Wolves: Exchanging of guards

Brandon Roy, a ready-made player considered by many NBA scouts to have 2007 Rookie of the Year potential, heard his named called at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, tugged on a Minnesota cap and smiled broadly as the Timberwolves' newly drafted rookie.

For all of 25 minutes.

Within the next five picks after the Wolves' selection of the University of Washington shooting guard, the news broke that Roy had been swapped to the Portland Trail Blazers for Villanova combo guard Randy Foye, who immediately took over for Roy as Minnesota's new ready-made rookie in the backcourt.

The two even swapped caps on the spot.

Wolves head coach Dwane Casey admitted the team's personnel staff flip-flopped a few times before accepting Portland's offer of "cash considerations" to make the move. "We were split," Casey said. "We'd been up there arguing all day."

But the coach quickly added: "There's no buyer's remorse. We're excited about getting Randy Foye."

The incentive for the switcheroo, given that the Wolves simply could have picked Foye themselves? An unspecified amount of money, probably upwards of $1 million. Not that team owner Glen Taylor, a billionaire reportedly twice over, needs the cash, but Casey said the move might facilitate some trades or free-agent signings later this summer.

"Hopefully down the line that will turn into players," Casey said.

Also, by ending up with the No. 7 pick rather than No. 6, the Wolves could save another million dollars on their first-rounder's salary. Foye will receive a three-year guaranteed contract worth between $6.34 million and $7.61 million, according to NBA rookie guidelines. Roy is eligible to sign for as much as $8.65 million.

The deal, talked about before the event began, was triggered when both players still were on the board at the Wolves' spot. The arrangement was facilitated by Boston, which owned the No. 7 pick until trading it to Portland earlier Wednesday in a multi-player transaction.

Consider Foye among the confused. "It was just nerve-wracking," he told reporters in New York. "Then, like two picks before me, my agent and Brandon's agent was making eye contact and I didn't know what was going on at the time. And once I saw my agent's face light up, he was like 'Yeah, Boston is going to take you.'

"And then, 'Portland is going to take you.' And then when they said Minnesota, I was like, 'OK, good, yeah, bring it on.' "

Most analysts expected Foye to be available at No. 6. But Kevin McHale, the Wolves' vice president of basketball operations, said he still played it safe.

"I kept things pretty tight to my vest," McHale said. "I didn't even tell a lot of the guys in our war room. ... They gave me their rankings, we tabulated them and put them up. I never did really tell the guys too much.

"I just listened to them, and I really was a big, big Foye guy. At the end of the day, everybody really felt [the same]. We really liked Brandon Roy. We just felt Foye had more juice and was quicker, and was just such a ball hawk and such a defensive presence and such a tough kid. We just really wanted to get him."

At No. 6, Minnesota had its highest pick since 1999, when it took Wally Szczerbiak sixth overall. The Wolves also had three picks in the second round, which McHale tried unsuccessfully to package for an extra first-rounder.

"By the time we could do it, all the guys I liked [that much] were gone," he said.

At No. 36, they took burly Boston College forward Craig Smith, a 6-7 inside player. At No. 37, they chose Washington forward Bobby Jones, Roy's college teammate. Then they traded their second Huskies player of the night, sending Jones to Philadelphia for a future second-round pick and cash considerations.

With the No. 57 pick, the Wolves stuck to their plan of selecting someone who could gain experience by staying overseas or heading to the NBA Development League. They took 6-11 Czech center Loukas Mavrokefalidis, a 21-year-old who averaged 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds this season and is under contract for another year with PAOK in the Greek A-I league.

Foye, 6-4 and 210 pounds, averaged 20.5 points as a senior, earning all-America and Big East first-team honors. He started 128 of 131 games for the Wildcats, averaging 14.9 points in four seasons while shooting only 39.8 percent in his college career. He has been described as aggressive, hard-working, coachable and competitive, with a leader's personality.

The 22-year-old native of Newark, N.J., reportedly showed better point-guard skills in his workouts for NBA teams than he had at Villanova; in each season with the Wildcats, Foye had more rebounds than assists while serving more as a scorer than a playmaker.

His future with the Wolves, though, figures to include heavy minutes at the point.

"It feels great to be the first point guard taken," said Foye, who is scheduled to arrive in the Twin Cities this afternoon and will play for the team's summer league squad in Las Vegas next week. "That is a lot of pressure. But if you don't live up to the hype, you know, it doesn't really matter, as long as you just play as hard as you can for your teammates."

Said Casey: "He gives us a talent at that combo guard position that we need. Next year, we want to be a running team, a fast-break team. He gives you that athleticism, that shooting ability at the point-guard position."

Still, the Wolves coach acknowledged: "Really, he's not a true throwback point guard. He's more of a combo, a Chauncey Billups type."

The NBA is full of combo guards, including Billups. But the former Wolves player was the 2004 Finals MVP and an All-Star in 2006 as Detroit's point guard, helping the Pistons to the league's best record. So that's lofty praise.

"He's a basketball player," McHale said of Foye. "For years, everybody just played guard. It wasn't that big of a deal. Everybody tries to liken a point guard to a quarterback. He's not. The quarterback takes the ball from the center and the linemen never touch the ball. Everybody in basketball touches the ball. There's no quarterback on the team."DID YOU KNOW?

• Randy Foye and Craig Smith, the Timberwolves' two main acquisitions in Wednesday's draft, played against one another in the Minneapolis Regional semifinals on March 24 at the Metrodome. Foye and Villanova beat Smith and Boston College 60-59 in overtime. Foye finished with 29 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Smith had 14 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.

• The Wolves drafted two players from the University of Washington -- Brandon Roy (No. 6) and Bobby Jones (No. 37) -- and traded them both. Roy wound up in Portland and Jones in Philadelphia.