They’re No. 3!!!
Posted on May 20th, 2008 – 10:04 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
We should have known, given the Timberwolves’ absence of lottery luck going back to the early days (who will ever forget Felton Spencer, Luc Longley, Christian Laettner and Isaiah Rider): They ended up third — right where they finished in the final standings — in the NBA draft lottery Tuesday in a year when Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose are considered the big plums.
Chicago busted the odds, turning their 1.7 percent chance into the No. 1 pick. The basketball gods smiled on Miami, too, despite the Heat’s all-out effort to lose games late in the year. The Heat will pick second. Wouldn’t surprise a bit if Pat Riley announces tomorrow that he’s coming back to coach, would it?
So with Beasley gone first to Chicago, Rose gone second to Miami, the Wolves will get their choice of Brook Lopez, O.J. Mayo, Jerryd Bayless, Italian guy Danilo Gallinari, even Kevin Love if you want him.
Chad Ford’s instant ESPN.com mock draft has the Wolves taking Lopez to fill a need, but says don’t be surprised if they surprise and take Gallinari. Probably because Ford always expects Kevin McHale to make the wrong move. (Where’d he ever get an idea like that?)
Who’s your pick?
80 Responses to "They’re No. 3!!!"
OJ Mayo to complement Sebastian Telfair, Get rid of Jaric, have the Rotation at the Point be Mayo-Telfair, Move Foye back to the shooting guard and have that Rotation be Foye-McCants.
Mayo. I like Bayless, but he does seem a lot like Foye from what I’ve seen.
Otherwise, if the Wolves see something in Love, or even in DeAndre Jordan, they could go in one of those directions. I guess Love has lost a good 20 pounds in the last couple months, so if he appears to be in much better physical condition, then I wouldn’t mind the Wolves taking him. Not that I have a ton of trust in McHale’s judgement, but if he firmly thinks he can mold Jordan into a star, then take him (or trade down a couple slots and take him there).
or Lopez, Move Big Al Back to his Natural Power Forward Position, Put the Center Rotation as Lopez/Richard and the PF Rotation be Jefferson/Smith, Put Gomes back at SF and have that Rotation be Gomes/Brewer.
It’ll be interesting to see if they re-sign Telfair if they draft Mayo. He’s a prototypical shooting guard in the NBA and your backcourt would be Foye and Mayo. With Jaric’s contract awfully tough to dump, maybe they figure you use Jaric to backup Foye and play Mayo there at the point for short stretches as well. If they go for Bayless, I’m betting there’s no way they re-sign Bassy. Somebody might give Telfair a fairly fat contract simply because point guards are premium these days.
Doesn’t matter. Whoever is picked will be a bust.
Oh, yeah, right. I forgot.
I really like the idea of Lopez. Wouldn’t his size and defense compliment Jefferson well in the post? And watching him in the tournament, it looked like he has the chance to become a dominant scorer as well.
Mayo can score. That’s it. I really don’t see him as that big an upgrade over Foye, another undersized shooting guard. He just has more hype and baggage.
Usually you don’t want to draft need based but unless one of these players really shows that their miles above the rest I think they have to go Lopez. It’s a tough choice though. Any one of the guys after the top two have a high probability of being busts.
Im not a big fan of the Foreign Guy, the only Guys that come to Mind that hasnt really been Flops are Dikembe Mutumbo, Pau Gasol and Yao. i think that Gallinari could end up the next Darko Millicek. Would anybody be totally shocked to see the Wolves try and Trade up to get the #1 or #2 pick to Try and get either Rose or Beasley??
I guarentee if either Marko or Bassy are free Agents, one of those guys will end up in Cleveland.
or do the Wolves take a stab at a guy like Elton Brand or Kurt Thomas in Free Agency??
We need Lopez or Gallinari with the 3rd pick. Gallinari is a great European prospect. A stud 3 that can rebound, score, and pass. He is the most ready of the rest of the players in the draft. Lopez needs a little more work than Gallinari, but we also need a Center.
If we draft Gordon like McHale seems to like a lot, or Mayo who has huge ties with Hoiberg, or Bayless with the 3rd pick overall I hope that McHale chokes on his stupid tongue, and that no one helps him. I’m sorry I refuse to be nice about McHale. He’s the most worthless pile of crap in the state of Minnesota.
The two surprise guys are Randolph or Love. If we were to go after them, I could see the Wolves trading down in the draft to get one of them.
