The Minnesota Timberwolves, seemingly, have a lot of options with what to do with the second pick in the 2011 NBA draft. Almost every day there are rumors of yet another trade and rumors of what the team will do with the pick if they were to keep it and select for themselves. June 23rd is coming soon enough and it will be interesting to see what the team does with the highest draft pick in the franchise’s history.

One of the more interesting rumors out there involves keeping the pick, selecting Derrick Williams out of the University of Arizona and trading Michael Beasley, the team’s leading scorer in the 2010-11 season. Nearly all “experts” who compare Williams to Beasley would be willing to rank the potential of Williams ahead of the reality and expected continued improvement of Beasley, but not one of these rumors state the Timberwolves would keep both in that scenario.

There is a case to be made for drafting Williams and also keeping Michael Beasley around.

While it is somewhat laughable to say regarding a team that won 17 games last season, the Timberwolves feel as if they found a core to build around. That core would be Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Wes Johnson and, supposedly, the addition of Ricky Rubio next year. For two years, they have built a team to complement the talents they believe Rubio will bring to the NBA upon his arrival, adding length and athletic players to run with the point guard. Beasley’s addition after the Miami HEAT essentially gave him to Minnesota before the LeBron James acquisition was a surprise and his growth as both a player and person in his first year with the team should be something they should not give up on easily.

Kevin Love and Beasley hit it off well last year, as did Beasley with then-rookie Wes Johnson. Their supposed core gels off the court and had moments where they did the same inside the lines of the court. In making the big addition to the team for next year in Rubio, it would be wise to have some sort of consistency and continuity in the team. Keeping the core together for another year, while adding a few pieces here and there makes sense.

If Williams is, in fact, the selection the Timberwolves make in the draft, he would not have as much pressure on him as is normally expected of a number two selection in a draft. Williams is listed at 6’8, 241 pounds and that, obviously, compares to Beasley, who is listed as 6’10, 235 pounds. Both are classic “tweeners,” as they are not bulky enough to be power forwards in the NBA and not quite quick enough to be small forwards. However, both have the ability to play either position for good stretches of time, which would make them somewhat interchangeable. Beasley, due to his time in the NBA already, has a jump start on Williams in how to guard players at each position as well as how to have success on the offensive end. Beasley’s presence would allow Williams to utilize the three-year veteran for advice and to see how he attacks on the court.

While it may not be the time quite yet to give up on the combination of Love and Beasley, he must address his turnovers in the offseason. He averaged 2.67 turnovers per game, ranking 21st (tied with five others) in the NBA, which is not a list of to top the leaderboard. It always seemed as if Beasley would push too hard at the exact wrong time, turning the ball over instead of helping the team get a much-needed bucket in crunch time. That decision-making is his biggest current issue as a leader of a basketball team, but you cannot fault a player who so desperately wants to succeed. You can bet in his exit interview his turnovers were the main topic and with the work ethic Beasley has displayed since his trade to Minnesota, you can expect he is working on resolving the problem.

Which is yet another reason why the addition of Williams would make sense.

{AUTHOR_BOX}If they decide to keep their core together and add Williams, it may very well force Beasley to perform. He would have a talented rookie nipping at his heels, making Beasley work even harder to keep his spot. As long as the competition remains in good spirits, as you can expect it would, Beasley could be primed for the best season of his career. If he is not able to succeed as the team would expect, that may be the time to look for a trade of Beasley.

Of course, all of this does not make sense unless the Timberwolves have a plan of action on how to address their shooting guard and center issues. In a majority of the rumors regarding the team trading the pick and the right to draft Williams, the Timberwolves would receive a shooting guard. In other rumors, they would receive a center or a draft pick where it would be expected they would draft a center. While many have opinions on the David Kahn era in Minnesota, it is not truly possible to judge until we see Rubio on the floor with the rest of the team. As is widely known, Kahn is not afraid to make draft day trades, so it would not be a surprise if trades are made to address those areas of need after drafting Williams at the number two spot.

Now, the question is whether or not the plan of action to address those areas will be a good one. It is for certain that June 23rd should be quite an adventure for Minnesota Timberwolves fans again.

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