Before the draft, Timberwolves President Tim Connelly was addressing the media and talking about what he learned from watching this year's playoffs. The first sentence he spoke on the topic was: "It's going to be really hard to get to that level where we think we can get to."
It's easy in hindsight to look at that sentence and say it foreshadowed the kind of big move Connelly made Friday a mammoth deal for Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert in a move that included four players from last year's team, four future first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027 unprotected, 2029 top-five protected), a 2026 pick swap and one of this year's first-rounders, Walker Kessler.