Randy Foye (hip) and Craig Smith (calf) continued to be bothered by injuries that kept them out of Sunday’s victory over New Jersey and McHale said after practice Monday that they both are “questionable” for tonight’s game against the Mavs.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they shut down Foye if his hip really has been bothering him ever since he fell on Kevin Love a month ago. Smith also apparently has been bothered by the calf for some time and reinjured Friday in Cleveland.

Since the draft prospects seem a hot topic here, I thought I’d throw out my most recent musings:

After thinking about it, I’d really be surprised if they take Thabeet unless they draft sixth or seventh and he clearly is the best guy left. Great shotblocker, yes, but I just don’t know what you do with him offensively with big Al already the centerpiece on the low block and the Wolves need sheer talent too much to take a chance on a guy who right now is that one dimensional. Plus, you’ve committed yourself to Love and Jefferson and yes you could work all three together in a rotation, but you don’t really have room long term to commit the centerpiece of the Garnett trade and two high lottery picks for two position spots.  With the Wolves still expecting Pekovic to arrive in 2010, I think you really to add a guy who think can be an All Star at another spot with what should  be a top five pick.

It’s still three months away, but I saw they take a shooter, a scorer, a slasher, a perimeter player whose long, athletic and can potentially defend, even if he’s not there yet. I’d love Ricky Rubio with their pick, but they’ll probably need top two, top three at the very least. It’s just a hunch (Kevin Love was my hunch last year), but I’ll go out on the proverbial limb now and say they take DeMar DeRozan with their first pick and then they use one of the later picks to take the best athletic, shot-blocking big man  left (B.J. Mullens, Jerome James, Cole Aldrich if they get real lucky).

I’ve got a feeling this will be Fred Hoiberg’s draft and his Tim Floyd connection brought O.J. Mayo for about five hours last summer and something just tells me that it’ll bring the Wolves another player this time, for a lot longer than that.

You pencil him in as your two guard for the next decade, you move Foye to McCants’ former sixth man role and then that gives you the option to take a point guard with that Miami pick (Eric Maynor? Ty Lawson? Jonny Flynn?) and the best big guy left with either the Jazz pick (if you get it) or the Celtics pick or go big with the Heat pick and hope to get a Patty Mills or a Jrue Holiday with the later pick(s).

Or trade Mike Miller in a package for a point guard or a big man.

If you’re looking long term, I kinda like, say, a Maynor-DeRozan backcourt. Bigger, long, athletic, definitely potentially far better defensively than what you have now. With a healthy Al, KLove and Brewer, Foye, Gomes, Telfair, maybe Miller as complementary pieces, I like that. Then, no matter who you take with that later pick, you’ve still (conceivably) got Pekovic coming a year from now.

I like going for the guy you think could be a stud two guard rather than a small forward because you’ve already got Brewer, Miller and Gomes (if those last two stay beyond next year and the year after) and maybe even Rodney Carney. I’ll wager right now that DeRozan gets drafted before James Harden.

The other guy to keep in mind, as mentioned on the last thread, is Brandon Jennings, a gamble to be sure. Where he goes probably all will depend on how he works out for teams.

You could reverse things and take Jennings (or Rubio or maybe even Willie Warren) with that first pick and then a two guard (Tyreke Evans, if you’re lucky) with the Heat pick. I really like the idea of using those top two picks to really upgrade long term the athleticism, size and defensive potential of your backcourt and make Foye and Telfair really good backups on a playoff team.
I, too, would prefer Utah doesn’t finish with one of the best eight records and that pick is deferred to top 16 protected next year. But if the Wolves do get it and end up with four first-round picks, it would give the flexibility to possibly move up from 18 or 19 with the Heat’s pick to 12 through 15ish by packaging that Heat pick with either the Jazz or Celtics’ pick to get a guy you really want, say a Maynor if you don’t think he’ll last until 18.

What I don’t get is the talk of Marcus Camby. The guy’s 35. This team’s future is at least two, three years away for the next 7-8 after that.  You’ve still got to look at this as another two to three year process of getting the right pieces — and you better not miss with your decisions.

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