The trade that was made on draft night (6/28/08) between the Timberwolves and the Grizzlies saw the swap of first round picks and six other players.
The Timberwolves sent guard O.J. Mayo (3rd overall pick), "journey man" forward Antoine Walker and guards, Marko Jaric and Greg Buckner to the Grizzles who shipped center Kevin Love (5th overall pick), guard Mike Miller, forward Brian Cardinal and center Jason Collins back to Minnesota.
The reason why the Grizzlies got the better end of the deal is they got a premiere prospect in O.J. Mayo as well as a 'good' guard in Marko Jaric (was a casualty of a contract dump, $21 million over 3 seasons) and Antoine Walker, whose less than friendly attitude found him on his 6th career NBA team.
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If you were to look at the post draft "starting five" it may look something like: PG Mike Conley, SG O.J. Mayo, SF Rudy Gay, PF Hakim Warrick and C could be either Darko Milicic or Antoine Walker. This team just improved vastly. Either Jaric, Darko, Walker or Mayo could be the sixth man. The Grizzlies for the first time are a team to watch!
The T'wolves leave the draft with collegiate phenom Kevin Love as well as Mike Miller to fill the void of Jaric. The other players in the deal are just to fill emptry roster spots. The best part of this deal for the Wolves was getting rid of the huge contracts of Jaric and Walker. Now, if you could look at the post draft starting five has the possibility of being: PG Randy Foye, SG Mike Miller, SF Kirk Snyder, PF Ryan Gomes and C Al Jefferson. Its very clear that this is a youth movement in Minneapolis and there was no place for veteran Antoine Walker. Leaving Rashad McCants, Sebastian Telfair, Corey Brewer and Mike Doleac on the bench, a myriad of sixth men.
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2 months ago
Walker cannot play center, he's not tall or physical enough.
2 months ago
Antoine Walker is 6'9" and to my knowledge has always been a power forward. He's not athletic enough to play a three. I believe that he is not physical enough to play power forward anymore. I do believe that he could fill the lane if they wanted to play him. What is stopping him from playing isn't a coaching staff, it's him.
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