At every position they can effectively guard all our players one on one. Pierce has proven he can do a reasonable job on Kobe.

Perkins/KG can guard Bynum/Gasol as well as anyone else in the league

For us to take advantage of them we must run our offense properly and not run a bunch of iso’s cuz it wont work.

Their bench talent wise isnt much better but they fit into their roles alot smoother.

House isnt nearly as talented as our back up pgs but he knows his role and plays it perfectly.

Daniels gives them ball handing off the bench so house doesnt have to struggle to bring up the ball.

Our bench cant afford to play bad against the Celtics or we’ll be at a severe disadvantage because the drop off from the Celtics starters to their bench isnt much where as for us.. Its huge

1. Knicks had a very keen interest on 2 guards: Rubio and Curry. Like Kurt said, Curry had NYK written all over his face. Trading down one of the 5th or 6th pick in the process would have done them alot of good.

2. Pick Flynn (since management was so high on him) for one of the picks and settle for the 8th pick.

3. Assuming Knicks went on to pick either one of Rubio or Curry, and the Wolves still had Flynn, a guy like Demar Derozan would have given the Wolves something they missed on trading OJ Mayo – a high flying guard who could leap out of the building. Most of all, he is someone who fills in a need at the wing position and he gets butts in the seats with his game.

4. For the 18th overall, it could have gone either way. Lawson would have not been there but since they traded the pick anyways, what good is it to them? It could have very well been Casspi (picked 21 overall) who is now doing very very well in Sactown. That would have given the Wolves a lineup of:

Flynn – Derozan – Casspi – Love – Jefferson

Not a bad combo in my book. very athletic, fun to watch and a very good balanced team to have. Then again, I am not Kahn. Boy do they wish I was?..

With those 2 veterans out of the way, Minnesota now has Gomes, Jefferson, Hollins, Love and Brewer. The other guys are not worth mentioning, just think of it as Minny owns every other expiring contract in the league.

Now with the draft looming to change its fate for good, with Griffin, Thabeet, Harden and Evans getting picked as planned, Minnesota was more or less forced to pick Rubio with 5th overall.

And because they were so enamored with Jonny Flynn’s workout in the pre-draft camps, they decided to roll with him as well. Not bad picks when you consider that the team is 5 years away from contending anyways… but pretty bad considering that 2 PGs who are ball-dominant cannot live with each other.

Maybe the Wolves factored in the fact that Rubio was 3 years away from setting foot in the NBA, but then again thats a bad investment to make for the 5th overall pick. You do that with the picks you own from 17-down but not top 5.

Fast forward to pick #18, Miny picks yet another PG in Ty Lawson. More of him later.

10 picks later, with the best player available combined with team needs considered, Wayne Ellington was picked.

And because one team can never have enough PGs they say, Minny picks Nick Calathes to stash in Europe like Rubio for the 45th pick overall and grabs a center in Norel 2 picks later.

If you consider the team’s position before and after the draft, you would be amazed how a person could become a millionaire to a beggar in a day’s time.

To add insult to injury, the best FA signing Minnesota had was Ramon Sessions (who is btw signed to a very beautiful and sexy contract.)

To be continued…

That team is playing inspired basketball and its undeniable that for the 1st time in a long time, the team is playing as a team. This may just be a phase, they still don’t have a reliable perimeter defender nor a strong defensive PG but their bigs are really outdoing themselves.

Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph are giving Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum a run for their money… now who would have thought about that when the season began??

By the mid 4th, the boos were predominant when Kobe stepped up to the line. The crowd was roaring for all the Laker miscues and Clipper baskets.

Besides, I don’t think Pau and Marc would have had a hard time coexisting on the same floor; I think Marc & Pau & Odom would have made a beautiful passing front court.

Still, Andrew had a high salary then and was injured, on top of being Jim Buss’s centerpiece when he eventually takes over, so that had 0 chance of happening.

But it would have been funny to field two of Spain’s starters; think of the front office’s pains if both left to participate for the Olympics and risked injury. That’s in addition to Kobe, who will be representing US, and Sasha too, if he was in good shape

Anyway, we were due to lose a game where we deserved to lose, and where Kobe shouldered too much responsibility.