The Wizards’ #5 pick has been the subject of much speculation in the weeks leading up to the draft, and it looks like it may have finally found a home.
The Washington Wizards are close to a deal that would send the No. 5 pick in Thursday’s draft, Oleksiy Pecherov, Etan Thomas and Darius Songaila to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Randy Foye and Mike Miller, a league source told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher on Tuesday.
The Wolves would then keep the draft pick and their own selection at No. 6 and not try to package those to move up, a source told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz.
The Wizards had a hole at off guard, and they certainly filled it with this trade. DeShawn Stevenson and Nick Young manned the position last season, so Foye and Miller will give the Wizards two more perimeter weapons. But are Foye and Miller worth whatever the Wizards would have been able to get with the #5 pick?
Whether or not Minnesota fans like this trade will depend on how much they like Randy Foye. While he averaged 16.3 points and 4.3 assists last season, he shot just 41% from the field and wasn’t particularly efficient in his minutes (PER: 13.76). Miller is a good player, but he just had the worst season of his career, failing to crack double digits in scoring (though he did average 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists for a PER of 13.84). I think he can still help the Wizards.
The T-Wolves are reportedly most interested in Hasheem Thabeet and Stephen Curry, though there is no guarantee that either player will be available at #5. In fact, Thabeet is projected to go #2 or #3, while Curry is more likely to be available at #5. Since this is such a point guard heavy draft, I wonder what the T-Wolves plan to do if the draft goes as follows: #1 Blake Griffin, #2 Hasheem Thabeet, #3 James Harden and #4 Ricky Rubio — will they draft two guards like Curry and Tyreke Evans? Or will they draft Jordan Hill at a position that is already a position of strength? Or will they go with Curry and DeMar DeRozan, who can play either wing position? Are Jonny Flynn, Brandon Jennings or Jrue Holiday in the mix?
If Harden slips to #5 and Curry is there, Minnesota could lock up its backcourt in one fell swoop.
