”This is a big year to move up. There are a couple players I
think could really help accelerate the rebuilding process,”
Hoiberg said. ”But even if we don’t get one of the top two picks,
I still think there are some players that would fit well with the
group of guys that we have.”
 

 

…Arizona point guard Jerryd Bayless, Stanford center Brook Lopez
and power forwards Kevin Love of UCLA and Anthony Randolph of LSU
all could be possibilities for the Wolves if they miss out on
Beasley and Rose.
 

”There’s a couple of big players that we could put in with this
team that could help us out right away,” Hoiberg said. ”There’s
some playmakers after the top two guys that could come in and help
take some pressure off in the fourth quarter. There’s a couple of
international guys that are intriguing.” 

 
  
 
On May 20 at NBA Studios in Secaucus, N.J., Minnesota opens the lottery
doors with a 13.8 percent chance of landing the top pick and a 14.24
percent chance for the second pick. Both Miami (25.0 percent) and
Seattle (19.9 percent) have a better chance of nabbing the top choice,
as the Wolves finished the 2007-08 season tied with Memphis for the
league’s third-worst record (22-60) before winning a coin flip with the
Grizzlies for the third position.
 

Minnesota, of course, has never had the No. 1 pick…
 

 

 
Two things to remember if the Wolves pick third or lower — their best
chance is to pick fifth (29.05 percent) or fourth (23.82 percent) — and
must make a decision on Mayo, likely the subject of a forthcoming NCAA
investigation for allegedly accepting thousands of dollars of gifts and
cash from a sports agent while he was in high school and college: The
agency who allegedly paid up in return for the future right to
represent Mayo is run by Bill Duffy, Kevin McHale’s former college
roommate. And Mayo’s college coach was Tim Floyd, who coached Hoiberg
at Iowa State. Hoiberg said he has talked “a lot” with Floyd recently
about his USC players.
 
 
 
Fred Hoiberg, Timberwolves assistant general manager, plans to take
a stuffed bear for good luck to Tuesday’s NBA draft lottery. The bear
belongs to a 12-year-old Brooklyn Park boy, Matthew Gamber, whom
Hoiberg has befriended the past two seasons. The boy has undergone more
than 100 medical procedures and always takes the bear with him into
surgery, Hoiberg said Thursday. The Wolves’ best chance is for the
fifth (29.05 percent) or fourth (23.82 percent) picks in the draft.