2013 NBA Draft: Minnesota Timberwolves Snag Lorenzo Brown

The Minnesota Timberwolves were one of many busy teams on draft night, if not the busiest, and were able to really address one of their biggest needs. Shooting guard is a spot of weakness for Minnesota and in the first round they took Shabazz Muhammad out of UCLA who ideally could play either wing spot.

Minnesota was able to get themselves another solid player in the first round as well, snagging center Gorgui Dieng out of Louisville. Dieng can come in right away and either back up Nikola Pekovic or possibly even start if the Wolves let their big man go to free agency.

With their first pick in the second round, the Wolves selected Lorenzo Brown out of N.C. State. Last season, Brown averaged just over 12 points per game on 42 percent shooting. While that’s not too bad of a shooting average, Brown was mostly a point guard in college and put up 7.2 assists per game in 2012.

The Wolves obviously do not need anymore point guards, therefore the plan will most likely be to place Brown at shooting guard because of his size at 6’5”.

Brown is a solid defender and plays pretty aggressively, thus his average of 2.0 steals per game last year. He has fairly decent lateral quickness but lacks the size — beef wise — to go up against NBA level guards. One of the very first things he will need to do is get in that weight room if he wants to make the team.

Minnesota has done a nice job in this year’s draft and could look to be a much-improved team in 2013 because of it.

Ryan Heckman is a Senior NBA writer for www.RantSports.com also contributing to the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @ryanmheckman, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.