NBA Draft Rumors: If Cavaliers Move Up To No. 2, What Do Timberwolves Do At No. 4?

Deals break down all the time or never get fully going in the first place. The deals that tend not to occur are the ones where reporters say that a team is interested in so-and-so, and then the next day the team that owns so-and-so refutes the idea. People who leak news like that to the media tend to have a motive in doing so.

But when a reporter like Broussard mentions a deal with specifics like this CLE-MIN-DET swap (and more importantly its plausible), then it seems likely that that specific trade is being talked about. It doesn’t mean it will happen, as evidenced by the fact that only a few hours later it was reported that Detroit wanted more for Rip Hamilton (why I don’t know, his contract is huge and he led a team mutiny this past season).

Reporters can’t guarantee that a deal is going to happen. They just report what they hear.

Most of his staff thinks he’s joking. The ones that know he’s not joking are debating amongst themselves who will be the one to break him the news.

is that Kahn is on his last leg as GM and career in NBA, and needs to save his job this summer. There’s too much uncertainty with either pick (D-Will or Kanter). Kahn doesn’t trust his own judgment to draft either one, not that he would admit as much. D-Will may not be best fit with existing personnel. Kanter is too much of unknown in terms of star potential, although I think he possesses it.

My sense is that Kahn desperately wants to move the #2 pick for established player(s) and certainty of production, because he knows his track record of drafting is horrible, although he will say the motivation is the youth of his team and need to add veteran presence. I would put the odds of a deal at greater than 50/50 sometime around date of draft.

I don’t know if Kings can capitalize but I did see Petrie and Kahn side-by-side at the draft combine:

Petrie: So…who do you like with the #2 pick?
Kahn: Who do you like with the #2 pick?
Petrie: I asked you first.
Kahn: I asked you second.
Petrie: I like Kanter, D-Will, Kemba, Jan Vesely and Brandon Knight.
Kahn: Information overload! Slow down there, Skynet. Can you narrow it down a bit?
Petrie: I like D-Will, Kemba and Brandon Knight.
Kahn: Let me get out my notepad. I need to write this down. Can I borrow a pen?
Petrie: Sure.
Kahn: OK. How do you spell Kemba: C-H-E-M….
Petrie: It is with a ‘K’…
Kahn: K-C-H-E-M-B-A. Got it!!! So if you were me, you’d pick Kchemba at #2?
Petrie: I didn’t say that.
Kahn: Yes you did, you spelled his name for me and everything.
Petrie: Um…
Kahn: His name is right here in my trusty little notepad, see, so it must be true.
Petrie: Uh-huh.
Kahn: My notepad is my friend. When the media is mean to me, and says nasty things, I can always turn to my trusty notepad for warmth and affection. Sometimes I like to cuddle up with my notepad on cold Minnesota nights.
Geoff: I am going to leave now.
Kahn: Bye Geoff! Say ‘bye’ to Geoff, Mr. Notepad.