Lazar Hayward

Lazar Hayward - Hayward's career to date has been split between the NBA and the D-League, very much on the fringes. He appears to be trying to transform his game into that of a shooter with some rebounding and defensive help, a decent idea that he has yet to fully develop. Incidentally, in completely unrelated news, the Oxford English Dictionary defines a "lazar" as 'a poor and diseased person, especially one afflicted by an unpleasant disease such as leprosy.' Potential baby names must always be Googled first.

Lazar Hayward

Lazar Hayward is a small forward backup, drafted by a team that absolutely did not need a small forward backup. Question; when you've just gone 15-67, should you really be in the market for role players? Should you not be drafting players with a shot to be something awesome, even when picking at the end of the first round? Because Hayward absolutely does not have that. Try to find some potential building blocks, THEN figure out the rest. That is not to say that anyone picked in this second round will obviously be a star, but Lazar Hayward's upside is that of Adrian Griffin or Maurice Evans or something like that. Now not, eh?

Pick 30: Before the draft, Timberwolves GM David Kahn stated "I don't think I can really screw this one up." Ever the contrarian, he then makes his second bad move of the night by using the pick obtained from Washington to draft Lazar Hayward, a 6'6 small forward from Marquette who has spent the last years playing centre, even though he's shorter than 6'6. (Damn you, Buzz Williams.) Hayward is not a bad player, but he will be only the third best rookie in 2010 named Hayward, behind Gordon and Jason Alias. He could be the next Adrian Griffin, but he is not a first round talent.

More importantly, he's not the right player for the Timberwolves. You've just drafted Wesley Johnson, you've just traded for Martell Webster, and you've already got Corey Brewer. Do you really need another small forward? Brewer is the best half-court creator and playmaker of those four, and that's not an endorsement of Corey Brewer. Last year was the point guard draft; this year is the small forward draft. We can only hope that next year, Kahn finally realises the huge shooting guard hole. Either that, or he's as big of a Wayne Ellington fan as I am. (Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I maintain that he is the next Voshon Lenard. And I base that on absolutely nothing.)