wolves/nba

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.