The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Shane Frederick

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July 1, 2008

Minnesota fans just want somebody to Love

For a few hours Thursday night, there were undoubtedly many Minnesota sports fans envisioning O.J. Mayo as a future superstar for the Timberwolves.

For a brief spell, perhaps, they had forgotten about Kevin Garnett in a uniform as green as their envy.

Although there is no guarantee that Mayo will even be an all-star, choosing him with the No. 3 overall draft pick Thursday night seemed to be a temporary salve on the sting of watching Garnett, the toast of the Twin Cities for a dozen years, win the NBA championship with the Boston Celtics a week earlier.

Those fans fell asleep with visions of a nightly Mayo clinic next season dancing in their heads.

Of course, they awoke Friday morning to the stunning news that, around midnight, Mayo’s rights were shipped away to Memphis for Kevin Love in a trade involving six other players.

The initial reaction was that the Wolves — specifically vice president for basketball operations Kevin McHale — had been duped and were continuing a descension into basketball irrelevance — where the post-Garnett years were looking suspiciously like the pre-Garnett ones.

Truly, no one knows what the ramifications of the Mayo-Love trade will be. We may not know them for several years.

Mayo might be that athletic superstar shooter he’s been advertised to be. Perhaps Love is indeed a clone of McHale, who was voted one of the top 50 players of the NBA’s first 50 years. Maybe the pair will be linked as rivals for years to come. Maybe they’ll both quickly flame out and end up bouncing around the league.

Besides, in the days leading up to the draft, most Timberwolves faithful — I was shocked to learn there were so many left — seemed to hate the No. 3 pick, believing that this year’s draft was just a two-player show with Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley as the only sure things.

To them, no matter whom the Timberwolves took — be it Mayo or Love — he would be just another so-so selection in a tough-luck draft spot. A Donyell Marshall (in 1994 after Glenn Robinson, Jason Kidd and Grant Hill). A Christian Laettner (after Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning). A J.R. Rider (after Chris Webber, Shawn Bradley, Penny Hardaway and Jamal Mashburn).

The truth is, Minnesota fans are dying for another superstar to grace their sports arenas and, of course, win games, division titles, conference crowns and — dare I mention it — world championships.

In the last year, they have lost Garnett to the Celtics, Johan Santana to the New York Mets and Torii Hunter to the Los Angeles Angels. They witnessed the rebirth of Randy Moss in New England. Even the Wild appear to have allowed Brian Rolston to leave town, trading the slap-shot shooter’s rights to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Fans fear that Marian Gaborik will leave the state eventually, too.

Sure, the Twins still have Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. The Vikings scored big by drafting Adrian Peterson a year ago and have high hopes in Jared Allen. Al Jefferson could become a great player for the Wolves, and Mikko Koivu and Brent Burns had coming-out parties last season for the Wild.

Mayo sure seemed like an intriguing pick on Thursday night. Love might be all they need.



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Access his college hockey blog through mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com/

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Shane Frederick