I'm watching tonight's Timberwolves Summer League game so you don't have to!  I'll update this post as the Wolves-Lakers game rolls along with random observations about the evening's events...here we go:

First Quarter:

*Nice entry pass by Kevin Love to Chris Richard...Richard lays it in to tie the game at seven.  Chris also happens to be sporting a very Troy Hudson-ish hairdo.

*Richard continues to have the hot hand -- the Wolves and Lakers head into the first timeout tied at nine, and Chris has scored seven of our squad's points thus far. 

*Kevin Love is on the board with a baby hook.  He proceeds to immediately pick up a foul on the defensive end. 

*Love has now scored the last two baskets for the Wolves, as he drains a fade-away jumper.  Then, of course, he once again picked up a foul on the defensive end.  Four points and two fouls for Love, as the Wolves lead 13-11. 

*Pops Mensah-Bonsu checks into the game and immediately gets a hard-earned basket, laying the ball in amongst a crowd of defenders, and tying the game at 15.

*There's your first highlight-reel play of the evening...Cory Brewer's transition game has always been pretty dang impressive to me, and he just pulled off a one-handed slam on the break.

*Vincent Grier checks in for the Wolves, as we come out of a timeout with the Lakers leading 21-19.

*The Wolves have been on fire from the field, shooting 9-13 thus far.  Only problem?  The Lakers have outrebounded them 9-4. 

*Pops Mensah-Bonsu breaks a Minnesota scoring drought by sinking a layup in traffic and picking up the foul.  He misses the free throw, but still tightens the gap to five, as the Wolves trail the Lakers 26-21 at the end of the first quarter.  I'm definitely liking the energy that Pops is displaying; he's been very active tonight.

Second Quarter:

*Pops starts off the second quarter for the Wolves by nailing a turnaround jumper off the backboard.  With six points in just under five minutes, he's certainly been impressive tonight. 

*Pops is also getting it done on the defensive end, as he did a nice job of defending a Laker big who was going strong to the basket.  Pops grabbed the board, got fouled on the other end, and hit both free throws.  Lakers still lead, though, 30-27.

*I'll catch you after the jump for the rest of the game blog! 

With all of the debate raging over what to do with the draft pick, it's important to remember that the Wolves have to make some decisions on its existing roster.  Here at the Twolves Blog, we want to continue the discussions about this teams direction with in our series, the "Blogprint for the Future," which will include contributions from various TWolvesBlog contributors and guests, as this team transforms during the off-season.


Contributors to this edition:

College Wolf from TWolvesBlog
Stop-n-Pop from Canis Hoopus
Bonk from the TWolvesBlog Forums
Jon Mathaler from TNABACG

Previous Editions of the Blogprint:

#1: Our #3 overall Lottery Pick and Wolves Free-Agents.
#2: What is the time frame on the Wolves becoming contenders?
#3: Updated thoughts on the #3 overall pick & KG's Legacy.

In today's edition: my esteemed colleagues and I analyze the moves made (or not made) by the Wolves in the draft last week.  Did we like the seemingly (already) infamous KLove/Skinny Miller and Spare parts for OJ Mayo and crap filler solid bench players trade?  What about the way the Wolves utilized their second round picks?  Lastly, we've got some general thoughts on the winners and losers in this years draft.


Please click "Read More" for the analysis of this edition's topic.

Yesterday morning I went off on the Wolves front office for their trade of OJ Mayo for Kevin Love.  Normally I try to keep what I write on the front page from being overly harsh and save my "off the cuff" remarks for the forum.  However, somewhere in the seismic shift between my Thursday night elation and my Friday morning stomach punch, I lost my cool and made a post out of anger without looking at all the angles.  After taking a day to put the whole picture in perspective, I definitely owe Kevin McHale and Fred Hoiberg an apology for publicly ripping them a new one and  heralding this trade as potentially the "dumbest move in Timberwolves history".  Don't get me wrong, this very well may end up being the dumbest trade in Timberwolves history if OJ Mayo becomes a superstar, and I'm not convinced that I'd have made the trade myself, but to automatically label it that was was extremely premature.  The final verdict on this deal won't be made for at least another two years, and anyone passing judgement a moment before then is claiming to be a psychic.

I've had a couple of days to digest the Kevin Love trade, and the one thing I can't escape is this: take a look at the Wolves' roster in 2006-07.

