Minnesota drafted Ricky Rubio with the fifth pick, then Ty Lawson with the 18th pick and passed up Stephen Curry to take Jonny Flynn. That same night, Minnesota quickly traded Lawson to Denver for a future protected first-round pick that became the immortal Luke Babbitt (2010's 16th pick). What happened to Babbitt? It flipped his rights, along with Ryan Gomes, to Portland for Martell Webster, who had already been gift-wrapped a more-than-generous four-year, $20 million deal. During the 2011 draft, the T-Wolves traded The Guy They Picked Over Steph Curry (Flynn), the rights to Donatas Motiejunas and a future second-round pick to Houston for the rights to Nikola Mirotic, the 38th pick (Chandler Parsons) and a future first-round pick, then sold Parsons back to Houston. From there, they traded Mirotic's rights to Chicago for the rights to Norris Cole and the 43rd pick (Malcolm Lee). Then, they traded Cole's rights to Miami for the 31st pick (Bojan Bogdanovic), a future second-rounder and cash, then traded Bogdanovic to Brooklyn for a future second-rounder. The Timberwolves turned a potential Rubio/Curry/Lawson windfall into just Rubio (who didn't come to Minnesota for two extra years); two years of Flynn (played in Australia last year); backup guard Malcolm Lee; three injury-plagued years and more than $15 million of damaged goods (Webster and Roy); and nearly $6 million of Webster/Milicic buyouts. They also briefly had and lost Motiejunas (a promising rotation guy for Houston), Parsons Mirotic (Chicago's best prospect overseas) and Cole (a rotation guy for a 66-win team); and they have Memphis's 2013 first-rounder (near the bottom of a dreadful draft) and Brooklyn's 2013 second-rounder to show for their troubles. That's KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN for you!
