Can Danny?

As I watched the Wolves/Celtics game, I really couldn't believe how quiet the crowd at the Target Center was. Then I remembered that in the last three years, the Wolves had traded Brandon Roy, Kevin Garnett, and OJ Mayo for Randy Foye, Al Jefferson, Kevin Love. That made me wonder why the Target Center had a crowd at all. And into the mix the fact that Minny took Rashard McCants over Danny Granger and Ndudi Ebi over Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa, and Josh Howard and you have to think that David Stern might have been doing Kevin McHale a favor by stripping him of his first round picks because of the Joe Smith fiasco.

Of course, the Wolves haven't been alone in their draft night generosity. The Suns traded their #6 pick in 2004 for the Bulls first rounder in 2005, which turned out to be the 21st pick. If you think 6 to 21 is a downgrade, don't forget that they traded the #21 for the #54 pick and the opportunity to dump Quentin Richardson's contract. So they basically dealt Luol Deng for Nate Robinson for Dijon Thompson. 

That's when things really got ugly.

Because of luxury tax fears, the Suns just started selling their draft picks. In two years, they took cash for: Rajon Rondo, Sergio Rodriguez, and Rudy Fernandez.

And then there's the curse of the Knicks. The Knicks basically went two decades without a great first round pick and then started trading their first rounders like wildfire. The funny thing though is that whoever got their pick also ended up botching the draft.

The Eddy Curry deal was infamous of the recent Knicks deals but the Bulls completely screwed it up. They traded the #2 pick (LaMarcus Aldridge) for the bust that is Ty Thomas. The next year they got to switch picks and ended up with the #9 pick. They wasted it on Joakim Noah. Even worse, the player that the Knicks got with the Bulls pick was Wilson Chandler, who's currently having a better year than either Noah or Thomas.

The Knicks' 2001 pick ended up in the hands of the Houston Rockets. They made the disastrous three-for-one deal (one of the three being Richard Jefferson) for the tragic Eddie Griffin. The Nets, however, didn't fare much better with the pick, selecting Jason Collins over the likes of Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace, Sam Dalembert, and Mehmet Okur.

In 2002, the Nuggets were the ones who "benefited" in a deal from the Knicks when they dealt Antonio McDyess for the #7 pick Nene Hilario. Nene turned out to become one of the Nuggets overpaid big men and, oddly enough, some might argue that today in 2008, Antonio McDyess is a better role player than Nene. Oh, and it doesn't help that two picks after the Nuggets chose Nene, the Phoenix Suns selected Amare Stoudemire.

Speaking of the Suns, the Stephon Marbury trade handed Phoenix two first rounders. The combination of the Knicks Curse and the Suns aforementioned financial woes led to a disastrous deal; they traded the two NY picks, along with Tom Gugliotta, to the Jazz for Keon Clark. The Jazz are still owed a pick from the Knicks (inexplicably top 22 protected this year and then completely unprotected in 2010) but before Utah fans get excited about the prospect of a lotto pick in 2010, they should remember what they did with the first pick. With the 16th pick in the 2004 draft, the Jazz passed on Josh Smith, JR Smith, Tony Allen, Delonte West, and Kevin Martin in order to select Kirk Snyder, who isn't even in the NBA right now.

So as bad as the Knicks may be, they really haven't made any teams better while the Wolves are the ones who keep getting fleeced. So the Clippers should be happy as they own a future Wolves pick with limited (and always lessening protection).

And no, I don't really have a point but it's late and I can't sleep so I'm rambling.