How Many Times Have I Been Fooled?

I know that at this portion of my life, after everything I've seen, I shouldn't be allowed to get my hopes up. I've seen the same sort of results every single time, but yet I keep hoping. Hoping that I'll see the years bear fruit, but the same old conclusion keeps slapping me in the face. There's an old saying that insanity can be defined as repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting to get different results. Well, that's been me for the past few years, and tonight it completely slapped me in the face. That's right, it was the night of the NBA draft lottery. I think that it's been fairly evident that I'm a fan of most of the Minnesota pro sports teams. Along with that has come a lot of heartache. It might not be on the level of Philadelphia sports' problems, but there's still a rather impressive list. Consider:

• Going to and losing four Super Bowls. Sure, I wasn't alive during any of them, but it's still my heritage.
• Trading away a king's ransom for Hershel Walker with Denny proudly proclaiming that they've just won the Super Bowl because they acquired the missing piece. The problem with that quote was that it was actually taken from the Dallas press release.
• Drafting Ndi Ebi over Josh Howard. Yes, Howard has had some reported problems lately, but at least he's actually a player in the league. Ebi spent three years being "injured" and then was done.
• Isaiah "J.R." Rider. That's all I have to say about that.
• The Wolves never improving their draft position in the lottery.
• Drafting NBA Rookie of the Year, Brandon Roy...and then trading him away.
• Joe Smith.

These are just the examples that immediately spring to mind. I could go on for quite a while. The point being that I was looking to tonight as being a potential turning point for a franchise that needed a bit of luck. They needed the ball to bounce their way just for once. They have a very good player in Al Jefferson who could be a cornerstone in the low block for years to come, but he needed some help. Help in the form Derrick Rose to run the pick and roll, give perfect passes for easy finishes and to receive the outlet pass to start the fast break. Help in the form of Michael Beasley to share the rebounding chores, make the opponent pay for a double team and provide some much-needed help on defense. Alas, these scenarios, as it stands now, appear unlikely to occur. You see, the Wolves, true to their history, stayed put. They had the third-worst record in the league at the conclusion of the season, and they will have the third overall pick in the NBA draft. All of this means that among my fellow Wolves fans the debate will start about who is worthy of the 3rd pick that will also help the team. One of the largest problems that I see in this draft is the fact that many of the players mentioned for the number three pick have skill sets that are very similar to two players the Wolves already have on their roster in Randy Foye and Rashaad McCants. O.J. Mayo, Erik Gordon, and Jerryd Bayless are all, essentially, mid-sized (6' 3"-6' 4") scoring guards who might have to be forced into a hybrid point guard role in the NBA. That pretty much describes Foye and McCants. A back court of one of those players and Foye or McCants would most likely be a disaster. You can't teach size, right? That's what we hear all the time about why a general manager selected a big man over a more talented but shorter player. However, it rarely holds true. If the big isn't athletic or have solid skills already, they aren't worth the risk. The possibility of selecting Brook Lopez or Kevin Love scares me right now because I'm not sure how well their games will translate to the next level. DeAndre Jordan is intriguing, but has the "motivation problem" label. All of these lingering problems is why I so desperately wanted one of the top two picks. I would actually have preferred the second pick. Let the team in the first position agonize over who to select. Just hand in the card for the other guy after they make their pick. But, no, the Wolves get the third pick. Sure, something strange could happen and Miami or Chicago will over think things and pass on Rose or Beasley so they fall in to the Wolves' lap. That's essentially what happened for the Vikings with Adrian Peterson, so it's not completely unprecedented. What's the likely-hood of that happening, though? I was talking with my brother-in-law about the lottery results and he responded to my lament about picking third with the following: "The one thing I'll say is that there will be 3 stars coming out of this draft. We know who two of them will be, but the question is who will be the third." My current pessimistic response? "We just know that it won't be whoever the Wolves pick."