With Foye, Mayo makes more sense for the size and passing ability. Rose looks like a great player, but a backcourt of him and Foye is too small. They should take Mayo and build around a Mayo, Foye, Jefferson core.
I actually think they came out GREAT! They had to rebuild. They were going nowhere. Yet so long as Garnett was on their team, they were always going to have too good of a record to draft better than the late lotto. Garnett had to go. Now, that being the case - the only thing that makes sense is a package of young players and draft picks. If they received equal value in trade (like if they received Tim Duncan in a straight up deal) they'd be in the same situation. No cap room and still winning just a few too many games to get the best picks. McHale is a terrible GM. He's proven that over and over again. That said, I really don't think he could have done better than he did in that deal. He received Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 first round draft pick (top three protected) and a return of Minnesota's conditional first round draft pick previously obtained in the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak trade. Not to mention cash. Al Jefferson has looked great this season. He's a possible franchise player, and guess what? They were able to extend his deal for a mere 60 million. Try to find another big man in the league putting up numbers like he's putting up for anywhere near that low of a salary. He's putting up 20 ppg and 12 rpg and he won't turn 23 years old for another few days. The contract they have him signed to is an absolute steal. Ryan Gomes is still young and should be a solid bench/roleplayer for years to come. Gerald Green is a gamble, but his athleticism is out of this world and he's what? 20 years old? Ratliff and Telfair free up salary space quicker than Garnett would. Finally, they got two first round picks (even if one of them was originally theirs). I just fail to see how this was a bad trade. In fact, I'm getting to where I'd love to see McGrady packaged for some sort of deal like this. At least I'd have draft day to look forward to. This was not a short term move. This was a long term move. If you have doubts about it, check out the Portland Trailblazers. They blew it all up and it's working out just fine for them. Minnesota really seems to be looking at Portland as a model too. In the last few years, Portland has gobbled up players who came straight out of high school but haven't yet reached their potential as well as picking up high quality guys from successful college programs. Minnesota now has Jefferson, Green and Telfair out of high school. They have Foye and Brewer from good college teams. And guess what? They're likely to have a top 3 pick in the next draft. Most of these guys are still on rookie scale deals, which means they should soon have money to be aggressive in the free agent market again (though I haven't examined their cap so I don't know that for sure). Again, I don't see how they could have possibly come out any better than they did in moving Garnett. Again, I strongly disagree. The fewer games they win the better. They need a top 3 pick in the draft so they can take whoever they think the best PG is out of Rose, Beasley and Mayo.
The trade only works out if Boston wins a championship. Otherwise, EPIC FAIL. I guess you could say that it worked out for them because they at least have a good shot at a championship. Depends on perspective I guess. But you already know that the Celtics are going to turn into garbage once their stars fade out (look at Rockets when our stars faded out in the late 90's). Meanwhile, Minnesota will have their shot at Beasley, Gordon, or Augustin. Mayo is too selfish and not a good fit for that young team. They already have a scoring guard in Foye. They need an unselfish PG. Gordon is spectacular and Augustin is like a hybrid of Deron Williams and Nash. Neither pick would be a bad decision. In about three years, T-Wolves could be crazy good, because I already see Jefferson rising as a superstar type big man in this league. With a stud big man and a stud PG, you can do some serious things in this league. So obviously, I disagree with the OP.
Well, yeah. I thought of that but didn't feel like looking up our record against the Celtics the past few years. If they were normally losses, then this year's games will be nothing new!
The Celtics would have had to wait another 5 years for the possible "window" to open and even then, the players probably wouldn't be as good as KG-Pierce-Allen. Why not just skip the 5 years and start now? The window they have now is all any franchise could realistically hope for.
They got a good core player in Jefferson, they have 20.4 million in expiring contract, first-round picks, and a chance at getting Beasley/Gordon/Mayo. Starting line up of Randy Foye Corey Brewer Michael Beasley (Most likely) Craig Smith Al Jefferson Ain't too bad.
Ideally the top 3 picks should be 1. Minn. 2. NY & 3. Memphis(Miami will win too many games to be in the low 3). But you know what will actually happen? Houston will get the #1 pick with the 13th worst record, Cleveland #2 with 11th worst & Utah #3 with 14 worst.
Oh god. Don't even say that. There are some fantastic point guards in this coming draft that could put us over the top. I can't even imagine how good we could be if we could get a PG that can make a Chris Paul/Deron Williams type impact.
Great trade for Boston....obviously Not bad for Minnesota either, Jefferson is a baller, and other great young players (McCants, Foye, Brewer, Smith and others with a great pick as well). They'll be a team to contend with in the future.
