Fixing the T-Wolves - Part 3: Perfect Pick Storm

When the Suns dealt Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Heat for Shaq, most people weighed the impact on the Western Conference playoffs. I immediately had a dream...

I dreamed that the addition of Marion to the Heat would make them good enough to sneak into the Eastern Playoffs - thus removing a competitor for the 1st pick and giving the Wolves Pick #15 to complete the Davis/Blount/Walker trade earlier this year.

I also dreamed that the resurgent Heat would have knocked out the Atlanta Hawks, thus slotting their pick at #11 - which is already owned by the Suns.

I then dreamed that the Suns, in search of a cheap backup PG to replace the expensive failure that was Marcus Banks, would agree to trade Atlanta's pick to the Wolves for competent PG Sebastian Telfair...

I then dreamed that the Wolves won the lottery and got the first pick of the draft.

I then had the audacity of hope that the Wolves would get F Mike Beasley at #1, PG DJ Augustine at #11, and C Roy Hibbert at #15.

I then dreamed of the Wolves rolling with a lineup of:
PG - Foye
SG - Brewer
SF - Beasley
PF - Jefferson
C - Hibbert
----
SG - McCants
PG - Augustine
PF - Smith

and making the playoffs in the 2009-2010 season...

Since I had that dream, the Hawks improved a lot by getting PG Mike Bibby - so their pick will likely be 15-16. It looks like Miami will still suck, but will probably drop out of lottery contention. And worst of all, Memphis will charge hard for the ping pong balls after giving away C Pau Gasol.

Still, I'd like to see the Wolves make that trade with the Suns to get Atlanta's pick. I'd also like to see them make a run at lightly used Julian Wright, a point forward out of Kansas who plays for the Hornets. I'm thinking a package built around a ready to play Gomes might do the trick. Otherwise I'd use Gomes to get a #1 pick, probably in the 20's. But hey, maybe those picks could be packaged to move up and make sure we land C Roy Hibbert (likely to go 10-15).

Here's another trade I'd like to see the Wolves make - The Bulls are trying to dump Ben Wallace who has two years left after this year. Here are the options I'd give the Bulls:

Wallace for Ratliff's expiring contract and Marko Jaric (Bulls would do this if they wanted to shed salary today)
Wallace + Joakim Noah for Ratliff and Doleac's expiring contracts - (Bulls would completely dump the salary at years end, but would have to pay in prospect for the premium).
Wallace + 1st Pick (likely 7-10) for Ratliff and Doleac (same concept, but pick premium instead of Noah)