The Draft is Done, But Are The Wolves?

The Deal

Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo, Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric, and Greg Buckner

for

Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, and Jason Collins

Frankly, I'm a pretty big fan of this deal so far. While I like OJ Mayo's potential more than I like Kevin Love's, I like the combo of Love's potential, Mike Miller's skills, and the loss of Marko's contract more than Mayo's potential. That and is OJ Mayo really going to want to stay in Minnesota long-term? No, not a chance. He's been pimped since he was in 7th grade, played college ball at USC in media-frenzied Los Angeles, and just signed a four-year deal with Nike. He's not a midwest personality. Kevin Love and Mike Miller are. Brian Cardinal is an overpaid combination of Mark Madsen and Pat Garrity in almost every sense of the combo. He shoots the three and makes up for his lack of skill with aggressive, high energy play. I would guess he's not a good dancer either.

The Rest of the Draft

Marion Chalmers for two future second-round picks and cash.

This doesn't make any sense to me. We need a point guard, we draft a point guard, but we don't keep the point guard? He's better than anything else we have on our roster (no, Randy is not a point guard). Seems silly to me.

#31 Nikola Pekovic

Why? Have we not learned that we do not have the ability to appropriately judge foreing talent? Two names: Igor Rakocevic. Stoiko Vrankovic. Enough said. This pick is especially bothersome because CDR and Bill Walker were both on the board. We could use a scoring guard as an additional excuse to rid our backcourt of a stiff (more on that below). I've seen footage of Pekovic. He's slow, lumbering, and doesn't look very athletic. I don't get paid to scout players, but even I can tell when a guy is going to be a total slouch (see: Felton Spencer).


Overall I can't complain about this years draft too much. I feel much more comfortable at this point this season than I have in either of the last four drafts. We have an actuall small forward - the first since Spree. We've got a very solid tandem up front even if they're a little undersized. Collins will provide depth (read: fouls) against teams that are giant up front and Cardinal could prove to be an asset off the bench because he plays hard and can shoot the ball - not holding my breath though. The skeptic in me is waiting for the perverbial "other shoe" to drop - Kevin Love is a crackhead or Mike Miller is broken.

A Couple Extras

I'd really like to see the Wolves re-sign Kirk Snyder. He's big, he's athletic, and he can play a little defense.

If you're going to give Corey Brewer more minutes and probably re-sign Craig Smith, it's hard to see where there are enough minutes to keep Ryan Gomes happy, which is sad to me. If I had my choice, I'd keep Gomes and let Smith go. He can play both the SF and PF, can score a little, shoot, rebound, and defend some too. Gomes would give the Wolves more flexibility off the bench, if that's a role he'd be willing to accept.

I would also like to see the Wolves rid themselves of Rashad McCants, although I don't know how likely that is since everyone knows what kind of player he is.