Yesterday the NBA draft happened.
Most of you know I’m a die-hard Minnesota Timberwolves (Sad to say huh?). They had the third overall pick last night. I watched attentively, pretty much glued to my television set as I saw Derrick Rose selected by the Chicago Bulls first overall and Michael Beasley selected by the Miami Heat second. Now it was Minnesota’s time to pick.
I had my theories. I thought Minnesota would either pick guard O.J. Mayo, pick up forward Kevin Love, or trade the pick to move down and get some veteran players and pick a player like Brook Lopez.
As the NBA commissioner David Stern walked to the podium and announced the player they picked up was O.J. Mayo. I couldn’t hold in my excitement. I thought, “Wow, Minnesota is gonna get a superstar. Finally!” But at the same time, I had my negative thoughts because O.J. Mayo has a personality to be a cancer on a losing team, and that the team had a gluttony of guards: Jaric, McCants, Foye, Snyder, & Brewer. But I pretty much disregarded the negative knowing the positive was too much to pass up. But then I saw him shake the commisioner’s hand.
I don’t know. It didn’t seem he was too happy to be picked up by the Timberwolves. And for some reason, the Timberwolves colors didn’t match to me. I was hoping that maybe Minny could swing a deal to get Michael Beasley. But that was too much too hope for.
At the end of the draft Minnesota picked up guard Mayo, center Nikola Pekovic from Montenegro with the first pick in the second round (who won’t make the move to the NBA probably until 2010/ he signed a lucrative contract to play in Greece, more than he’ll be paid, for now, in the NBA), and guard Mario Chalmers three picks after Pekovic (who was later traded to the Miami Heat for two future second-round picks & cash). I gave the grade for the draft as a B: they picked up a potential star in Mayo, but with the gluttony of guards on the team did they really make their team better? Picked up a player in Pekovic who could come to the team in two years, more developed and experienced. So I thought that was that. Until…
…a few hours later a major blockbuster trade happened.
Minnesota traded the draft rights of O.J. Mayo along with guard Marko Jaric, forward Antoine Walker, and guard Greg Buckner to the Memphis Grizzlies for the draft rights of forward Kevin Love along with guard Mike Miller, forward Brian Cardinal, and center Jason Collins.
Wow.
The move makes a lot of sense.
Minnesota gets rid of the bad contracts of Marko Jaric and Antoine Walker. Get a perfect complement on the frontline with Kevin Love. He won’t be a superstar, but he will definitely help for years to come. They also get a sharpshooting swingman with size in Mike Miller. He will provide veteran leadership (28 years old, will be one of the oldest players on team) and will provide consistent outside shooting when teams double team Jefferson, and with a very good passing big men like Love, there will be a lot of open shots for the wing players. Jason Collins and Brian Cardinal provide depth at the center and forward positions.
And one of the most important things is that they kept their future draft picks.
Next year, we have Miami’s 1st round draft pick from the Ricky Davis deal (which is top 10 protected in 2009, top 6 protected in 2010, and unprotected in the 2011 Draft), and Boston’s 1st round draft pick from the Garnett deal (which is top 3 protected in the 2009 Draft, top 2 protected in 2010, top 2 protected in 2011, and unprotected in the 2012 Draft). We will also probably end up with another top 5-10 pick next year to fill in our needs with a legitimate center and point guard.
Potential starting lineup:
- Point Guard – Sebastian Telfair
- Shooting Guard – Randy Foye
- Small Forward – Corey Brewer
- Power Forward – Kevin Love
- Center – Al Jefferson
And then will bring Mike Miller, Rashad McCants, Craig Smith & Ryan Gomes off the bench.
All in all, the future looks brighter with this deal for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Can you say playoffs in two to three years?
-STAN
