Wolves’ makeover, round two
The Wolves’ performance in the NBA draft was interesting, to say the least. After refusing to be baited into an unnecessary trade by the New Jersey Nets by telling them to keep their third overall pick and their American Standard toilets, Minnesota still saw the guy they wanted – Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson – fall to them in last week’s draft with their top pick in the first round, fourth overall.
Johnson will likely become an immediate starter, especially after the Wolves traded away SF Ryan Gomes to Portland, along with one of their lower draft picks, to acquire young veteran Martell Webster. Webster’s stock fell with the Blazers when he missed all of last year due to an injury, but he’s another wing player who can score and has speed, as well as experience. With Gomes out of the picture, Webster may be able to start while Johnson acclimates to the NBA, and will be a valuable backup once Johnson’s ready to start.
Johnson is believed to have been the Wolves top choice only after they found out they were picking fourth; had they retained their second-pick spot through the NBA Draft Lottery, it is widely believed the Wolves would have loved to have drafted Evan Turner to fill the role at shooting guard. But that was not to be.
The Wolves also ended up with a couple of big men who may or may not play in the NBA this year, Lazar Hayward and Nemanja Bjelica, who could provide depth and versatility in the post.
Despite having more power forwards than most teams have big men, GM David Kahn has said that whether Al Jefferson remains with the Wolves or is traded away this off-season depends largely on the decision of Darko Milicic; if Milicic is willing to return to the Wolves, Kahn will move Jefferson to create minutes for Milicic… and hopefully get a decent solution at SG in the mix.
There are many changes still coming for the Wolves this season; no one’s untouchable except maybe Kevin Love, and nothing’s set just yet. But after a season in which the Wolves finished second-worst in the NBA, virtually no one has earned immunity from Kahn’s deal-making ways.
Let’s just hope that when the dust settles, it will mirror the Dallas shuffle of about 10 years ago, when coach Don Nelson came in and traded over half the team away, saying at the time, “I can lose with this new group of guys just as easily as I did with the last group of guys.”
Of course, it was a bit of a smoke-screen; Nelson laid the foundations for the solid team the Mavericks are today with those trades. Let’s hope in a decade, we’ll be saying the same thing about Kahn and this off-season’s moves.
