A day away and options, options everywhere
Posted on June 24th, 2009 – 12:45 AMBy Jerry Zgoda
The Wolves and Wizards are expected to finalize that six-piece trade this morning.
What will the Wolves do with those fifth and sixth picks now?
It’ll be a long day answering David Kahn’s phone for the next two days.
If they keep those two picks, there’s a growing chance Ricky Rubio falls to them at No. 5.
I’m hearing David Kahn really wants Tyreke Evans, but Sacramento could pass on Rubio if he’s still there at 4 (and probably will be) and take Evans instead.
The Wolves also have Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn high on their guard list and wouldn’t whine if Arizona State’s James Harden lasted until the fifth pick, either.
Flynn also is a possibility for the Kings at No. 4, if they opt for a true point guard to put next to Kevin Martin rather than a combo guy like Evans.
Might Kahn use the 18th and/or 28th picks to swap with the Thunder at 3 and move up past the Kings to take Evans rather than Rubio (assuming Memphis grabs Thabeet second)?
Sacramento then takes Flynn or Rubio and OKC gets Harden anyway and the Wolves take Curry’s shooting to pair with Evans’ slashing and Al Jefferson’s low-post game.
Next summer, in a draft projected to be thick with big men, the Wolves then use one of their two first-round picks to find a low-post defender to supplement Jefferson and Kevin Love.
Anyway you look at, this first trade appears to commit Kahn to going even younger than the Wolves already had gone.
It appears he’s intent on doing all he can to ensure the team has two more good picks in the 2010 draft, when they keep their own pick owed the Clippers if it’s in the Top 10 and get Utah’s pick protected through the Top 16.
As for money, the Wolves deal Mike Miller’s expiring $9.75 million and Randy Foye’s $3.57 million (qualifying offer year due for 2010-11) contracts and take back Etan Thomas’ expiring $7.3 million contract.
There’s a team option on Oleksiy Pecherov deal for $2.38 million for 2010-11 and they’ll almost certainly have to pay Darius Songaila for the next season because he earns $4.52 million this year and has a player option for $4.8 million the following season.
The 76ers pursued Foye, hoping to bring the former Villanova star back to Philly, but, with the draft’s 17th pick, didn’t have enough to offer.
Love tweeted this late Tuesday night: “Personally I do not think I’m going to be traded…99% sure. But I will leave that 1% up in the air. I’ve heard the Memphis rumors, blahblah.”
Here’s the “Wolves Insider” I wrote three different times tonight for tomorrow’s paper as I received more and more information from sources around the league.



