GIVE THE WOLVES AN 'I' FOR INCOMPLETE -- Conventional wisdom is that the Wolves are still obligated to trade Kevin Garnett because there is no turning back from the bruised feelings resulting from the trade discussion that the Wolves clearly had before the draft.
Wrong. Garnett may pout inwardly, but he will still play hard. (That reality, not to mention $23 million, is why Danny Ainge should have called his agent's bluff.) The reason the Wolves still need to unapologetically explore trading Garnett _ all the way up to the trade deadline next February _ is that given no other person but the Ostrich is going to be given the chance to build around KG, it remains the only way for this team to a) bottom out and b) truly rebuild for the long term and perhaps become more than a fringe playoff team in the West.
Which is precisely where Corey Brewer, a nice choice, might get you. Brewer should be an excellent do-everything NBA player, though it is essential that he will be able to play small forward on a team that still has way too many off-guards, including Troy Hudson. Still don't have a center, still don't have a fourth-quarter go-to guy, still don't have a point guard who makes others better, still don't have a young, tall banger (unless the No. 2 pick ends up being the steal of the century), still have a lot of bad contracts. I still expect Ricky Davis to be dealt, which will be a good thing.
The Ostrich did his usual dismissive song-and-dance on the Garnett trade rumors, also added this: "Kevin is a member of our team right now. I assume he'll be a member of the team this fall."
Carefully chosen words that hardly preclude the possibility of Garnett's departure.
By the way, remember all the absurd, right-out-of-the-Country Club spin that insisted the spare-no-expense, no-holds-barred Wolves were going to jump-start the process by buying an extra No. 1 choice? I must have missed that transaction. I did notice that the Blazers, instead of simply sitting on their prize No. 1 overall pick, also spent $3 million to pick up an extra first-rounder from the Suns. Also noticed another Northwest Division team, the Sonics, showing guts, creativity and big-time aggressiveness on draft day, trading away the face of their franchise and getting more youthful talent. Revolutionary.
