Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Saturday, June 28, 2008
Another shakeup for Wolves, who get Miller, Love
MINNEAPOLIS — Many of the morning sports sections in Minnesota were stocked with kudos for O.J. Mayo, the kid the Timberwolves called a complete player, a terrific shooter and a complete person after they took him with the third pick in the draft.
But late Thursday night, Mayo became the latest centerpiece of another roster-rattling trade made by the Wolves in their headliner attempts to rebuild a playoff team in the relentless Western Conference. Kevin Love instead became the latest addition to the lineup anchored by flourishing big man Al Jefferson.
“You’re starting to see the core take place,” said vice president for basketball operations Kevin McHale, who signed off on the eight-player deal to send Mayo to Memphis when the Grizzlies offered sharp-shooting guard Mike Miller. “I think that’s the exciting thing.”
Many disenfranchised Timberwolves fans weren’t so sure.
Kevin Garnett is clearly missed around here, perhaps even more now that he’s won a title with Boston. Plus, the last draft-night swap in Minnesota let a Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in Brandon Roy get away to Portland. Naturally, the team was inundated with negative public reaction once people woke up and realized Mayo wasn’t coming after all to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2004, only once advanced past the first round and finished 22-60 last season.
This trade won’t sell many tickets, but McHale has never been concerned about his image.
He coveted the 6-foot-8 Miller, who will fill a glaring void for an outside shooter. He averaged a career-best 16.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while hitting 43.2 percent of his 3-pointers last season for the Grizzlies.
“When we made the trade, we became a much better team in a lot of different areas,” McHale said Friday afternoon during a news conference to introduce Love and discuss the trade that wasn’t done until well after midnight.
Also clearly on the team’s agenda is strong chemistry, an asset the Wolves have frequently claimed but annually touted as being even stronger after each big move.
“The minute we made that trade, I thought that the locker room became a great NBA locker room,” McHale said.
Greg Buckner was simply a spare part, but the other two veterans, Marko Jaric and Antoine Walker, sent to Memphis in the deal could accurately have been called malcontents after their playing time on a young team dwindled.
Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins, the two others acquired from the Grizzlies, don’t figure to add much to coach Randy Wittman’s rotation. But they, like fellow backup big man Mark Madsen, are considered quality teammates to have around.
Though Love is only a rookie, that concept of strong chemistry seems to start with him. He was “dancing on the ceiling” when he found out the trade was finalized, and he repeatedly spoke about embracing Minneapolis as a colder version of his hometown, Portland.
“It’s going to be my new favorite city,” Love said, equally eager to learn from McHale — “maybe my favorite player of all time,” he said — and play next to Jefferson.
Mayo could become the next superstar this star-crossed 19-year-old franchise discarded, but only time can tell.
Love? Well, there’s more to him than most casual observers might assume.
He led UCLA to the Final Four as a freshman and earned the Pac-10 Player of the Year award after averaging 17.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, but he’s also a deft passer for his size who can step out of the post and shoot a longer shot. There will be doubts about his ability to guard the NBA’s biggest guys at 6-foot-10, but the Wolves claimed no concern.
“There’s only one Yao Ming,” McHale said. “There’s also 28 other teams in the league excluding us who don’t have a Yao Ming. So he’s going to be fine, and you’ve got to remember one thing. If Yao makes that eight, nine-footer, well that’s good. But you’ve got to go down to the other end, too. Who’s Yao going to guard between he and Al?”
Many of the top draft prospects prefer to work out for teams on their own, but Love had no problem with the Wolves testing his defense and rebounding against taller players in a group that included 7-foot Frenchman Alexis Ajinca.
“I was psyched to go up against 7-footers, and I was kind of foaming at the mouth to do it just to show ’em what I can do,” Love said.
General manager Jim Stack compared Love’s athleticism to Al Horford, who had a solid rookie season for Atlanta after he was selected third overall in last year’s draft. They’re the same height, and they have the same 35-inch vertical leap. The Wolves also said Love scored better than Horford in certain agility drills.
“And Kevin brings a jump shot and an ability to stretch the defense and shoot the perimeter shot way better than Al Horford,” Stack said, also touting future salary-cap flexibility with the riddance of Jaric’s big contract. “It really set us up on so many levels that this was a deal we couldn’t pass up.”
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