Wolves, Bulls just might be geniuses of '08 draft

[Mcfale313]

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/38309319.html

After teams were ridiculed for choosing them, Kevin Love and Derrick Rose are making the selections look positively insightful.

By JIM SOUHAN, Star Tribune


The Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves made the two most dramatic decisions in the early rounds of the 2008 NBA draft. Sunday night, as the Wolves beat the Bulls 109-108 in overtime at Target Center, it looked like they both chose wisely.

The Bulls took Memphis point guard Derrick Rose instead of Kansas State forward Michael Beasley. Beasley offered size and gaudier statistics; the Bulls went with the dynamic point guard in the era of touch fouls. They were right.

Rose didn't dominate Sunday; he still looks like the future. He scored 18 points with seven assists and three rebounds without ever looking lost. If he can develop an outside shot, he will be the NBA's next great point guard. Beasley has underwhelmed in terms of performance and intensity for the Heat.

The Wolves took USC shooting guard O.J. Mayo, promised to keep him, then traded him along with a bunch of basketball spam to the Grizzlies for Kevin Love, Mike Miller and another bunch of basketball spam.

Even with Miller looking like the second coming of Mike James -- either he doesn't shoot, or he makes you regret he did -- the Wolves might have made a good deal.

Love is becoming one of the best rebounders in the NBA, and now that he's figured out how to muscle to the basket instead of throwing up soft bank shots, he's scoring, too. Sunday, he played 33 minutes, scoring 19 points with 15 rebounds and an assist.

"He and Al [Jefferson] were just down there rooting around, mucking it up," Wolves coach Kevin McHale said. "Being an old root-arounder myself, I kind of liked that."

After looking lost on offense and slow all over the court early in the season, Love is starting to have an impact in games down the stretch, as well as compiling gaudy rebounding numbers. Sunday, his all-around game -- rebounding, getting tips near the basket, hitting shots, even playing defense as far out as the three-point line -- helped the Wolves come back from a 16-point first-quarter deficit.

and that basketball spam included into the trade want to prove that he was the 3-point shooter the wolves wanted in that deal =) Poor Cardinal

I think this article is fair, sure Rose has his upside, he can be a legit point guard for the bulls for many many years up to come, but I think Kevin Love can become an Al Horford type in 1-2 years, and then progressively end up being Carlos Boozer, the best scenerio will be Dirk Nowitski, the wolves can cross their fingers on that

Rose can become Deron William at the best scenerio, he could at least be a Chauency Billups

[Krapinsky]

How exactly could Love become like Dirk again???

[big3_8_19_21]

I think Love's best case scenario is probably more of a Chris Webber than Dirk Nowitzki. Obviously there are differences between Love's best case scenario and Webber, but that's the best comparison I've got off the top of my head. Love probably won't put up the scoring or shot blocking numbers CWeb did, but I could see him getting up there with assists when we start to run some plays through him. Also Love's rebounding numbers may surpass Webber's, but doing that with Jefferson on the team might be tough. Obviously a prime Webber is more athletic than a prime Love as well. They both are the same size, both pass very well, both have high bball IQs, both rebound well and both have good range on their shot for a big man.

[GopherIt!]

I want to watch some Wes Unseld footage. The old timers may be onto
something with that one. How prophetic is it that Love was named after the guy?

[AQuintus]

Personally, I'm hoping that Love turns into a Bill Laimbeer with better stats. The do it all garbage man type that gets under the other team's best big man's skin.

Edit: My idea of best case is also that he grows a few inches into a legit 6'11" and becomes the team's center.

[jade_hippo]

Unseld is a nice comparison, averaged like 10/14/4 for his career. They play pretty similar styles too, I wish they had more Unseld on ESPN and stuff, keep an eye out on Classic for some old Bullets games, they have some of the same blue collar tendencies.

[shrink]

How can a guy that writes about the Wolves in a major newspaper, and works for the FSN broadcasts of the Wolves, have so little understanding of the Mayo-Love trade?

First, the "basketball spam" was an important part of the value of the trade! Shifting the money we had locked into Jaric up a year aligns our finances, and gets that money paid off before the expensive 2010 Free Agency. In five months, Cardinal becomes a valuable trading commodity. What about Jaric?

Second, the consensus around the NBA was that the Wolves won that trade, and Souhan writes the opposite. Souhan even begrudgingly wrote "As hard as it is to admit, McHale probably got this one right."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/22175 ... tModules:1

Draft Express had a good analysis, but its typical of what everyone else was saying.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/200 ... Card-2956/

Draft Grade: A. You have to take your hat off for Kevin McHale for once. Not only did he go out and get the player he coveted the most in this draft—Kevin Love—he also managed to pick up a terrific player to compliment him in Mike Miller, while also unloading two nasty contracts (with three years remaining) in Greg Bucker and Marko Jaric. That might even qualify as a home-run in our book. Don’t look now, but Minnesota has firmly entrenched themselves to be huge players on the much anticipated 2010 free agent market, if they have the patience to continue to maintain their flexibility.

ESPN, Hollinger, Chad Ford, Yahoo, CNN-SI and almost every place I read had McHale winning this trade. Local writers were also in favor of the deal. McHale was ridiculed for this trade? Perhaps from angry, after-the-fact fans, but at the time of the trade the majority of the writers said they were surprised McHale pulled off a good deal.

[Devilzsidewalk]

who ridiculed Chicago for taking Rose? Because they didn't take Beasley? I got the feeling Rose was preferred at about a 3 to 1 rate for #1 selection.

At any rate, nobody knows Loves ceiling because he has no comparables in recent history. All we can say for sure is that he's hall of fame bound.

[C.lupus]

At any rate, nobody knows Loves ceiling because he has no comparables in recent history. All we can say for sure is that he's hall of fame bound.

