Orlin Wagner / AP

Even if the Timberwolves can't luck in to getting Oklahoma's Blake Griffin in the June draft, Minnesota, with four first-round picks, has plenty of options for quick success writes NBCSports.com contributor Ira Winderman.

Ira Winderman

It is difficult to consider the Timberwolves the envy of the NBA.

Not with Al Jefferson out for the season with a knee injury, Corey Brewer sidelined with a similar problem, and Kevin McHale drowning in defeat.

And yet, with the arrival of the NCAA tournament, the Wolves have emerged as primary powerbrokers, Glen Taylor's team relevant again for perhaps the first time since Kevin Garnett led it to the 2005 Western Conference finals.

Why?

Because Minnesota owns the 2009 NBA draft, or at least a sizeable stake.

For all the missteps McHale made in his previous role as lead personnel executive — such as trading Brandon Roy for Randy Foye, mortgaging the future for Marko Jaric, trading for Ricky Davis and Mark Blount — he also proved to be quite the pack rat.

This June, the Wolves go into the draft with four first-round picks, a collection that could be utilized to further bolster the youthful core of Jefferson, Brewer, Foye and Kevin Love, or a bounty that could be converted, through a trade, for a quality veteran with greater upside than, say, Mike Miller.

So how did the franchise that could do no right somehow right itself when it comes to this draft?

By bolstering the Celtics with Garnett, affording the 76ers luxury of clearing needed cap space for Elton Brand, allowing the Heat to dump out-of-favor Antoine Walker.

The sins of the past are about to turn into index cards handed to commissioner David Stern on June 25 at Madison Square Garden.

To recap:

As part of Boston's take-anything-you-want-other-than-Pierce acquisition of Garnett in the 2007 offseason, the Wolves acquired the Celtics' 2009 first-round pick, provided it is not among the first three in the draft. Considering Boston probably will still be playing when the lottery balls are floated, that pick now belongs to Minnesota.

Then there was the Heat's desperation to unload bloated Walker and his equally bloated salary in October 2007. As part of the deal that sent Davis and Blount to Miami, the Wolves acquired a lottery-protected first-rounder from the Heat that is protected 1-10 this year. With the Heat on the verge of a playoff berth, that pick also is headed north.

Finally, there is the Jazz's well-traveled first-rounder, which first was sent to the 76ers in the December 2007 trade for Kyle Korver. That pick then was forwarded last summer to Minnesota in exchange for the Wolves agreeing to take on the contracts of Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth, in order for Philadelphia to clear the needed cap space for Brand.

That pick is a bit tricky. The Jazz retain it this year if it is among the first 22 selections. In other words, the Wolves only get it this June if Utah closes with one of the eight-best records in the league, a detail that might not be finalized until the final day of the season or even the random drawing days later that break ties in the standings.

Beyond that is the Wolves' pick itself, which, as is the case with the three acquired first-rounders, has strings attached.

In one of McHale's most questionable moves (and it certainly is a lengthy list), the Wolves on Aug. 12, 2005, in unfathomable lust for Jaric, dealt guards Sam Cassell, Lionel Chalmers and a lottery-protected first-round pick to the Clippers. That pick is protected through No. 10. Considering the Wolves entered the week with the league's sixth-worst record and can fall no more than three spots under lottery rules, that payment to the Clippers likely will come in a future season.

So if everything falls into place, that would make it one lottery pick (their own), one pick in the middle of the first round (the Heat's) and two late in the round (Celtics and Jazz).

Special feature NBA mock draft Opinion: Too many lottery teams need a pure point guard. Sporting News

Therefore, the odds of Minnesota utilizing all four selections is meager.

The question is whether the Wolves can parlay the selections into something closer to the top of the draft, where Jordan Hill, James Harden and Hasheem Thabeet are tempting.

The volume of picks also could put the Wolves in position to take a gamble, perhaps on the likes of Ricky Rubio, the backcourt phenom from Spain's national team, Brandon Jennings, the preps-to-Italy trailblazer, or Stephen Curry, the former college golden child who now might prove too much of a 'tweener.

First the Wolves need to take stock, accept that Sebastian Telfair isn't the long-term answer at point guard, appreciate how much more Jefferson could accomplish at power forward, recognize that Brewer was taken too early and remains too limited.

Put Thabeet in the middle and the defense immediately improves. Go for Harden and Foye moves back to the point and makes the backcourt that much better. Luck into Griffin and there likely will be a taker for Love and his economical rookie-scale contract.

But if it isn't Griffin, Thabeet, Hill or Harden, the Wolves would be wise to consider dealing the lottery pick. There still is plenty of youth already in place to develop and there hasn't been a productive veteran acquisition in years (think about it: Davis, Walker, and now a shooting specialist in Miller who refuses to shoot?).

As for the other picks, don't overstate the value (which, of course, is among the reasons Boston and Utah were so willing to deal in the first place). Picks at the end of the first round come with the baggage of contract guarantees that selections a mere few picks later in the second are free from.

What Minnesota can't do is sell off those late first-rounders merely for cash, with a maximum of $3 million allowed per transaction. It would be a terrible message to send to the few fans who still file into Target Center.

With Jefferson, Love, Foye, Brewer, there is legitimate hope in Minnesota. With a four-pack of picks, there would be considerable leverage between season's end and the draft.

A franchise that has been at a loss for so long, one still dealing with the loss of Garnett, suddenly finds that its time has come.

Spend wisely and there yet could be a payoff from so much recent misery.

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