Draft day just another day in the life of Stepp, who’s headed to Minneapolis
As it turns out, Thursday’s NBA draft unfolded rather uneventfully for Blake Stepp.
The former Gonzaga University standout, after talking to his agent, knew going in that he was destined to be a late second-round selection. And by the time the Minnesota Timberwolves made him the next-to-last pick of the draft late Thursday afternoon, Stepp had already left his parents home in Hayden Lake and returned to his Spokane apartment to wait for word on where he would be going.
“I was waiting at my parents place for a while, but once I realized how long a process it was going to be, I left,” Stepp said Friday afternoon. “The second round is basically the same all the way through, anyway. Nothing is guaranteed. We all still have to make the team to get paid.”
That being said, Stepp admitted he was happy about the prospect of playing for the Timberwolves, a team that won the Western Conference Midwest Division title last season with 58-24 record and advanced to the Western Conference finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I’m really happy with where I’m at,” said Stepp, a two-time West Coast Conference player of the year and only the fourth player in Gonzaga history to be drafted by an NBA team. “They’ve got a couple of guys I’ll need to beat out, but I still think I’ve got a good chance to make the team. And that’s about all you can ask for as a second-round pick.
“Plus, Minnesota is a good team that I watched a lot last year and really like. Right now, it looks like a good situation. Hopefully, I can make the most of it.”
The Timberwolves, who are coached by Flip Saunders, boast one of the NBA’s biggest names in forward Kevin Garnett, the league’s most valuable player last winter. But Stepp, who played both point guard and off guard at Gonzaga, is more concerned about the stable of veteran backcourt players on Minnesota’s roster.
Starting point guard Sam Cassell averaged 19.8 points and 7.3 assists last season, and four others players – Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson, Darrick Martin and Fred Hoiberg also shared minutes in the Timberwolves’ backcourt. In addition, swing man Latrell Sprewell, who can player either guard or forward, started all 82 games last season.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few seemed disappointed, but not surprised, that Stepp went so late in the draft.
“Obviously, I thought he should have gone really high,” Few said of Stepp, a four-year starter for the Bulldogs who averaged 14.6 points last season. “But that’s a different game in the NBA.”