I'll give you a dollar to post this on the general board.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I already posted it on the draft board before the draft guaranteeing Kevin Love was gonna be a hall of famer

[realfung]

Minny picked Love was a good move.
Minny having good picks since years ago, McCants is good player. Love is definitely a star and traded for Jefferson was like God's move.

[Worm Guts]

ESPN, Hollinger, Chad Ford, Yahoo, CNN-SI and almost every place I read had McHale winning this trade. Local writers were also in favor of the deal. McHale was ridiculed for this trade? Perhaps from angry, after-the-fact fans, but at the time of the trade the majority of the writers said they were surprised McHale pulled off a good deal.

I think you're exaggerating a bit, I heard plenty of media that thought this was a bad trade for the Wolves and most fans I talked to were angry at the time of the trade, not after the fact.

[deeney0]

I'm still angry about the trade. It's not that I don't like Love, but no matter how good Love has been this season, I still see Mayo becoming an elite guard, and pairing Al with an elite guard is still the route to success for this team.

[shrink]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008 ... ayo-080627

Wait ... did Kevin McHale just make a good trade?

I'm pretty sure he did, when he traded Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric, Greg Buckner and the rights to No. 3 pick O.J. Mayo to Memphis for Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, Jason Collins and the rights to No. 5 pick Kevin Love.

When we break it down, it's hard to see how Minnesota loses:

Love is, in my estimation, the better of the two prospects.

This is clearly not the consensus opinion; if it was, the Grizzlies wouldn't have thrown so much extra into this trade to get Mayo. But Love's numbers project him as a much better NBA player. And big guys have traditionally been more valued than guards in the NBA; hence the adage, "Don't trade big for small." .... more

Here's the analysts at the Wages of Wins:

http://dberri.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/ ... aft-night/

Minnesota Timberwolves receive: Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, and Jason Collins.
Memphis Grizzlies receive: O.J. Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker, and Greg Buckner.

Analysis: McHale and Wallace waited until late to pull off the biggest draft day deal. While many thought McHale was foolish for even considering taking Love over Mayo at number 3, you have to give credit where credit is due for this trade. He unloaded three players who weren't going to help the team much next season, and got two players who should make a big impact right away. While O.J. is an incredible talent, you have to praise McHale for what he did in this deal - which is awfully uncommon on draft night.

Analysis: For the first time in more than a decade, Minnesota's Kevin McHale is earning an A from me. He did a really nice job getting value for Mayo at No. 3 and putting together a young team that could win 35 to 40 games next year.

Love won't be a superstar, but he's going to be solid. Pairing him in the front court with Al Jefferson makes the Wolves a little undersized, but they now have two excellent low-post scoring options.

Besides Love, the key acquisition was Mike Miller. He immediately comes in to fill a huge hole (long-range shooting) for the Wolves. If Randy Foye is healthy and can play up to his potential, the Wolves have the makings of a nice team. There's hope in Minnesota for the first time in a while. I didn't think we would see that with McHale on the watch, but I was wrong.

Minnesota Timberwolves
First round: Kevin Love, F, 6-10, 255, UCLA
Second round: Nikola Pekovic, C, 6-11, 245, C, Serbia
Maybe general manager Kevin McHale figured something out. With Love and Mike Miller coming in the trade from Memphis — to go along with budding young star Al Jefferson — they've suddenly got some nice pieces if Randy Foye can become the kind of playmaker the need. Either way, it was a good day for the Wolves whether you like O.J. Mayo better than Love or not — getting Miller makes it a good-looking deal.

Grade: A-minus.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=j ... &type=lgns

“This trade should make Minnesota better a lot faster,” said one Western Conference executive.

Another West GM was more succinct: “Memphis got jobbed again.”

...

“Memphis clearly wanted to win the press conference,” said a rival player-personnel director.

Translation: The Grizzlies were more interested in making a headline and selling a quick ticket than wading through a more deliberate rebuilding plan. And outlet passers, like Love, don’t sell many tickets.

[Worm Guts]

I'm not denying there were people who like the trade from the Wolves side, but I there were plenty of people who didn't like trade. I don't think there was a common consensus. I'm not going to go back and look for opinions though.
Off the top of my head, Bill Simmons and everyone on the KFAN morning show was against the trade.

[4ho5ive]

Yup, the collective minds of the Bulls front office are geniuses for landing the #1 pick.

And Bill Simmons is a fool^^^^^

[miltk]

I'm still angry about the trade. It's not that I don't like Love, but no matter how good Love has been this season, I still see Mayo becoming an elite guard, and pairing Al with an elite guard is still the route to success for this team.

Mayo will not pan out. He will always be who he is, a player with sporadic numbers who will look like a world beater one night, and give you eight games of mediocrity. It has ALWAYS been so.

Here's a tidbit.......
"Here are some interesting numbers: 23.1, 17.7, 16.8 -- Mayo's scoring averages for November, December and January, respectively. Why the downward trend? Easy, check out Mayo's field goal percentages for those months: 48 percent, 43.8 percent and 40 percent, respectively. Then factor in Mayo's 3-point numbers: 42.1 percent, 39.1 percent and 32.5 percent; his 3-point accuracy has dropped each month as well. We'll get into why his numbers are dipping some other time, but here's the important part: Mayo's lack of free throw attempts is causing this direct correlation of poor shooting and a drop in overall scoring."

[Worm Guts]

And Bill Simmons is a fool^^^^^

Bill Simmons isn't a fool, but no one should be taking his opinions too seriously. They're for entertainment purposes only.
Anyway, I was just saying plenty of people thought the Mayo trade was bad for Wolves. I wasn't evaluating quality of the opinion.