I still say with Chicago winning, Beasley, Rose, Lopez, Gallinari, Randolph, Love, Jordan, DeVree (spelling)…
Stay the hell away from guards unless we can trade away McCants or Marko.
I wonder if Miami would do Foye and our 3rd pick for the 2nd pick so we could get Rose? To get Rose I would almost take Blount back.
Thank God the Wolves didn’t fall down in the draft. Love is interesting…only a freshman and he was dominating some games…not sure how that would work out in the NBA…Mayo is a gamble…Lopez is probably the safest pick.
I’m glad the Heat (sandbaggers) didn’t get the first pick…have to say I’m hating the Bulls for their luck.
Go Pups!
In the 2nd round I see
DJ White PF
Joey Dorsey PF
JJ Hickson PF
Omar Asik C
As the most likely guys the Wolves should go after.
It will at the least replace Craig Smith and Chris Richard, and if we keep one or two of them it will provide amazing depth at the 4/5 positions.
I am all for Brook Lopez. He is NBA ready and will only get better.
Slam Man
Mayo = Marbury
I like Love a lot, but there is no way we should take him with the 3rd pick.
I look at Love around the 7th-9th pick.
What could the wolves gain on top of Love if we were to trade down to get him?
Brook Lopez is the pick. The twolves obviously need a big guy and from watching Lopez in college he looks like he can rebound and play D and showed some flashes of being able to score. His defense and shot blocking ability would be huge, especially since Big Al isn’t the best post defender in the world.
For those that are saying draft Mayo, you do realize that he is not a PG right? He is an undersized SG. I think the Wolves have one or two of those guys already don’t they? (McCants, Foye). Eric Gordon falls into this category as well as Jared Bayless. They really need a team to fall in love with one of those guys and hope they can trade down a couple of picks. Maybe the Knicks will decide they need to have OJ Mayo and then the Wolves can trade down a couple of spots and still wind up with a player they really like.
Lopez is just as good as Duncan was as a sophmore at Wake forrest. Should we pass on this 7 footer, is this even a question?
Eric Gordon should be the pick. He’s a pure scorer with an NBA ready body
tom—just no.
Mayo for me, trade up for JaVale McGee.
mike…are you serious? Duncan averaged like 20 and 12, I actually like Lopez, but Duncan was one of the best college players ever.
This is where McHale needs to earn his money. I’d like to see him get creative and do something other than the obvious — which is picking Lopez. He needs to use his tradable assets and make something out of them.
I see too much of Luc Longley in Lopez.
Lopez will be a better player than Longley, but HOW MUCH better. Interesting trade rumor on ESPN. The Nuggets are willing to trade Carmelo Anthony. They’re talking to the Nets. The deal would be Richard Jefferson and the #10 overall pick for Melo and Marcus Camby. The Wolves should jump in and offer the #3 overall pick, Rashad McCants, Antoine Walker and his expiring contract and both 2nd rounders for Melo, Camby and the #10 overall pick. It’s a better offer than the Nets. We would have Big Al at center (he’s 6 foot 10 and a terrific low post scorer, that spells C-E-N-T-E-R). Everyone knows Tim Duncan is a CENTER, not a PF. Anyway…Big Al at C, Camby PF, Melo SF, Foye at one of the guard
positions and then depending on who we get with the #10 pick, Brewer fits in at SF, Snyder is in the mix, Marko is in the mix. The core of the team is Melo (23 yrs old), Big Al (23) Foye,
Brewer and the #10 pick. Could McHale pull this off?
Is that really a better deal for the Nuggets? I’m not so sure. Jefferson is at least a good player, and there’s not a huge difference between #3 and #10 in this draft. And, I would be shocked to see the Nuggets trade Anthony within the division.
Anyone that can say that we should pass on a legit 7 footer with excellent touch that is also a good and clutch free throw shooter is….well… a typical “Wolves fan” While you weren’t watching last year, Foye and McCants improved greatly, Gomes became a legit NBA starter and Big Al is the best post player in the league. We are not far off at all. But of course you didn’t see Lopez on American Idol, I mean Sportscenter. So he must not be good. There is exactly one way we don’t take Lopez and that is if we trade down. There are three good options. Memphis is desperate for Lopez and the Knicks and Clippers for Mayo. We then chose between Deandre Jordan and A. Randolph. My bet is Randolph. McHale sounds like he is willing to deal. Getting the pick we owe the Clippers back would be nice, but that alone is not enough. The next person that says drafting for need is wrong should wake up. That might be true at #25 but not at #3. There are big time players all the way to #10. What sense does it make to take a player at a spot we have filled? We will not take a guard! We will take a center, or a 3 that can block shots. That’s it. Thank God McHale is smarter than you. What does that say about you? And for god’s sake, BE HAPPY! The draft starts at #3. We control the draft. No team can take the p.r. hit trading #1 or #2. Let the offers begin. And keep Taylor out of it or we will be trading for more cash. I’m sure you all blame McHale for that too.
