Ricky Rubio of Spain. Rubio played in 118 games in 4 years in Spain and he averaged 7.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Rubio doesn’t want to play in Minnesota and he has already said that he might consider staying in Spain another couple of seasons. The T-Wolves have said that they won’t trade Rubio but the Knicks are hot on his trail. If the T-Wolves get a good offer for Rubio they should take it as he appears to be very overrated.

The Timberwolves have acquired the #5 pick in the NBA Draft tomorrow along with 23-year old center Oleksiy Pecherov, 31-year old F/C Etan Thomas and 31-year old power forward Darius Songaila in exhcange for 29-year old G/F Mike Miller and 25-year old shooting guard Randy Foye. Songaila has the best chance of the new veterans to help the T-Wolves this season. He played in 77 games (29 starts) for the Wizards last season and he averaged 19.8 minutes, 7.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Songaila has now played in 410 games (78 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 18.9 minutes, 7.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Etan Thomas could also give the T-Wolves some muscle under the basket. Thomas played in 26 games (7 starts) last season for the Wizards and he averaged 11.8 minutes, 3.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. Thomas has now played in 373 games (73 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 6.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Oleksiy Pecherov is the standard soft 7-foot European center. He played in 32 games (0 starts) for the Wizards last season and he averaged 8.7 minutes, 3.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. Pecherov has now played in 67 games (0 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 3.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. The Timberwolves better hit it big with the draft pick they received from the Wizards or this trade will be a disaster.

Miller Miller played in 73 games (47 starts) in his only season in Minnesota and he averaged 32.3 minutes, 9.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. Randy Foye was the 2nd leading scorer for the Wolves last season. He played in 70 games (61 starts) for the Timberwolves last season and he averaged 35.6 minutes, 16.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game. In three seasons with the T-Wolves, Foye played in 191 games (109 starts) and he averaged 29.5 minutes, 13.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. The T-Wolves will miss both of these players next season and the Wizards should benefit from it big time.