3 biggest mistakes of Gersson Rosas' tenure as the Minnesota Timberwolves' former president of basketball operations

#2 Trading up to draft Jarrett Culver

Detroit Pistons v Minnesota Timberwolves

Gersson Rosas moved up in the 2019 NBA Draft in his first offseason as Timberwolves president of basketball operations. Dario Saric and pick 11, which would become Cameron Thomas, were traded to the Phoenix Suns for pick six.

Typically, giving up an expiring contract (Saric) to vault up five spots in the NBA Draft lottery would be seen as phenomenal business. The issue is who was selected at pick six, Texas Tech's Jarrett Culver.

Culver showed promise after leading his college squad to the NCAA National Championship game, but in hindsight there were clearly better options on the table. Coby White, Cam Reddish, Cameron Johnson, P.J. Washington, Tyler Herro, Mattisse Thybulle and Rui Hachimura were all selected after Culver.

The draft is undeniably a crap shoot, and hindsight is 20-20, but Gersson Rosas being held accountable for Culver's selection is understandable and one of his more notable blunders.

Jarrett Culver was recently traded to the Los Angeles Clippers along with Juancho Hernangomez for Patrick Beverley. Not a great look for Gersson Rosas.

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#1 Sacraficing draft capital for D'Angelo Russell

Minnesota Timberwolves v Portland Trail Blazers

Andrew Wiggins' contract was a large constraint for Gersson Rosas when he joined the Minnesota Timberwolves. The resolution became to swap Wiggins for a longtime friend of Karl-Anthony Towns - D'Angelo Russell.

The full details of the trade include Andrew Wiggins and a top-three protected 2021 first-round pick for D'Angelo Russell. While Russell and Towns have been given minimal opportunity to share the floor together since the move due to some unfortunate injuries, the loss of draft capital stings significantly.

Gersson Rosas likely expected the Minnesota Timberwolves to be more successful when obtaining the former All-Star point guard, but that turned out not to be the case.

After all the moves Gersson Rosas made during his tenure, the Timberwolves had the sixth-best odds of landing a top pick come the 2021 NBA Draft Lottery. Not in his favor, the pick landed at seventh overall and the Golden State Warriors went on to select a falling Jonathan Kuminga.

Meanwhile in the Bay Area, Andrew Wiggins seems to have turned his career around and could be argued to carry more value than Russell at the current moment.

Gersson Rosas attempted to reshape this Minnesota Timberwolves franchise, but did little to increase the team's future trajectory or impact their current chances of success.