2006-2007 Roster (Player - Salary)      

• Kevin Garnett - $21,000,000
• Mark Blount - 7,288,165
• Ricky Davis - 6,364,400
• Troy Hudson - 5,603,000
• Marko Jaric - 5,525,000
• Mike James - 5,215,000
• Trenton Hassell - 4,350,000
• Eddie Griffin - 2,700,000
• Randy Foye - 2,448,240
• Mark Madsen - 2,210,000
• Rashad McCants - 1,653,720
• Justin Reed - 1,300,000
• Bracey Wright - 664,209
• Craig Smith - 412,718

(Click Read More... to find out where I'm going with this...)

 A paragraph from today's Tom Powers column says it all:

I'm also going to have to say that Hoiberg is out of the loop, too. Granted, his comments about keeping Mayo came on a crowded elevator. Asked if they were keeping him, he nodded and said: "We're keeping him."

Couple that with what Glen Taylor told Sid after the Wolves had selected Mayo:

"Our people thought that Mayo had far more upside than Love. And very important was the fact that Fred [Hoiberg] played for Tim Floyd at Iowa State, and we knew [USC coach] Floyd was going to give an honest scouting report on Mayo."

The PR cluelessness that takes place at the Target Center never ceases to amaze me. 

Normally, after something like this, I'd just fume in the forum.  But no, what just took place deserves front page status.  You see, I went to bed giddy last night.  I was so pumped up - more than I'd been for this team in over four years.  I had visions of our "next" KG dancing through my head.  To me, everything had finally been made right.  Sure, we'd suffered th rough an abominable season, but in the end, Garnett had a ring and we had a fresh start.  I kept thinking to myself how awesome things would be and how I'd gladly shell out the $179 for NBA League Pass this year even though I barely had the time to watch or the cash flow to pay for it.  It would totally be worth it to watch the dawning of our new era.  Seriously, everything was perfect - even the new logo seemed to be a simple of our team's rebirth.  You couldn't have worked it out any better...

Then I visited Timberwolves.com and saw a gigantic photo of Kevin Love.  Let's just say my throat is still burning from the vomit.  

 I hope I'm wrong - I seriously, seriously hope I'm wrong.  But I'm pretty sure we just witnessed the single stupidest move in Timberwolves history.  I'm devastated.  If I wasn't the most adamant of non-quitters, I'd pack up my bags, leave this team right now, and never look back.  I just don't understand it.  And frankly, I don't want to understand it - because I can't think of a single excuse other than "we secretly found out OJ has cancer" that would justify the trade that just took place.  

I'm sick to my stomach right now...

ESPN's Chad Ford reports:

Two league sources told ESPN.com that the Wolves have reached an agreement in principle with the Memphis Grizzlies that will send the draft rights to Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker and Greg Buckner to the Grizzlies in return for the draft rights to Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins.

It's funny -- I'd been working on a recap of the Mayo pick throughout the evening, and actually wrote the following: "Prior to the draft, there had been no shortage of rumors about the Ostrich orchestrating a possible draft day trade, in which the Wolves would move further down into the top-10 while adding a (hopefully) solid rotation piece. This talk was just that -- talk. The 600 First Avenue Country Club has made a habit of being predictably unpredictable, but the decision making process for their first round pick was surprisingly drama-free.  And logical."  Whoops!

I also wrote this: "A lot has been made of what Mayo brings to the table offensively, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he brings to the table defensively. Couple him with Brewer, and you've got a pair of damn good perimeter defenders on the floor. Looking at his game as a whole, though, he has superstar potential and was the absolute correct pick for this team." Double whoops!

So, what do we make of this deal?  The overwhelming reaction has been...welll, outrage -- and honestly, I cannot blame the people who have reacted in that manner.  Here's the deal: McHale better be praying his ass off that Mayo doesn't become a superstar, because if O.J. blows up, this deal will have been an resounding failure for the Wolves.  The Foye-Roy deal will look like nothing compared to this.

In fairness, let's take a quick look at the positive aspects of the deal.  We got rid of a monumentally bad contract (Jaric) and two largely irrelevant pieces of the roster (Walker and Buckner).  Miller will give you 17 PPG and knocked down 43% of his threes last season.  People are pissed right now, but there are reasons to like this deal.  In fact, I've long been a fan of the main pieces Memphis is shipping to Minnesota -- that is, Love and Miller.

