The WORD

by Jason Nelson 

With the third overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select O.J. Mayo from the University of Southern California...

For those of you that don't follow the Timberwolves, last year they were nearly the worst team in the league. Only the Miami Heat and Seattle Supersonics had fewer wins.

In desperate need of a star, the Wolves received the third overall choice in the 2008 NBA draft lottery. In hopes of finding someone to team up with Al Jefferson, the Timberwolves pleased fans and made a promising selection of Mayo, who averaged 21 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals a game in his first and only year in college. He also shot over 40% from the three point line and about 45% from the field.

It turns out that Mayo helped the Timberwolves for maybe five hours or so.

Late that night after the conclusion of the 2008 NBA draft the Timberwolves took part in an eight player transaction with the Memphis Grizzlies. This trade sent Mayo, forward Antoine Walker, and guards Greg Buckner and Marco Yaric to Memphis. In return, the Wolves received Kevin Love, the fifth overall selection in the 2008 draft. They also received forwards Mike Miller, Jason Collins, and Brian Cardinal. 

In my personal opinion this was an awful trade for the Timberwolves. 

First of all, you would hope that the Wolves would learn from past mistakes. In the '96 draft the Wolves had the fifth overall pick and selected Ray Allen. He was immediately traded to the  Milwaukee Bucks for Stephon Marbury, who was also a draft selection that year. Ray Allen is now arguably the best shooter in the game, shooting over 40% from the three point arc and 45% from the field. What happened to Marbury? More recently, in the 2006 draft, the Wolves selected Brandon Roy and immediately traded him to Portland for Randy Foye. Roy instantly became a star and is now averaging 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists a game. Foye is doing nothing of the sort.

I really have no clue what General Manager Kevin McHale was thinking, but I personally don't see Love turning into the star that the Timberwolves need and I really do not see a whole lot of talent in the other three players the Wolves acquired. Yes, Mike Miller can shoot the ball, but he really doesn't do anything else and the Wolves already have players like guard Rashad McCants that can shoot the ball just as well. We also acquired two more forwards in Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins. But, who are they? Last year combined they averaged a whopping 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist per game. 

The only upside I really see to the whole trade for the Wolves is getting rid of some pretty hefty contracts such as Antoine Walker's 21 million dollar contract, especially since all he did for the team was sit on the bench. Hopefully they will use some of this money in free agency to get some players that will help the team this year.