Minutes determined Chalmers' draft destiny

Basketball is a game often determined by fractions of a second.

Sometimes 10 minutes really matters, too.

That's all, the way Timberwolves brass tells it, that separated Kansas guard Mario Chalmers from snowstorms and South Beach, from Minnesota and Miami.

Technically, the Wolves drafted Chalmers -- hero of last spring's Final Four -- with a second-round pick in last summer's draft and then dealt him to the Heat. In reality, the Wolves simply picked Chalmers for the Heat in a pre-arranged deal that came 10 minutes too early, before the Memphis Grizzlies telephoned near the end of the draft's first round and unexpectedly agreed to complete a blockbuster eight-player deal that swapped O.J. Mayo for Kevin Love.

Big-man prospects Darrell Arthur, Donte Greene and Kostas Koufos had just disappeared from the draft board when the Wolves contemplated selecting Chalmers for themselves and deferred because they already presumably had combo guards Mayo, Randy Foye and Marko Jaric on their roster and intended to re-sign free agent Sebastian Telfair.

"At that point, I just said I don't want to take a guy we'll have to cut because of numbers," said Wolves coach Kevin McHale, then the team's vice president of basketball operations. "Right after we said we'd do the deal with Miami, Memphis called, and we said to each other, 'Well, we would have taken Chalmers.' We were just so loaded up at that combo spot, and then 10 minutes later we weren't."

So they traded that pick for two second-round picks this summer and upwards of $1.5 million. The Wolves presumably could have used that cash to, say, buy out unhappy Antoine Walker, one of three veteran contracts they turned around and unloaded in the Memphis trade. They will receive the lower two from Miami's collection of three second-round picks this summer that include the Heat's own as well as Philadelphia's and Indiana's.

On draft night, McHale said, "We almost wanted to call Miami and see if we could take him back, but I don't think that would have worked."

Chalmers' play during the season's opening two months has impacted the rejuvenated Heat more than No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley, the gifted, enigmatic former Kansas State star who has struggled to adapt to a pro game that is faster, bigger and more athletic than the one he dominated in college.

Chalmers has started all 36 games at point guard for a Heat team that already has won four more games than it did all last miserable season.

The Wolves will get Miami's first-round pick if it is not one of the draft's top 10 this summer because of an October 2007 trade that sent away Ricky Davis and Mark Blount.

With Olympian and All-Star Dwyane Wade handling the ball and attracting defensive attention beside him, Chalmers often has thrived. He already is a very popular example on Timberwolves Internet blogs and message boards as the latest in a list of players -- Brandon Roy, Beno Udrih and Mayo, most notably -- whom McHale let get away.

Chalmers' recent play has leveled: He started the Heat's seven-game trip that brings it to Target Center tonight with seven turnovers Wednesday at Denver and played only nine minutes and didn't score Sunday at the Los Angeles Lakers.

Chalmers' quick adaptation to the NBA partly can be attributed to Wade's presence.

"He's with Dwyane and Dwyane handles a lot of responsibility," Charlotte coach Larry Brown told reporters earlier this season. "He has no problem defensively. And I think the way they're using him, he has had a chance to adjust."

The Wolves have won five consecutive games -- their longest win streak since December 2005 -- and seven of their past nine after they started the season 4-23. These past two weeks have helped quiet the grumbling among their most fervent fans that they traded away Chalmers for money and two uncertain future draft picks.

"I really like Mario, we liked him a lot," McHale said, shrugging when asked if he regrets the trade and its timing. "We said we'd trade that pick, and then everything changed. That's the way it is in this business sometimes."