As a Wolves fan, I thought that drafting O.J. Mayo wouldn't be a good idea. Yes, I love his talent and his potential for greatness. But on a team that is guard-heavy, I wondered how he would fit in.
No sense in worrying too much about that. Kevin McHale made another draft day trade, but this time I think it could be alright.
Minnesota Gets: Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins
Memphis Gets: O.J. Mayo, Antoine Walker, Greg Buckner and Marko Jaric
This deal allows the Timberwolves to rid themselves of Walker's poor attitude and Jaric's contract, which has three years and more than $21 million left on it.
Miller will fill a need for Minnesota as a legit perimeter threat and Love will give the Wolves a 6-10 power forward who can play alongside Al Jefferson and last year's first round pick Corey Brewer in the frontcourt. Collins has one year left on his contract and Cardinal has two years left, which means going forward the wolves are going to be a big player in the free agent market.
Love came to Minnesota during his senior year of High School to participate in some National HS Basketball tournament. I remember him playing great and the Star Tribune putting his picture on the front page of the sports section. Last year while at UCLA, Love set freshman records for scoring and rebounding on his way to being named the Pac-10 player of the year (edging Mayo).
Memphis will use Mayo as a shooting guard, pairing him with last year's fourth overall pick Mike Conley. The Grizzlies probably could have used Love at the forward spot, but they'll fill the missing holes with Rudy G@y, Hakim Warrick and Kwame Brown. It appears that the Grizzlies are going to be stuck in the lottery for a couple more years, unless the young group figures out how to mesh together -- depth might be a factor. The Grizzlies will have to rely somewhat heavily on Marko Jaric as well as newly acquired veterans Walker and Buckner.
It's hard to forget the last lottery-swap the T'Wolves made because it didn't exactly turn out perfect. Two years ago the Wolves traded Brandon Roy to Portland for Randy Foye -- Roy went on to become Rookie of the Year and then and All-Star last year, while Foye was sidelined for most of last season. Hopefully, this trade can turn out better.
The headline of today's Star Tribune says: "This deal will be OK unless Mayo becomes a superstar".
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