Flip Saunders keeps lists.
The Timberwolves president of basketball operations — and part owner, and coach — keeps all sorts of lists. Best players at every position. Top players available. Top free agents.
For many weeks he has kept a list of top draftees, too. It was months ago Saunders and his staff started evaluating college talent. It was weeks ago that the Wolves learned they would be making the first overall pick in the NBA draft for the first time in franchise history.
From that point on, Saunders' list changed. Evolved. Until he saw Karl-Anthony Towns work out, that is. After making Towns the No. 1 pick Thursday night, Saunders said the 19-year-old Kentucky center had the best workout he had seen in years. Probably the second-best ever, in fact, next to Kevin Garnett 20 years ago.
"When he came in here," Saunders said of Towns, "it was a wrap."
After the Wolves drafted Towns and then traded their two second-round picks for Tyus Jones, Saunders was talking about home runs. But the process of deciding who to take No. 1 was settled by Towns himself, when he came to the Twin Cities before the draft.
"I wanted to see his motor, his work ethic," Saunders said. "You take a player with a skill level, and athleticism, and that work ethic? They have a chance to be a special player in this league."
But it's more than just ability. Towns, of course, has that. He is a basketball analytic's dream with the ability to alter games with his defense. Saunders talked about how his quickness enabled Towns to cover vast portions of the paint: "It looks like you have to shoot over a house coming at him," he said.