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The Wolves plan to bring in four big men today: UCLA
power forward Kevin Love, and centers DeAndre Johnson (Jordan) (Texas AM), Kosta
Koufus (Ohio State) and Alexis Ajinca (France).
Nevada center JaVale McGee was scratched for unexplained reasons.
Trade talk: The Wolves keep coming up in
trade rumors, and vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale
said the team is keeping all of its options open.
"We've talked to just about everybody," he said.
"Those decisions are all going to be made later on, but I could see us
sliding around the draft a little bit."
Now nine days away from the NBA draft, the Timberwolves will go to the
top prospects if they won't come to Target Center: The team's scouts
and coaches are scheduled to watch Italian forward Danilo Gallinari
work on Friday in Los Angeles and then will catch USC freshman guard
O.J. Mayo in a workout for several teams Saturday in Chicago.
UCLA freshman forward Kevin Love is due at Target Center this morning.
Stanford sophomore center Brook Lopez worked out there for two days two
weeks ago; the Wolves also are expected to watch Lopez again when they
are in Los Angeles to see Gallinari.
So far, Michael Beasley will work out only for Chicago and Miami, but
that could change for the Wolves as draft night approaches. One Wolves
decision maker said its a long shot for the team to get Beasley and
thinks Pat Riley’s posturing that he might take O.J. Mayo second
overall is a bunch of hooey.
The Timberwolves rated 7-foot Brook Lopez from Stanford as a
nice kid when he worked out for them recently, but nowhere near worth
their No. 3 pick in the June 26 NBA draft.
Best bet if the Wolves decide to draft a center is UCLA's 6-10
Kevin Love, who is scheduled to work out for them at Target Center
today. Love, who is a nephew of singer Mike Love of the Beach Boys, put
on a show when he came to Target Center as a member of the Lake Oswego
(Ore.) team that played in a high school game against Osseo. Love
scored 41 points and had 17 rebounds and seven assists.
Many of the league's best teams have filled out their starting lineups
with Europeans over the past decade, but Minnesota has not kept up with
that trend. Though McHale denied any increased interest in overseas
prospects, Hoiberg - who has held his post for the past two years -
said the Wolves have been studying the Euro leagues "very hard" lately.
One rising star, Nicolas Batum from France, was in a group of four the
team worked out on Monday. Another Frenchman, the 7-foot-1 Alexis
Ajinca, was due at Target Center Tuesday.
So, let's revisit the question at hand. Why are the Wolves working out
players who are expected to be mid-to-late 1st round draft picks?
I can think of two scenarios.
First, the Wolves have picks 31 and 34, both in the second round.
Perhaps the idea is to package these to picks to get into the late
first round in hopes that Batum or Douglas-Roberts are still around.
Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, there is a talent drop-off after Rose
and Beasley. It wouldn't shock me if the Wolves traded out of the
3-spot to accumulate more picks, in which Batum or Douglas-Roberts
could both be selected.
Although it was his foundation's inaugural event,
Peterson was able to draw plenty of A-list talent, including Chicago
Bears Pro Bowl defensive tackle Tommie Harris, Arizona Cardinals Pro
Bowl receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants and
several Vikings teammates, coaches and alums.
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