The wildcard in all this are the Minnesota Timberwolves, who could throw a wrench in things by trading up to #2 to take Ricky Rubio. Sources say that Rubio’s camp has warmed up significantly to David Kahn and the Timberwolves organization as of late, and that they would not be opposed to him landing there. The catch is that the rookie scale salary slot of the #6 pick would not be sufficient in terms of satisfying Rubio’s gigantic buyout from DKV Joventut, so Kahn would have to trade into the top three to make that happen.
At this point, Kahn is holding firm on not putting Kevin Love on the table for the right to move up in the draft, and is instead trying to acquire another pick to entice Memphis to swap with them. As other media outlets have reported, they are targeting Washington’s #5 pick, but are only offering some combination of Randy Foye, Mike Miller and the #18 pick, which probably won’t get it done.
-According to an NBA source, super active Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn has offered Mike Miller to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Chris Kaman. The Clippers shot down that trade, but countered with Marcus Camby.
I love it when Jonathan Givony publishes a new editions of Word on the Street...always promises some delicious tid-bits. Especially with how active Kahn has been on the phones.
I think a more likely scenario than getting Washington's pick is trading for a slightly lower top 10 pick like Toronto and then offering 6+9 for 2, imo. More fair and reasonable all around. I'm sure Kahn is on it if it's a possibility.
Interesting that Kahn would offer Miller for Kaman...that's a lot of salary to take on. Camby would be a good one year band-aid, but he's not a solution either and a one year band-aid is the last thing this team needs.