Sunday, June 29, 2008

New teammates for Foye, Lowry

A late night Draft-day trade will bring Randy Foye and Kyle Lowry new teammates on their respective teams. The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted USC guard O.J. Mayo with the number three pick and the Memphis Grizzlies took UCLA forward Kevin Love with the fifth pick. The T-Wolves and Grizzlies agreed to trade O.J. Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker, and Greg Buckner for Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, and Jason Collins.

The trade leaves Randy Foye as the premier guard in Minnesota, with two young talented big men in Love and Al Jefferson. They also add one the best shooters in the league in Mike Miller. By passing up on Mayo, the Timberwolves organization is putting their trust in Foye to lead their team.

On the Grizzlies side of the deal Kyle Lowry now has even more competition in the backcourt with Lowry, Mike Conley, O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, and Javaris Crittenton all vying for playing time. Memphis has a talented young group of players, but they are lacking in the frontcourt. At least one of these guards will likely be traded before the start of the season. The odd man out could be Lowry who has been involved in trade rumors ever since the Grizzlies drafted Conley last year.