Life, Love and The NBA Draft

Most NBA Draft coverage falls into two categories. Either it's speculation about who certain teams will pick, often in the form of mock drafts, or it's analysis of who should be picked by certain teams. Obviously it's more of the latter for teams earlier in the draft and more of the former for teams later in the draft which is logical. Teams toward the beginning of the draft control their own destiny and teams closer to the end need a little luck.

This article will not fall into either one of those categories. I'm not anyone who has secret insight into who teams will pick nor do I have particularly interesting opinions of who should be picked. I fall into the "Beasley fits Chicago better but Rose would never forgive them" camp and, as a basketball fan, I hope the Bulls slight Rose and thus make him a player with a chip on his shoulder. (See: Paul, Chris) Yet I, like most of the basketball prognastocating masses, expect Rose to go first and Beasley to go second to the Heat. Instead my article will be about how I'd feel on Thursday night if the Timberwolves pick certain players with the number three pick.



Derrick Rose (.00001% chance of happening)

To do this the Timberwolves would probably have to trade for the top pick and I doubt Chicago would do it unless we gave them El Jefe. If we gave up Jefe I'd be very upset and wouldn't like it at all.



Michael Beasley (.00999% chance)

I would like to have Michael Beasley on the Timberwolves and if the Bulls take Rose first and the Heat take OJ Mayo he could end up on the team. If that were the case, not only would I be happy we got such a good young player but also that unlikely circumstance guided him to us.



OJ Mayo

An odd taste, yes. But delicious in the way things that aren't good for us usually are while still being full of Vitamin C, potassium and folic acid. Yum!



Ovington J'Antony Mayo (75% chance)

He's the draft's third best player and we have the third pick by merits of having the third worst record. So I'd be happy because we got the guy we wanted and deserved and because I think OJ Mayo fits well with Randy Foye in the backcourt. Plus he comes with a ready-made Minnesota-relevant nickname, The Clinic.



Brook Lopez (15% chance)

Brook Lopez is seven feet tall and our team ostensibly needs a center but that doesn't necessarily mean we have to pick Brook Lopez. I didn't want him last year when we picked seventh and I especially don't want him this year when we pick third.



Jerryd Bayless (2% chance)

I don't know as much about Bayless as Mayo and I've even cited that here in an earlier post. If he ended up on the Wolves instead of Mayo without a trade for pieces, I guess I'd be a little shocked and wonder what the front office knew that I didn't.



Kevin Love (4% chance)

He isn't tall enough to play center like Brook Lopez and again if he ended up on the Wolves without a trade, I'd be a little shocked and wonder what the front office knows that I didn't. However I do know a bit more about Love than Bayless and I'm impressed enough to perhaps have a little faith in the pick. How could you pass at buying a T'Wolves jersey that says "LOVE" across the back?



Danilo Gallinari (2% chance)

Honestly I don't know what to expect from Gallinari and I don't know if I like that for the Wolves. The team already took a big risk trading away Kevin Garnett and, in the early stages, it seems to have worked. But let's not convince ourselves the front office all of a sudden got their shit together and all of their big time risks are going to pay off.



DeAndre Jordan (.5% chance)

Eric Gordon (.25% chance)

Russel Westbrook (.25% chance)

The Wolves would probably trade out of the top three and get pieces back in exchange in order to take any of these three guys. Without knowing who we got back, I'd still be okay with having any of these three eventhough I don't know how well they fit with pieces we already have and none of them clearly will be good at the next level.