Still, those positives will go completely out the window if Mayo becomes the perennial all-star that most league pundits believe he'll become.  In other words, if Mayo merely lives up to expectations -- nothing more, nothing less -- Memphis will have the edge.  Bottom line: You don't trade away players with superstar talent.  I could give a sh*t if you already have several young players at the position of the guy you're drafting.  You don't trade away potential superstars.

Love will be a good player.  Not a great player.  A quote from tomorrow's Sid column (the column that appeared on the Strib's website before the Mayo-Love deal went down): "Our people thought that Mayo had far more upside than Love," Wolves owner Glen Taylor said.  Wait, what?

I'd like to repeat that: "Our people thought that Mayo had far more upside than Love," Wolves owner Glen Taylor said.  And once again, for emphasis: "Our people thought that Mayo had far more upside than Love," Wolves owner Glen Taylor said. 

Nothing against Love or Miller.  But when you're trading away a player with legit superstar talent, you need MORE than a solid big and a quality perimeter shooter.  As the owner himself said, Mayo has far more upside than Love -- so, at the end of the day, I can't help but expect that this deal will ultimately become yet another McHale goof.

By the time most Minnesota Timberwolves fans go to sleep tonight, the Wolves will have finally ended the great mystery surrounding the third pick in the NBA draft. Most of us have had well over a month to envision a Wolves team with Al Jefferson and [insert rookie to be drafted here] because the Wolves were in lottery land from day 1 of the season. While the majority of Timberwolves fans had a clear rooting interest in the playoffs thanks to the decade-plus years of service from Kevin Garnett, the second thought on everyone's mind (other than a generally entertaining playoffs) was who the Wolves would get in this year's NBA draft. On draft lottery day, we were treated to the gut punch of the third pick in a so-called "two player draft". The only two "Sure Things" in this draft, much like Nicollet Sheridan in the 1985 movie of the same name (man, she's old), Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose made this draft a supposed two-horse race.  However, several candidates have intrigued our front office and there's been a growing movement out of Miami that OJ Mayo is sneaking up on Michael Beasley like Birdstone on Smarty Jones in the final furlough of the Belmount.

I'm not telling any of you anything new and I'm not going to pretend I am about to.  I'm not going to preview the players and possible scenarios because we all have the internet and most of us can read. You've all studied the various mock drafts and trade scenarios out there and we should all know the varying strenghts and weaknesses of each player. Barring any outrageaous trades, we know the probably name of our next first-round draft pick (including all realistic trade scenarios) will be Michael Beasley, OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Brook Lopez or Danillo Gallinari.  Throughout a month of forum posting and "Blogprints of the Future", just about everyone here has taken a place in their respective corners. So why so much debate and buzz over this pick?  First, because it could be anyone. Second, because our front office is, well, full of surprises.

The Wolves have made some bad draft picks in the past. I'm not talking about the drafts where we can have 20-20 hindsight after a decade of play in the league. I'm talking about the drafts where the front office has taken a flyer on someone nobody projected, passing up proven players or other talents. We all have our opinions on who we should have drafted in years past and who we should draft this year.  The problem? None of us, as fans, get to make this pick. On top of that, there is a lot of speculation on what to do with the two early second round picks.  Do we take a foreigner and let him develop overseas? If we don't take a big early, do we try to address it in the second round? Do we try to trade both picks to move up?

In an attempt to be objective (as a quick aside - my personal preference has switched from the Lopez camp at the very beginning to the "if you don't get Beasley, take Mayo or Love" camp), the Wolves have to approach this draft tonight from an angle that every player is expendable but Al Jefferson. That's not to say there aren't other important pieces on this team, but any of the players we draft tonight should be able to replace any starter on this team right now except for Jefferson (sorry, CW, even Gomes). Whether they go big or small with the lottery pick, the goal should be to get Al back to his "natural position", which most people agree is power forward. Every player in this draft coming out is flawed, those flaws are well documeted, so in a short while, we will soon see which direction this team will go.

With the third pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select...

CW & Bonk Talk NBA Draft with Mike Trudell of Timberwolves.com

Tonight Bonk and I sat down for a quick 1 on 2 (I guess that's what you'd call it) interview with the "Wolves Reporter," Mike Trudell of Timberwolves.com. You all probably already know whom I'm advocating we take (at least you should know), but find out what Trudell and Bonk have to say as well.