This, That, and the Other

Kevin McHale, perennially giddy on draft day, did not disappoint following Thursday’s NBA Draft. The Minnesota Timberwolves selected USC guard O.J. Mayo with the 3rd overall pick, the teams highest draft choice since 1992. Hopeful fans in attendance at the Timberwolve’s draft party cheered in approval as the Wolves Assistant to the General Manager, Fred Hoiberg, took to the microphone.

“He’s the whole package,” said Hoiberg. “We went out and saw him two Saturdays ago and he just blew us away. The guy can flat out stroke the basketball. He can spread the court so that Al (Jefferson) can operate on the block…The most impressive part was his interview after the workout. You guys are going to love him.”

Hold the Mayo though (some people are sick of this joke, I’m not). Hours later Wolves faithful, the few of them that still exist, learned that all this talk and excitement was for naught, as the Wolves aforementioned perennially giddy GM pulled off another draft day trade. It was reported around midnight that the Wolves would send their number three selection, O.J. Mayo, to the Memphis Grizzlies for the 5th pick in the draft, Kevin Love, with a number of other players changing jerseys as well. The Wolves can go ahead and remove the 24-photo montage collage of Mayo post draft selection any time now.

Here’s how the trade breaks down. The Wolves get Love, a 6′ 10″, 271 pound power forward out of UCLA. He averaged 17.5 PPG and 10.3 RPG in his only season with the Bruins. They also get veteran swingman, and quite possibly one of the top five ugliest players in the NBA, Mike Miller. He averaged 16.4 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 3.8 APG with the Grizzlies last season. Additionally, the Wolves acquire mediocre big men Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins, whose stat lines aren’t even worth mentioning. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies get former short-time Timberwolf O.J. Mayo, a 6′ 4″, 200 pound shooting guard out of USC. He averaged 20.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.3 APG in his freshman season with the Trojans. Also headed to Memphis is Marko Jaric and the remainder of his bloated contract, 3 years, $21 million. To wrap the deal up the Wolves rid themselves of washed up veterans Antoine Walker and Greg Buckner, a man I can honestly say I never knew wore a Timberwolves uniform.

Until Kevin Love puts on a Wolves uniform, laces up his tenni’s, takes to the court and proves his worth Wolves fans can only shudder and be reminded of Kevin McHale’s past draft day blunders. The most recent memory being on draft day 2006, when the T-Pups shipped off Brandon Roy for Randy Foye and cash. Roy went on to win NBA Rookie of the Year honors, while Foye has struggled to stay healthy. I can only hope for all the Wolves fans out there that this one pans out a little better for us. We will see.