I saw this coming a mile away. #3 in a two deep draft. Does that remind anyone of a draft with Shaq and Zo and we took a polished NBA ready center/forward - some big 7 foot white guy named Laettner. Lopez screams of a duplication. And for everyone that wants to trade with Denver - please no. I currently live in Denver and watch Melo night in and night out. Just like a T-wolves fan can tell you KG wasn’t clutch, Melo is a cancer and me first player. If you want Melo, you may as well just draft Mayo. It’s the same old, same old. I wouldn’t mind trading down and looking at an upgrade at point so we can move Foye to SG. How about Augustin out of Texas? And yes, Duncan was one of the best college players ever…..right along with Sister Christian.
Easy there, buzzbomb. Al Jefferson is a better post player than Tim Duncan? Ryan Gomes is a legit starter? I don’t think so. How many teams in the league would Gomes be a starter on? I would say the list is in single digits. That doesn’t mean Gomes isn’t valuable — but on a good team, Gomes is coming off the bench.
And if you say we’d be crazy to pass on Lopez, why advocate trading down?
Topp Gun
Your trade is funny. You have somehow given the Nuggets the #10 that the Nets own without giving the Nets anything. I do wonder what it would cost to get Melo though. If it was only the #3 McCants and Walker I would do that in a heart beat. I don’t see any way the Wolves could get Melo and Camby though, they just don’t have the pieces.
I agree that trading down is ideal but I am not sure how far down I would go. I would definitely not trade out of the top 10 that is for sure.
I think the Wolves should take Jack Nicholson from the Lakers. Listen, the Wolves can’t draft and they certainly will screw it up anyways. At least we can watch Jack out in the crowd every night instead of watching another Brewer/Foye/McCants clone on the floor. At least they would save much of that money spent on another wasted pick.
Cheers to another 20 win year! I can already count how many times I am going to watch the Wolves on one hand. Thank god I got rid of me season tickets. Maybe next year right? Oh that’s right, there’s no way the Wolves will ever get the top pick. Maybe if we tank the entire season the same way the Heat did we could maybe fall into the top two, doubt it though. Go Vikes!
#1- if the Nuggs decide to trade melo and camby don’t you think they would want to trade them to the Eastern Conference? and definetly not another team in their same division?
#2- The Nets package is way better than a package of McCants, Walker and the 3rd pick. Richard Jefferson is actually a pretty good player.
Draft Mayo. Flat out scorer. Safe-smart pick right here, dont gamble on a Brook Lopez. Get a center or another big power forward in free agency to complement Big Al. Even trade for Zach Randolph, Chris Wilcox, or even Joel Pryzbilia.
First off, I love Brook, but even I wouldnt draft him 3rd overall… But the family is pretty pumped that Mchale will have the option to do so… As there is a pretty good chance that Mchale will take a guy that averaged almost half as many boards per game as Kevin Love (the guy the wolves SHOULD draft)
Imagine a High low set with Big Al down low and Kevin Love at the high post… Love is perfect for it, Heady, great passer, great range on his jumper for a big man… and he is just as athletic as Brook, and a lot younger…
MCHALE, PLEASE DRAFT KEVIN LOVE…..
Zach Randolph isn’t a complement for Al Jefferson. He’s almost exactly the same player — good low-post scorer, bad passer, iffy defender. Not to mention the fact he’s signed to a ridiculous contract and is not noted for being a great teammate.
So now the Wolves should draft players based on their age? Do 2 years make that much of a difference? You also happen to forget to include the fact that Lopez averaged more points and more blocks per game than Love. The reason Love’s rebounds were higher is because nobody else on his team could rebound. If Brook didn’t play with his bro Robin his rebound numbers would have been higher. Plus Lopez has a good 2-3 inches on Love.
What players are going to be on the market that the Wolves could trade for or sign? I’m not sure what these teams would want but here is a start to the list.
