Deep inside, you wish you had the pop hit

The Trade: Randy Foye and Mike Miller for Oleksiy Pecherov, Etan Thomas, Darius Songalia and the #5 pick in this year's draft

Woah boy. Welcome to town, Kahn!

First, let's start with this.... IT'S A TRADE. OUR GM MADE A MOVE THAT DIDN'T INVOLVE MARK BLUNT OR MARKO JARIC. It's not a safe trade by any means. It's a roll of the dice. A ballsy move. Start there... acknowledge that it's a move that is a risk, and we're off to a good start. McFail never did anything like this, ever. He traded the best athlete in Minnesota history for Gerald Green.

Now, salaries:

Foye was in the last year of his rookie contract, and then he had the "qualifying offer" which would be accepted by both sides, undoubtedly. So he's got two more years at very cheap (because of his low service time)

Miller is making damn near TEN million this year, his last on the contract. He'll get nowhere near that next summer, but I suppose he wasn't THAT overpaid, considering the other terrible contracts out there (Ben Wallace, UP!). Miller was the second highest paid player on the Wolves, which is funny. Now it drops off after Jeff to... Oh dear god. Brian Cardinal.

Etan Thomas is in the last year of his deal as well, making 7.5 million. Nice to see that one come off the books at year's end.

Darius Songalia is still in his "rookie" contract, though that's kind of misusing the word. He's played in Russia, so yeah. He's on the hook for this next year at 4.5 million (not bad at all), and then has a player option for 2010-11 for 4.8.... which I would exercise if I were him. Though you never know.

And then Pechy... He makes 1.5 this year and has a team option for 2010... at 2.3. This is a total toss up... I guess we'll see him play and decide if he's worth it. He's the 11th guy on the bench anyway. But cheap, I suppose.

So, contract-wise, a fairly even trade for the Wolves... they have almost as much coming off the books as they did before the trade, just with Etan Thomas in his last year versus Mike Miller. Who's going to play harder for that contract money? (psst, answer: MIKE MILLER) But the smaller pieces are all a washout.

But, of course, you can't evaluate this trade on contracts alone. There is a pick involved here. A rather large pick.

The Timberwolves now possess FOUR first round picks in this year's draft. There are reports that they are trying to package 5 and 6 to move up. And of course, there's the news that Rubio had a workout with Sacramento and they aren't too hot on him at #4. This is a lot to happen two days before the draft.

OK, first of all, if Rubio falls to the Wolves, DEAR SWEET JESUS THANK THE LORD ABOVE. I'm not saying it's KG, but the way that everyone is suddenly scared of taking this guy reminds me of Big Ticket. Like, he was hyped a few months ago, and since then, it's been a steady fall. I will say this, Ricky Rubio will be 14 times better than Hasheem Thabeet. Why? Because he can jump and handle the basketball without looking like a confused child. And Rubio's younger. Thabeet will be good, when he's 25. And even then, he'll never be great. You have to have post moves better than "dunk rebounds" in the NBA.

I think for this to be a successful draft for the Wolves, they have to walk out with a quality guard, preferably a point guard (Rubio is the dream, but I'll be happy with Holiday or Tyreke), and then a scorer (which most everyone on the draft board is, to varying degrees, except Man-Child Thabeet). But here's the deal... they have two more picks after that! Talk about stocking up.

Man, if Fred is involved in this draft, color me excited. I can't wait to see what they do. Gee, you think they got enough for Amare NOW?