Can Danny?

2008's Boston West didn't fare much better than 2007's Boston Celtics. Big Al Jefferson continued to make a name for himself and the team came together to steal some victories at the end of the year but Kevin McHale's squad is still a long way from being a quality basketball team.

1. Sort Out The Roster 
After trading Kevin Garnett and having multiple lottery picks, you'd think the Wolves would have a lot of young talent. Unfortunately, all they really have is The Unstoppable Al Jefferson. I've never been a fan of Randy Foye, who seems to be a Barbosa-lite 6th man. He'll be able to put up points on a bad team but I'm just not sure where he fits on a contender. Ryan Gomes is solid but I've never liked how he fits alongside Jefferson. Same goes for Craig Smith, although I might be more inclined to re-sign him. Corey Brewer was a disappointment but should be able to hang around as a defensive presence. Rashad McCants seems a lot like Ricky Davis; a great scorer who could be a good defender but isn't and whom won't ever live up to his potential. I'm still rooting for Sebastian Telfair but he has a ways to go to improve his game.

As for veterans, Antoine Walker seemed to be a good mentor to the kiddie corps but he's expressed a desire to get out of Minnesota. Marko Jaric is solid but vastly overpaid. Greg Buckner is also overpaid and his best days, which weren't even all that good, are behind him.

So, basically, the Wolves need a little bit of everything and  should focus on building around Mr. Jefferson. 

2. The Draft
If I'm a Wolves fan, I love Brook Lopez right now. Reports have it that Lopez doesn't want to work out for the Wolves which is probably going to keep McHale and Assistant GM Rob Babcock (of Rafael Araujo fame) from drafting Lopez. I'm not as down on Brook as a lot of people are; he could be a good big man in the league but he won't be great and that's what you should be looking for with the #3 pick. The best player available is OJ Mayo and that's who the Wolves should take. It's really that simple.

At #31, the Wolves should be able to get a first round talent. Someone will likely fall in this draft and the Wolves should be sitting pretty to scoop that person up.

3. Trade Market
Antoine Walker's contract as a team option on it next year which means he's basically an expiring contract. That gives him some value, especially if he is combined with some of the Wolves young talent. Marko Jaric would be a nice guard to team with Mayo and his 3 years, 21 million makes him almost untradeable. The same goes for Greg Buckner.

Unfortunately, trades won't be easy to come by because even though Walker's an expiring deal, he doesn't make that much money and he's not that great anymore. More often than not, it's better just to let the player walk than to take on the type of bad deal you end up saddled with. One possibility though is Denver. If they are desperate to cut salary, they might be willing to deal Nene. Walker and McCants for Nene, perhaps?

The Wolves might want to see what they could get for Randy Foye at this point but it might be better to give him a full year to show what he can do. He should be a solid sixth man and give the Wolves a decent 3 guard rotation with Mayo and Jaric. 

4. Free Agency
Not many people seemed interested in going to Minnesota when they had KG so I can't imagine that anyone is looking forward to playing there now. In a perfect world, they'd make a run at Emeka Okafor who could supply a great defensive complement to Big Al but the odds of that happening are slim-to-none. The Wolves might want to take a run at JR Smith, who I still think has a chance to be an All-Star caliber player. Most likely though, the Wolves will be best suited by just adding some roster fodder this season. They don't want to pull the McHale special and overpay a role player (with a long term contract to boot).

5. Summary
Rebuilding takes time but the Wolves should be able to land themselves at least a second major building block this offseason. If they can add solid players with Antoine's contract and the #31 pick, it's all the sweeter. Still, Wolves fans should keep one eye on guys like Blake Griffin, BJ Mullens, and Dermarr Derozen (as well as Spaniard Ricky Rubio) as they try to figure out who they get with a top pick in 2009.

Possible Final Roster
Starters: OJ Mayo, Marko Jaric, Corey Brewer, Al Jefferson, Nene
Bench: Randy Foye, Craig Smith, Greg Buckner, Chris Richard, Davon Jefferson, Mark Madsen, Gordon Giricek, Earl Barron.