Thursday (The history of No. 1 overall picks in Minnesota) edition: Wha' Happened?

Don't look now, but your Timberwolves' just pulled into the lead! In the race to the bottom of the NBA standings, the Wolves are now a half a game "ahead" of Cleveland after the Cavs won back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday. The local NBA squad, with Kevin Love doing his best later-Wolves-years KG impression and staying off the court, has now dropped 12 consecutive games. That makes the constantly rebuilding Wolves -- you know, a young team that logic might dictate would progress during the latter stages of a season -- 4-36 in March and April over the past two years. The Wolves' casual free-fall from frustrating to atrocious to possibly the worst team in the NBA did, however, make us think about the notion that the Wolves could ... maybe ... just this once ... get the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Finishing with the worst record guarantees nothing, of course, in the lottery world of ping-pong balls and conspiracy theories. But if the Wolves could pull it off, it would be just the second time in more than 20 years that one of the four major pro franchises in town grabbed the top pick in a draft. Here is the history:

1961 – Vikings, Tommy Mason
1968 – Vikings, Ron Yary
1978 – North Stars, Bobby Smith
1983 – Twins, Tim Belcher
1983 – North Stars, Brian Lawton
1988 – North Stars, Mike Modano
2001 – Twins, Joe Mauer

It's a little bit of a mixed bag of a list. Yary is a Hall of Famer. Modano was a star. Mauer is one of the best players in baseball. Belcher never signed and was a fiasco. Lawton was considered a bust. Overall, though, that's not a state-wide No. 1 choice history.

What does it mean for the Wolves? Nothing -- particularly when there doesn't appear to be a sure thing at No. 1, and the player now considered to be the top prospect is the recently declared Kyrie Irving, a point guard from Duke. If the recent history of stockpiling PGs doesn't scare you, maybe the William Avery flashbacks will.

If you believe in the purity of the thing, you can only hope the Wolves aren't purposely tanking it to have a shot at the top pick. Then again, the alternative is that they're really just this bad.