Whither KG?

Once again, we've reached that magical moment in the NBA calendar when crazed wannabe personnel directors spend their waking hours positing trade possibilities and drooling over the idea of Star A playing with Star B on Team C. In other words, it's NBA Draft Week!

(BTW, baseball calls its offseason the Hot-Stove League, conjuring up images of the days when people huddled around pot-bellied boilers dreaming of baseball to stay warm in the winter. The NBA needs a similar name. How about "The AC League"? Sure, that would pretty much encompass all 12 months here in Satan's Tool Shed, but the rest of the country probably could relate.)

The local media out here, and the national talking heads on ESPN Radio, have filled the airwaves with KG trade talk in the past week. And the overwhelming sentiment I'm hearing is that the Wolves not only should trade KG to the Lakers, but they must make the trade, no matter what the Lakers are offering in return. I heard one loudmouth on ESPN Radio last night braying that the Timberwolves owe it to the NBA to ship Garnett to LA. He actually said they owe it to the league to make a deal, because the league was nice enough to grant them an expansion franchise in the first place.

Now, I realize talking heads are paid to be controversial, and I'm guessing this opinion was offered to stir up some chatter. But the Wolves would be foolish -- borderline criminal -- if they trade KG to the Lakers for the most recent reported offer: Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown, and the No. 19 pick in the first round of this year's draft.

Take a look at that package. Odom: has shown signs of being a serviceable second banana (coming to a team without a first banana, or even a first papaya), and he's one strike away from a one-year suspension for substance abuse. Bynum: completely unproven, quite possibly overrated. Brown: completely proven, in the sense that he's proven he is not an NBA player. No. 19 pick: does anybody have confidence that McHale would do any better with that pick than he's done in the past with the likes of Paul Grant, William Avery, or Ndudi Ebi?

Not to mention the fact that the Wolves wouldn't be unloading any of their rotten long-term contracts in the deal. I'd say this deal represents a far worse alternative to standing pat and losing KG as a free agent -- at least they're not taking on another team's problems.

I'd be fine with a deal that brings them a proven player (or at least a high-ceiling guy who's got a little experience under his belt), an expiring contract, and a top-10 pick -- something like Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff and the No. 5 pick in the reported Boston deal (which would have to include another team because KG doesn't like chow-dah). But anything less -- and I mean anything less -- would be an insult to the few fans remaining at Target Center.