Love hurts

So the Wolves selected OJ Mayo last Thursday in the NBA Draft, just as I had hoped they would do. As everyone drifted off to sleep with visions of OJ becoming the Rookie of the Year, the Memphis Grizzlies traded their #5 pick, Kevin Love, and three other players to the Wolves for Mayo and another three throw-ins.

This has been a highly divisive issue here in Minneapolis. Some are adamantly defending the pick, but the majority are kicking and screaming because they think Mayo is the next Michael Jordan.

Right now, this trade looks to be in favor of the Timberwolves. As I mentioned in a previous post, I would be all for trading this pick if they are able to dump Marco Jaric's terrible contract in the process. Not only did they do that, but they also got rid of some other big contracts in Antoine Walker and Greg Buckner. Here's how the trade worked out:

Jaric for Memphis's Brian Cardinal: They are both equally useless and overpaid, but Jaric has 3 more years left on his contract, while Cardinal only has two. Advantage Wolves.

Walker for Jason Collins: Both only have one year left on their contracts. Walker rarely played last season and was most likely going to be bought out this year or traded. In return the Wolves get a solid center with only one year left on his contract. This looks like an even exchange.

Buckner for Mike Miller: The Wolves got rid of a guy that rarely suited up last season and had three more years on his contract. In exchange, they received a starting forward/guard who averaged 16 points a game and shot over 40% beyond the arch last season. Advantage Wolves.

Mayo for Love: Here's the wild card. Jim Souhan put it best when he said the Wolves got the sweet end of this deal...unless Mayo becomes a huge NBA superstar and Love does not. There's really no way of knowing if that will happen. He could end up playing at the same level as Clyde Drexler, Ray Allen, or even Kobe Bryant. Or maybe his ceiling will be at the level of former Gopher Bobby Jackson.

That's why Wolves fans need to mellow out about this trade. If you all want to get pissed about something, then look to the trade they made to Miami with second round pick Mario Chalmers, a point guard out of Kansas. He was the floor leader on the team that won the NCAA Championship last year and was projected by some to be gone by the middle of the first round. The Wolves got some cash and two future second round picks from Miami.

At first, I was a little upset that they gave away a player that seemed to be a pretty good steal, but I understood that they were pretty jammed up at his position when they had Randy Foye, OJ Mayo, Marko Jaric, and Sebastian Telfair projected to be playing point guard. I still thought they should have been able to get something better than two future second rounders, though. Oh well.

But then the next morning came and I heard about the big trade that happened late that night. OJ Mayo and Marko Jaric were now gone. In addition to that, the Wolves did not extend a qualifying offer to Sebastian Telfair, making him an unrestricted free agent as of tomorrow. This leaves only Randy Foye left at the point guard position. In the matter of 24 hours, the Wolves went from having 5 players at the point guard position to just one.

As I said before, there's really no way of knowing how any of these rookies will pan out in the NBA. But as a Timberwolves fan, I feel a little more pissed off about losing Mario Chalmers then I do about OJ Mayo. Only time will tell.