Jefferson
Carmelo
Elton Brand
Emeka Okafor
Mike Miller
Shawn Marion
Jamison
Arenas
Artest
Tyrus Thomas
Haslem
Michael Redd
Jermaine O’Neal
Baron Davis
Do any of these players seem like realistic guys that the Wolves would go after?
Honestly, no.
I fear the Wolves (and in particular Taylor) are committed to taking expense out of the operation and they will be happy to be cheap this offseason (in the guise of “the plan”) and avoid trading for established players because they don’t want the expense. The question will be in a year or two or three — assuming they make good decisions until then — if they are willing to spend the money to take the young core to the next level.
That said, if it were me running the show, there are indeed players on that list I would be going after. You could also throw Hinrich onto that list.
Kevin Love and Jefferson would get killed defensively.
Exactly - can’t draft Love. We need a big who can defend. Need it. If Brook Lopez can be that guy, while complimenting Big Al on the boards and around the basket, great.
Personally, I’m not sold on McCants or Foye. They both show flashes, but are either long-term answers? All they can do is score, and even that’s a little spotty. I feel like Mayo would fit that mold, but maybe he’s a superior talent who could legitimately average 20 a game in the NBA.
I’d love to get a smart point guard who can control the game. He won’t be there at number 3; but maybe Chalmers in the second round?
Really no point to this post…just felt like yammering on a bit.
Good points, Malms. It comes down to Lopez, Mayo and whatever mystery guy McHale is in love with.
Will the Wolves ever figure out the center and guard positions?
kevin love at #3?? did you watch basketball this year? love is a great college player, no doubt about it. so was jj reddick, same with adam morisson. the point is, his skills don’t translate to the nba. he gets by in the ncaa with hustle and tenacity. that doesn’t work in the nba where everyone is 2X as athletic as he is. if we draft him at #3, you can put a mark madsen jersey on him and call them twins.
i think we need to look at need…big al needs to move back to pf, and foye needs to be switched to sg. otherwise they’re both out of position. brook lopez or bayless makes sense here. would be nice to somehow trade down to get lopez with how badly mayo is coveted by some teams
In regards to draft trades, I think it is tough to trade down if we want Lopez.
Wouldn’t Memphis pick Lopez at #5? If so, we could only trade down one spot and that would make no sense for Seattle. They can just sit there and pick Bayless, or whoever they want, after we pick.
Maybe they’d switch and give Taylor 1 million dollars and we can draft Lopez.
We have to take Mayo hands down. Mayo is the only player that has the potential to be better than Rose and Beasley. Even hoiberg said they want a gaurd to compliment Foye on the perimeter. And for the person who said that Mayo is an undersized shooting guard shows how little you know about the NBA. I guess 6-5 200lbs is to small? I guess that means Kobe and Jordan are and were undersized shooting guards, c’mon. Also Mayo will SELL TICKETS!
Aren’t Bryant and Michael 6-6 and Mayo 6-4?
Mayo is only 6′4 buddy, which means he is undersized for a shooting guard.
not to mention Kobe and MJ were smart and didn’t have any such questions hounding them as Mayo does. you do not take a gamble w/a headcase at the 3rd spot.
other than that..nice analogy there Matt.
How about McCants and the 3rd pick to the Warriors for Baron Davis?
If that doesn’t work, CDR from Memphis is our guy.
Wolves should take the best player available. I think the number 3 person is still going to be very good– I mean think about it, if they TRULY get the third (3) best player from college / h.s. basketball, then this person WILL be a Superstar! SO………it talkes a lot of scouting, observation, scouting, game film watching, scouting.
Do any of you ever do any research before suggesting a draft choice….seriously…have any of you seen any of these guys play…other than highlight reels?
Gollinari is the best player in this draft…including Beasley and Rose.
19 - 6′10″ - shoots, rebounds, ball handler, unselfish team player…he is the next Kevin Garnett and passing on him would be a huge mistake. Perfect fit for the T-Wolves.
Mark my words…Rose is the next Marbury (only taller), Mayo is JR Rider, Beasley is no Lebron and Lopez is Luke Longley only with slightly better hands.
TJinPhilly-
Sorry we all are not NBA scouts, like you apparently are. you are awesome. “Beasley is no Lebron” thats some real in depth scouting right there. Your a scouting wiz.
and also Smart Guy, his name is Gallinari, not Gollinari. Don’t you do any research before you try to look like your know what your talking about?
