monsterpile wrote:khans2k5 wrote:mrhockey89 wrote:Yep, Westbrook was considered a bit of a reach at 4 that year. That draft I recall like it was yesterday. There were 2.5 blue chippers according to all the experts: Michael Beasley (who was absolutely destroying college basketball on a nightly basis and looked like a better version of Carmelo), Derrick Rose (who came on like lightning after ripping up the NCAA Tourney), OJ Mayo was the .5 blue chipper (I recall Dwayne Wade was basically calling him the next superstar). I remember Jerryd Bayless being highly touted, and the big discussion on our board involved Brook Lopez, because he had a well developed skill set that we could have used. I think we all wanted Mayo (for the most part) and were probably all upset that we traded for Love (I know I was).
It's pretty amazing how Beasley dominated college once we learned about his measurements and they shaved a few inches off the top. He went from a 6'10 dominating front court force to a 6'7 wing overnight.
Yep that was something that concerned me a bit about him as a prospect but the reality was none of that was why he didn't succeed as a high end player.
Things sometimes forgotten in that Love for Mayo trade was the Wolves saved salary in that deal (including dumping Jaric) AND got back Mike Miller who was a legit asset either as a player or in a trade. It was a hell of a good trade.
I can offer some insight into what happened with Mayo and Love. That was back in the day when I had access to people high up in the Wolves organization. But there were things I couldn't share at the time. I had the chance to talk one-on-one with Fred Hoiberg before that draft. We were talking about Mayo. He told me confidentially that he liked Mayo, but that OJ would be a limited player in the NBA. He said that Mayo lacked the hip flexibility needed to turn the corner and penetrate effectively at the NBA level and for that reason he'd likely be nothing more than a jump shooter. I knew something was up then in the midst of all the media speculation that the Wolves had targeted Mayo.
I really liked Love as a prospect and when I mentioned that to Fred he agreed with all the positive things I said about Love and offered no negatives. I focused on Love's rebounding and perimeter shooting as a rare combination. Fred added that Love was the best big-man passer in the draft. So I can honestly say, I wasn't surprised by the Mayo deal when it happened. I learned shortly after the draft that McHale loved Love and that the entire front office were united on wanting Love. Love was their target all along. They almost took Love straight up, but felt confident they could swap Mayo for Love. I was told they would have swapped Mayo for Lopez if they couldn't get a deal for Love, but they really wanted Love.
So McHale should get a lot of credit for the deal he pulled off. That trade for Love and drafting Garnett when it was considered risky to draft a player right out high school were two impressive achievements by McHale during his tenure as PBO. He deserves credit for signing Billups and would have kept him if not for Flip insisting that he wanted Terrell Brandon as his starting PG. McHale also deserves credit for getting Spree and Sam, which led to the Wolves one and only appearance in the Western Conference Finals. McHale had his share of screw-ups as PBO, but he made more A-grade moves than any other regime in Wolves history. Moreover, the team has never had anything close to the success it had during his tenure. Call it faint praise, but McHale is by far the best PBO this franchise has ever had. Before I praise Rosas, he has to do at least as well as McHale did.
