Looking At The KG Trade From Minnesota's Perspective

As a Timberwolves fan, the last two days have been a hard pill to swallow. It's been hard to listen to the rumors resurface, and then seeing KG at the press conference holding up Boston green. It will be harder to see him take the court wearing his new #5 Boston Celtic jersey. But, with the trade of Garnett, the Timberwolves now have some young assets to work with. It's going to be interesting to see what players are still with the teams, and who starts where. While it's not time for training camp yet, there are positives to look forward too in the T-Wolves immediate future. 1) The Youth Movement-This deal brings much youth for the Timberwolves. Along with Randy Foye, Rashad McCants, Corey Brewer and Craig Smith being the core of the team before the KG trade, Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes and Sebastian Telfair give this team one of the youngest cores of the NBA. All of them come cheap and with the trade Minnesota will have the cap room to keep the players that pan out in the future. It will be exciting to see what develops this upcoming season, as all of these players will be 'testing out the waters' and developing chemistry with each other. 2) Who will remain?-With all of these young players, and certaintly the struggles that come with them, few veterans will remain on the team. Ricky Davis only has one year left on this contract and is certain to be traded before the season starts. Troy Hudson was bought out today. Marko Jaric is an undesirable contract, but a good fit for this squad. Mark Blount and Trenton Hassell are two other names that could move. During the struggles, the 'Wolves organization is sure to want to give minutes to their youger guys so they can go through their 'growing pains'. They wont lose 50 games and continue to play veteran guys who end up hampering the development of the young guns. Expect some, if not most, of these players to be wearing different uniforms as the 07-08 season tips off. 3) Any FA's?-While the T-Wolves got their biggest contract in franchise history off the books, they still had to take in a decent amount of salary to make the trade work. Fortunately, both Theo Ratliff and Sebastain Telfair come off the books in 2008, and Juwan Howard holds a 7 million dollar player option he will likely not pick up. In 08-09 they only have 37 million dollars commited in player salaries, and the 2008 free agency class might be one of the most promising the NBA has ever seen. With the young talent, the Wolves might be able to lure a big name to step in and take the Wolves to the playoffs. While times look low right now, the future does look bright for the T-Wolves. With the array of young talent, and the cap space that come along with it, things might be rough early, but the 'Wolves could start making noise in the Western Conference as soon as the 08-09 season.