MINNEAPOLIS – David Kahn has learned a lot about ACLs in the past few months – perhaps more than he'd ever wanted to know. Now, he has another ACL issue to add to his list.
This one, Kahn acquired by choice, and he's banking on it being less a problem than a blip on a medical history.
With the 58th pick in the 2012 NBA draft, Minnesota selected 6-foot-8 Purdue forward Robbie Hummel, who tore the ACL in his right knee twice during his five-year college career. Now, almost two years removed from the second tear, which occurred on Oct. 16, 2010, Hummel is on his way to what looks like it could be a full recovery, and he's a gamble the Timberwolves were willing to make.
"When you're picking 58, the opportunity to take somebody who at one point was considered to be a consensus first-rounder coming back from an injury, showing signs of remaining his health, still young (is) a risk worth taking," Kahn said.
Hummel, who averaged 16.4 points and 7.2 rebounds in his senior season, was an Associated Press honorable mention All-American as a junior and senior. He also earned first-team All-Big Ten honors in every season except his sophomore year. Kahn said that Hummel's shooting skills stood out to him; as a senior, the forward shot 44.3 percent from the field.
Hummel missed the 2010-11 season, which should have been his last at Purdue, with a torn ACL in his right knee. He tore the same ACL in Minnesota on Feb. 24, 2010, ending his junior season.
Hummel worked out for the Timberwolves on June 1, and he said that he's still seeing progress in his recovery from the ACL tear. That diminished explosiveness – which he said he's regaining – didn't stop him from posting the best numbers of his college career in his senior season.
"I fell 100 percent… (and) I haven't had any problems with me knees," Hummel said June 1. "I feel great. I'm starting to feel kind of explosive again, so that's always a good thing."
Hummel said that the injuries, though they put a damper on his college career, never swayed him from wanting to return to the game once he recovered. Without them, he'd likely have been a much higher pick last year, and even to be selected must have been a validation of his effort.
It took Hummel until the end of the 2011-12 season to start feeling up to par on the court. He said that he's improved his lower-body strength, but even with his recovery progressing well, there were still aspects of his game missing. After his Minnesota workout, he laughed about the fact that he only dunked once last season. That's not quite what one would expect from a 6-8 forward, and it was impossible for him to make light of the recovery process as a whole.
"I always knew I'd come back and play," Hummel said. "I just didn't know if I'd be any good."
"When you sit out for a year or two, you realize really how much basketball means to you. It's something that I did every day before I got hurt, and for those two years I really couldn't even go out and shoot."
Despite getting the opportunity to watch Hummel both in Minnesota and at the Chicago draft combine, Kahn said that the forward's senior season impressed him more than any predraft workout. Especially toward the end of the year, Kahn said, he noticed Hummel showing signs of a return to pre-injury form. From Feb. 1 on, Hummel's numbers were indeed better. He averaged 18.4 points and 9.1 rebounds in those final 13 games, shooting 45.8 percent from the field.
Hummel also was not wearing a knee brace during his predraft workouts, which Kahn noted as another positive development. Other teams might have felt the same way. Kahn said Hummel's agent, Mark Bartelstein, told him during the draft that Hummel had received calls from 12 teams promising him spots on their summer league squads and a chance to make their rosters.
The Timberwolves will offer Hummel the same opportunity. They didn't pick him to send him to Europe, Kahn said, and he anticipates that the forward will have a good shot at making the team.
"He's got a beautiful shot that with a quick release, and in our league, if you can make shots on a consistent basis and you have a little bit of size to you… they have a chance to make the league," Kahn said.
The Timberwolves, who traded their 18th pick to Houston on Tuesday for small forward Chase Budinger and the rights to Israel's Lior Eliyahu, were reduced to just one draft pick this year. Though Kahn said on Wednesday that he was considering dealing to get another pick, nothing panned out. One player the team was eyeing ended up being picked late in the first round (Miles Plumlee, perhaps?), and after the Timberwolves failed to acquire a spot among the first 30 picks, they didn't try to move up in the second round.
Even with the third-to-last selection in the draft, the Timberwolves did receive calls about their pick. Kahn ultimately decided that to pull the franchise completely out of the draft felt "a little strange."
Some extra cash might have been tempting, but on Thursday, the Timberwolves chose to take a risk. And after acquiring Budinger, more of a sure thing than any 18th pick, perhaps a gamble was in order. Hummel isn't going to alter the face of his new franchise, but he seems to have a shot at donning a Timberwolves uniform, at least.
After everything, even that is a victory for him.
Follow Joan Niesen on Twitter.
