Why the Timberwolves fell in love with first-round pick Joan Beringer

Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd and president of basketball operations Tim Connelly have been scouting NBA draft prospects for years.

Last Saturday provided a throwback moment for the two of them.

ADVERTISEMENT Fenwick High School is a private school in Oak Park, Ill., and the site of the final step of Minnesotas evaluation for the next piece of its franchise puzzle.

The Wolves had tracked Joan Beringer for about a year after being alerted to him by an assistant coach on the staff of Beringers Slovenian professional team, KK Cedevita Olimpija.

The Wolves assumed Beringer would be a second-division player whod simply work on his skills this past season.

Last year was, after all, the centers first season playing pro basketball and just fourth in the sport overall.

Every time we watched him, we were just kind of blown away with his instincts, Connelly said.

Defensively, he was covering five spots.

Hes very raw, but really bright and has developed at a pace that, quite frankly, Ive never seen for a guy that new to professional basketball.

Theres a lot to learn from tape.

But, ideally, if youre going to spend a first-round pick on a prospect, youd like to see them in person before doing so.

But Beringer came to America later than some other international prospects because his club was participating in the postseason.

Yet, through coordination with Beringers agent, Jelani Floyd, the Wolves were able to set up that Chicago-area workout in the days leading up to draft night.

We had to travel to go see him, Lloyd said.

But, at the end of the day, it was worth it.

ADVERTISEMENT Because Beringer was passing every test.

The Wolves put the 6-foot-11 big man through what Connelly described as a really hard workout.

Minnesota pitted the 18-year-old against front office member Alonzo Gee, who played eight years in the NBA as a defensive role player, for 1-on-1 action.

All Gee would talk about post-workout was how strong Beringer was.

He couldnt really hold him off, Lloyd said.

Minnesota also was encouraged by how well Beringer was knocking down 15-foot jumpers during his workout.

The teams excitement about the Frenchman was growing by the minute.

I have like grainy videos on my phone that I took at the workout because I started to get so excited, Lloyd said.

The Timberwolves posted a video from the workout on their social channels on Friday.

At the end of the grueling workout, Connelly had to ask the prospect a question could he dunk from the free-throw line? Sure enough, Beringer took flight from the stripe and threw it down.

That was memorable, Connelly said.

ADVERTISEMENT Still, Connelly noted the chance to sit down and talk to prospects for even an hour or two is what he finds most valuable from face-to-face sessions.

The Wolves fell more in love with Beringers drive and story.

Hes a soccer striker who picked up basketball because he could no longer find soccer shoes that fit his growing feet.

He learned English from his teammates during his one season in Slovenia and has gained 24 pounds over the past year.

Were not drafting him because of the story, but I was blown away relative to how little he has played and how far he has come, Connelly said.

This is my 29th or 30th draft, and hes one of the more unique players Ive ever seen.

Minnesota believes he can become a dominant, switchable defensive center.

The Rudy Gobert comparisons will be made because they share a home country and, now, a locker room.

But think more along the lines of Brooklyn center Nic Claxton or Atlanta big man Onyeka Okongwu in terms of potential versatility on that end of the floor.

That ability to guard all over the floor is essentially a requirement on that end of the floor as you advance deeper into the postseason.

Lloyd described Beringer as a ball of clay.

I think hes going to hang his hat on defensive versatility, Connelly said.

Offensively, we dont know what he is.

Right now, hes a sprint-the-floor, hes a lob threat, hes an offensive rebounder and garbage guy around the rim.

But its really exciting, especially because we have such great coaches, is hes really malleable.

However, we want to develop him; we can develop him.

Hes coming from a great development school in Cedevita.

Great, great coaches.

Its just exciting to see a guy who has all these crazy tools and really no bad habits.

ADVERTISEMENT Lloyd said that in-person workout was critical to Minnesota closing the book on its evaluation of the center and knowing he was the teams target.

He noted the Wolves were really excited about Beringer when they left Illinois.

A source said Beringer was in the top 10 on Minnesotas draft board.

But would he get to No.

17? Quite frankly, we didnt think he was going to be there.

We were actively trying to make sure we were going to get him, Connelly said.

So much of it is luck.

The draft board, 16 really, really good players went before him, so thats not to say that we got the best player by any stretch.

But the draft board fell a certain way, and we were lucky we got our guy.

Hes an unbelievable piece to add to our young core, Connelly said.

I think hes different than everything that we have.

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