Comparing Gallinari to Garnett is a stretch at this point. Gallinari is a SF, Garnett was a PF. Gallinari averaged a whopping 5.6 rebounds this year, and he struggled defensively against smaller, quicker players. Think he’ll run into any of those in the NBA? Now, I think it’s true that Gallinari will end up being a good NBA player. It’s more of a roll of the dice with him than with other players. And, the Wolves don’t exactly have a history of accurate scouting on international players.
Mayo is 6 foot 3 - just like McCants and Foye
It’s got to be Mayo. Lopez is a big stiff and will never be an all-star player. He’s not worth a #3 for sure. Mayo is going to be a star and have an immediate impact on whatever team he goes to. He also adds flavor to what is a very bland team right now. We’ll all be blogging later down the road on how the Wolves past up a gem in Mayo if we end up passin on him. Which I’m sure we will
Brook Lopez is seven feet, 250 pounds, slow, white, doesn’t rebound, has a twin brother and a girl’s name. There is no way in hell he doesn’t come out of this draft as the biggest bust of the last ten years. Why not just trade the Kings for Spencer Hawes? We have enough young talent, we need veteran players. Trade the pick.
Brook Lopez has to be the pick. Who else do we have with size on this roster? Big Al and undersized Craig Smith? Chris Richard is never going to amount to anything but hustle plays. We need talent in the post to compliment Jefferson.
I see the three options for the Wolves being Lopez, Gallinari, and possibly Jordan from Texas A&M. An interesting read on ESPN stated that Jordan is refusing to work out for teams below the Top 5 because he has a guarantee from one of the teams in the Top 5. Ultimately he is a risk/reward player, but ideally his defense, shot blocking, and rebounding are probably a better fit next to Big Al that Brook Lopez. Brook’s strength are his polished, back to the basket, low post offensive game, that seems to be exactly what Al is already giving us.
I was seriously hoping that we would get Rose and then try and pick up Robin Lopez in the 2nd Round as he is a better fit with his defense and rebounding than Brook next to Big Al, but I think you still roll the Dice with Brook at 3. His 7′0″ twin brother was on the floor at all times to help rebound so his about 9 rebounds per game average doesn’t make him a poor rebounder. Further, Standford’s guard play, and the rest of that team was so atrocious it is amazing they made it as far in the NCAA tournament as they did. If you caught the games, Brook Lopez was scoring at will doing 10 foot fade away jumpers showing off an array of solid post moves that should translate to the NBA.
Hey, get your own name!
mayo….. anybody wanna guess who he led his team against in the ncaa tournament kansas state who has the future first overall pick michael beasley he is a scorer and we pick him and then pick d.j white in the second round if he’s there like everyone in minnesota we would want melo but thats just not a very realistic thing i dont think lopez will do anything
mayo is the guy the next koby who the heck cares if he got money in college it didnt affect his game if he knew he was doing the wrong thing it didnt affect his game and it doesnt affect the pros does it so i am sick of espn’s crap lopez will be the second biggest draft bust behind darko trade ….if that doesnt happend trade down and get d.j. augustine the point guard from texas or even eric gordon trade down for a good passing veteran who can share the ball they have too many guys who want to score thirty each game and also if mayo is drafted he scores and u all know wat that brings? TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS he is a guy who we could build or franchise around
Michael and Randy: clearly you two dolts are products of the public education system. english? learn it. then type.
If there are any true wolves fans left(since we lost tha big ticket and half our fans to boston) they would kno that eric jordan is the best pick if rose is gone…. Every time they go big they mess it up, lopez truly sucks, and mayo is OVERRATED….
If there are any true wolves fans left(since we lost tha big ticket and half our fans to boston) they would kno that eric gordan is the best pick if rose is gone…. Every time they go big they mess it up, lopez truly sucks, and mayo is OVERRATED….
arenal u wanna say something related to sports or the wolves thats why this is here k bud
lamon garcia-
who the hell is eric jordan??
How can you take someone’s thoughts seriously, when they can’t spell KOBE? He is only one of the top 2 players in the league. There is not a Y in KOBE.
Randy (I hope your last name isn’t Wittman)
You say the Wolves have too many players that are looking to score and then you say they should draft Mayo because he can score. Does that logic make any sense at all? This team needs two things:
Size- They have Zero Centers on the roster right now.
Pass First Point Guard- Foye may be able to play the point but this team needs a guy that can create shots for other people. A pass 1st PG.
