From Don Seeholzer/Pioneer Press:
With Foye and Miller gone, the Wolves have a short-term need at shooting guard, and they are working out Arizona State’s James Harden this afternoon.
With Foye and Miller gone, the Wolves have a short-term need at shooting guard, and they are working out Arizona State’s James Harden this afternoon.
The latest rumor out of Minnesota, according to a source that follows the Timberwolves, is they might want to trade the No. 5 and 18 picks to Oklahoma City for the No. 3 pick. The latest twist is Minnesota’s target is Tyreke Evans, not Ricky Rubio or Hasheem Thabeet.
Sacramento, which picks No. 4, is believed to have Evans at the top of its board. Minnesota might feel compelled to move up to take Evans but doesn’t want to give up the No. 5 and No. 6 picks to Memphis to get Evans since that would be a high price, especially since they also have interest in Rubio and Thabeet.
To recap: Pending league approval, Minnesota has agreed to acquire Washington’s No. 5 overall pick along with Etan Thomas, Oleksiy Pecherov and Darius Songaila for Randy Foye and Mike Miller. With the fifth, sixth, 18th, and 28th picks, Minnesota is far from finished. A person familiar with the team’s plans said Minnesota is loaded for a run at Rubio, the gifted but raw 18-year-old point guard, and Thabeet, the 7-3 shot-blocker who would finally replace Kevin Garnett’s inside presence. “In a perfect world, both,” said the person with knowledge of Minnesota’s master plan.
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Once their trade with Washington becomes official, the Timberwolves will have four selections in Thursday’s first round. No team wants four rookies needing minutes at the same time, so there will surely be additional moves to follow, and that’s not even counting Minnesota’s two second-round choices. No one could have imagined a month ago that the Twin Cities would be one of the league’s rush-hour intersections on June 25, but welcome to it.
Kahn will have nonstop options, including packaging picks in an attempt to move up to No. 2 or 3; selling No. 18 or 28 because there will be interested buyers; trading No. 18 or 28 for a future first-rounder; and using No. 28 on an international player who will stay overseas.
The Wolves are expected to keep the Nos. 5 and 6 picks in the draft. But if they were to trade up with Memphis for the No. 2 pick to choose point guard Ricky Rubio of Spain, the Wolves would be trading a lot for an unknown talent. Rubio might not be as good as Foye.