Wolves

Love, Wolves hope to catch break in NBA draft lottery

By Jerry Zgoda

May 21, 2013 at 1:31PM

Timberwolves' Kevin Love (Colleen Kelly — Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

What: The league's annual game of chance that decides by blind draw which of 14 participating teams will get the June draft's top three picks.

Where: Disney-Times Square Studios,

New York City.

Wolves' chances: They own 17 of 1,000 possible number combinations. That means they have an 81.3 percent chance of staying put with the ninth overall pick, a 12.2 percent chance of picking 10th and a 6.1 percent chance of getting one of the top 3 picks that breaks down this way: A 1.7 percent of winning the No. 1 pick, a 2 percent chance of getting No. 3 and a 2.4 percent chance of getting No. 3.

They also have a 0.4 percent chance of drafting 12th.

Good-luck charm?

The Wolves are sending as their representative two-time All Star Kevin Love, a guy who's so lucky he broke his hand not once but twice last season.

What if the Wolves get lucky?

Well, for starters, it would be the first time in their 24-year history that they got better than they deserved. It's also probably the only way they'll get a chance at the draft's two best shooting guards, their most glaring need: Kansas freshman Ben McLemore, an open-court thoroughbred and shooter some scouts compare to Ray Allen who could go No. 1 overall depending on that team's needs, and Indiana junior Victor Oladipo.

What if the Wolves don't get lucky?

They could go one of two ways: Still opt to fill their shooting-guard need by taking the next best one left — Georgia's Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, D-Leaguer Glen Rice Jr., Lehigh's C.J. McCollum, among them — or add big-man depth with Maryland center Alex Len (even after foot surgery) or Pitt's Steven Adams. Or they could see who — the much-balleyooed UCLA small forward Shabazz Muhammad perhaps? — might drop to them.

The favorite

The Orlando Magic has the best chance — 25 percent — of winning the No. 1 overall pick, thanks to its league-worst 20-62 record in their post-Dwight Howard, rebuilding season.

Three more

The Wolves also own Memphis' first-round pick (26th overall) and two second-round picks (51st and 59th overall).

Kansas’ Ben McLemore is the No. 1 shooting guard in the draft, but isn’t expected to be there for the Wolves unless they move up higher than their current No. 9 slot. The lottery is at 7 p.m. Tuesday. (Associated Press file/The Minnesota Star Tribune)