Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t appear to be all that interested in holding on to the number-one pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, and it seems the Minnesota Timberwolves want nothing to do with it either.
The Cavaliers reportedly offered the first pick in the draft, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson for Kevin Love Tuesday. They tried to ship the pick to the Portland Trailblazers Monday for LaMarcus Aldridge, but they weren’t having it either.
It appears the Cavs want nothing to do with the pick and would rather try to find an option who is already proven. Ben McLemore and Nerlens Noel are the odd-on choices to be selected first, but neither would be able to provide the one-two punch the Cavs want to pair with Kyrie Irving right off the bat.
The Timberwolves have all their eggs in Love’s basket, as they probably should. It’s interesting that the Cavs would offer so much for Love in the first place. They obviously knew it would take a boatload to get him out of Minnesota after Flip Saunders joined the organization.
The Timberwolves have the ninth pick in the draft, which isn’t a bad place to be seeing as there’s not a ton of top-rate talent in the first few choices. They’ll be looking to add a scoring threat to go alongside Love, Ricky Rubio, Andrei Kirilenko and Nikola Pekovic. They have a solid core to build around and could be one scoring threat away from making serious noise in the Western Conference.
Love is obviously the foundation of that threat, and even the bright futures of Waiters, Thompson and whoever they would take with the first pick wouldn’t be enough to change their mind.
David Fouty is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davefouty, “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google+.
