Patrick Reusse: Recent drafts show some reputations might be changing

Patrick Reusse: Recent drafts show some reputations might be changing


The NFL and NBA drafts are conducted with the idea that the teams making the selections will receive immediate assistance. The baseball and NHL drafts are a search for players who will develop into productive big leaguers.

That complicates an attempt to compare, but the events of the past few weeks do seem to bring into question this current wisdom on the local pro teams:

The Timberwolves and the Vikings have developed images as buffoonish organizations. The Twins and the Wild are considered the solid products of astute front offices.

The seeds for these current reputations were planted in a period of a few months in 2000-01.

The evidence that we all had overrated Glen Taylor as the Timberwolves owner surfaced on Sept. 8, 2000, when Taylor admitted he had an under-the-table deal with player Joe Smith that was going to lead to heavy sanctions from the NBA.

A month later, the Wild played its first game before a sellout crowd at Xcel Energy Center. The actual hockey fans in the audience that night decided right then that, as long as Jacques Lemaire was behind the bench, these St. Paul lads could do no wrong.

On Jan. 14, 2001, the Vikings went into the NFC Championship Game as slight favorites. They lost 41-0 to the New York Giants, and it was evident to all members of the Purple Faithful that their favorites were headed for a long fall.

On April 9, 2001, the Twins started a six-game winning streak. They would finish the month at 18-6 and reach the All-Star break at 55-32. There would be a late-season fade, but also a winning record -- 85-77 -- for the first time since '92. There was a nucleus of talent that said more winning was ahead.

The Timberwolves had a memorable respite from the negative when they reached the Western Conference finals in the spring of 2004, but Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell took care of that with their whining about contracts a few months later.

So, basically, this is it: Four franchises that had their current images for competence established in a period of seven months at the start of this decade.

What we wonder now is if the first-round draftees of recent weeks could change the trend -- cause the Vikings and the Timberwolves to gain image points, and the Twins and the Wild to lose them?

On April 28, the Vikings had the seventh pick in the NFL draft and grabbed Oklahoma running Adrian Peterson. He's going to be fabulous.

So far, Adrian Peterson's arrival has not caused the public to storm the ticket office for those thousands of tickets that remain for most games (blackouts, anyone?), but he does provide hope to the zealots that the post-41-0 nightmare soon could be over.

On June 7, the Twins used the 28th pick in the draft to take outfielder Ben Revere. Baseball America had him rated No. 42 among high school players in the draft. He can run, but he's undersized and the critics say he has a lousy swing.

Revere's selection and quick agreement to a $800,000 signing bonus has created strong suspicion the Twins have returned to the low-budget days of yore when signability was more important than talent.

On June 22, the Wild made a trade to move from 19th to 16th in the draft. The TV experts suggested the Wild did this to pounce on one of the dynamic offensive players -- Alexei Cherepanov or Angelo Esposito -- still available.

Nope. They went for an 18-year-old named Colton Gillies -- skinny, rangy, rapid on his skates and can't put the puck in Lake Phalen. Add this to the miserable minor league seasons alleged top prospects Roman Voloshenko, Benoit Pouliot and Clayton Stoner had this winter, and Wild player development isn't so smooth right now.

On Thursday, the Timberwolves had the seventh pick and selected Corey Brewer, the multi-skilled forward from Florida. He's the best player to come to the Wolves out of the first round since Stephon Marbury (in a trade for Ray Allen) in 1996.

So, how about this twist of current wisdom at the top of the 2007 drafts: the Vikings and the Wolves have offered optimism, and the Twins and the Wild much skepticism.

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