Another lottery, still no balls bouncing right for Wolves
Well, team pariah… err, I mean president Kevin McHale had better cancel his deposit on those Las Vegas luxury condos he was hoping to retire in after winning the lottery and drafting Greg Oden to be Kevin Garnett’s front-court pal on a trip to the NBA Finals. Ain’t gonna happen.
Why? Well, because like always the Wolves failed to move up in the NBA Draft Lottery. Why should 2007 be any different? Considering we’re signing Randy Wittman to a three-year coaching deal he has done nothing to earn and keeping McHale employed and empowered, the Wolves don’t really deserve to move up and get Greg Oden anyway.
Portland, who had just as good a chance as the Wolves to get the top pick, actually did move up and secure the Oden pick. Seattle moved up, also, securing the second pick, which is likely to go to Kevin Durant.
Falling short of those two, the player that makes the best fit for the Wolves is Florida post player Al Horford. But with his stock rising, it looks more and more like at the seven spot, the Wolves will be stuck with either the less-inspiring Joakim Noah or Chinese post player Yi Lianjian. Neither is considered to be quite in the same league as Horford, Durant or Oden.
Maybe the Wolves can pull off a draft-day trade to lose some of their bad-contract players and move up a few spots to secure the rights to Horford. Of course, SF Corey Brewer might be available, also, and wouldn’t be so bad; but that would work only if the Wolves could find a trading partner willing to take on Ricky “Icky” Davis.
If not… well… It’ll be 2010 before the Wolves have to worry about where they fall in the draft lottery anyway. Thanks a lot, McHale…