Mayo looking for a new agent:
espn.com reporting that Andy Miller could be one of the 2 finalists (along with Leon Rose, one of Lebron’s agents.)
Interesting how it could go from Mayo having McHale’s former college roommate, to Andy Miller, KG’s agent!
Miller and Glen Taylor are good buddies after Glen opened his big mouth and said KG tanked it last year!
Best move = trade Rashad McCants, Antoine Walker, and Greg Buckner to Toronto for TJ Ford, Kris Humphries, and Jason Kapono. It works on ESPN’s Trade Machine!
Bryan Colangelo.
Just because the numbers work does not mean that Raptors are stupid. All three of those players we’d be getting are good, we’d be giving them junk. That’s not how it works unless you are Kevin McHale… then you trade good and get junk. You’ve been poisoned by McHale’s 13 years of hell.
Interesting Article on ESPN today talking about Mayo moving up the draft board, Chicago likely going for Rose, and the heat considering Mayo over beasely.
Sitting tight at No. 3, taking Beasely and moving Al to C seems like the best possibility.
Jama.
Why the hell did you call me out on Sid’s column. Illinois/Indiana… like I freaking care at 2-3 am when I wrote that. I don’t publish my name in those columns and I would appreciate it if it stayed that way.
Really? Kris Humphries averaged only 13 minutes a game for the Raptors, and didn’t play even one full minute in their 5-game playoff series this year. He averaged 5.7 points per game this year, and is at only 4.2 points and less than 12 minutes per game in his career in Toronto. How “good” is that? Kapono is a great three point shooter, but averaged only 7.2 points per game in about 19 minutes per game this year. He was far more effective in Miami - he’s maybe too slow for Toronto’s new fast pace? And when TJ Ford got hurt again this year his replacement, Jose Calderon, took over and earned the starting job. There are some weaknesses in his game that Toronto might not need to put up with anymore because of Calderon; most notably his $8 million salary (as a backup). Antoine Walker also has an $8 million salary, and scores 8 points per game (better than both Humphries and Kapono). He was a crucial piece of Miami’s championship and could provide playoff experience for the Raptors, who got smoked this year. McCants scored almost 15 points per game this year, and shot 41% from 3-point range; and he is no doubt a better fit for the Raptors style than Kapono is. Buckner’s not great, but he’s a much cheaper (and still functional) backup point guard. In my opinion, it’s a good fit for both teams. McCants could really help the Raptors; Ford could really help the Wolves. That’s just my opinion…
I think the talk from the Heat is all whitewash to try and stir up some trade offers.
Ford, Humphries, and Kapono are all signed through 2011 (Ford has an option in 2010). One can argue whether or not Ford is worth the risk, given his injury history. But why would we want to take on Humphries and Kapono? Don’t we already have enough dead weight on the cap with Madsen and Jaric? Do we really want about $20 million tied up in four guys who aren’t going to contribute much?
Yeah, but according to ESPN’s Trade Machine, Buckner has 3 years, Walker has 4 years, and McCants has 2 years remaining. I’m just saying, wouldn’t you rather have Humphries for 4 (at $2.5 mil) than Walker for 4 (at $8.3 mil)? Or Ford for 3 rather than Buckner for 3? I would, but it’s just my opinion.
BC
1st off you were the one that has written on these blogs that you use the username (xxxxx). If that was not to be known why did you write it on here? Secondly if you stand behind what you write, then why does it matter? You freaked out that someone stole your name and that you were a respected writer. Why would it then matter that people know what you wrote?
I apologize if it was a big deal, but I did not see it as that.
Bryan
Walker has one year left on his contract not 4. Buckner has 2 years left I believe.
The Wolves have an option on Buckner after next season.
I agree with the original sean about the heat bluffing. There is no way they pass up beasley if they stay at #2.
I love this myth of the “pass first point guard” and “a true center.” Can anyone name a team with a “pass first point guard” that has won a championship? And what is a “true center” other than a player who is a low post scorer and controls the paint and glass? Is this not Al Jefferson? A modern PF needs a 15-20 ft jumper, ability to pass in both the high and low post and the skills to create off the dribble. KG, Sheed, David West, Dirk these are PF’s. Al Jefferson is a C in todays NBA.
The Wolves are more than a 19-22 year old rookie away from being contenders. Draft the best player available, forget “team needs” because we have multiple and be patient with what we have.
