McHale not sure if Wolves will keep pick or trade it

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: June 24, 2008 - 1:10 AM

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So much can happen between now and when Commissioner David Stern steps to the podium Thursday night at Madison Square Garden to announce the Timberwolves' selection in the NBA draft.

Will the Wolves trade down from the third pick a couple slots to acquire an extra player or draft pick and still hope they can select UCLA forward Kevin Love, Stanford center Brook Lopez, Italian forward Danilo Gallinari or Indiana guard Eric Gordon? Will they package their two second-round picks -- two of the first four in that round -- to acquire another first-round pick? If the Wolves keep the pick, will O.J. Mayo be your next Timberwolf?

Wolves vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale watched Gordon, Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless, Indiana guard Eric Gordon and Oklahoma forward Longar Longar work out at Target Center, assured he knew one thing about Thursday night.

"We're going to get a really good player, no question," he said. "There are a lot of good players in this draft. It's a really deep draft. That's why I'm excited about 31 and 34 [their two second-round picks]. We can package those and move up, but the more and more I look at it, we might stay there. There are some really good, interesting players who might drop. It's going to be a fun Thursday night."

McHale said Monday's workouts were the team's last. He said his staff still was trying to organize a phone conversation with Kansas State's Michael Beasley, who worked out only for Chicago and Miami, just in case the Wolves find themselves with the chance to draft him.

"I hope so, not that it will be earth-shaking," McHale said. "But you'd like a chance of talking to him. We don't control that. You can just ask."

Asked what his gut feeling is about the Wolves keeping their pick or trading it, McHale said, "I've got one of those. I'm not going to share it with you ... Up until now, there have been a lot of people throwing some stuff out there. It'll get more serious today and tomorrow. On Thursday, you'll get a good offer."

Making his point

Bayless, a shooter and scorer in a point guard's body, said the Wolves project him as a point guard if they draft him.

"They'd play a three-guard offense," Bayless said after a lengthy sideline conversation with McHale following his workout. "That's what I was talking to Coach McHale, Mr. McHale about. I think it would work out well."

Opportunity, opportunity

Longar, who moved from Sudan to Rochester, Minn., when he was a teenager and played at John Marshall High, showed off his guard's skills when some other big men scheduled for Monday's workout cancelled and he was left alone against the two guards. He could be picked in the second round.

"To tell you the truth, I'm just going to sit and watch," he said about Thursday. "I don't know. I'm confident it will be good results."

Quotable

McHale on watching Gallinari and Mayo drill alone -- Gallinari in Los Angeles, Mayo in Chicago -- on consecutive days last week: "They were both better than the chair. That's a start. If you're not better than the chair, you've got some real issues."

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