Suddenly, losing in the first round doesn’t seem so bad. That’s what two straight seasons of missing the playoffs will do. The Wolves are a franchise without a plan, signing noted bums such as Michael Olowokandi and Marko Jaric to substantial deals and drafting poorly year after year. They hope that Randy Foye can reverse that trend, but they probably hoped the same thing with Rashad McCants. There’s a good chance that Ricky Davis and Mike James will get to continue their me-first ways, as there really aren’t too many scoring options on the team. Those two and KG are likely to supply most of the numbers, which is obviously good news for their fantasy values.

The Stud: Kevin Garnett, F
KG is merely a fantasy beast now. For many years he was the beast. But for the first time in a while, KG won’t even be under consideration for the top pick. That said, he’s a good bet as anyone in the #2 slot, and for the first time in years he may actually be undervalued. The only major difference in Garnett’s game last year was in assists, where he saw a steep drop from 5.7 to 4.1 per game. His boards were also down, but points, steals and blocks were right where you’d expect them while he saw a large jump in FG%. He averaged at least 5 apg in six straight seasons before last, so it’s reasonable to expect a return to his established levels even if the offense won’t be run through him quite as much with gunners Ricky Davis and Mike James around. I see no reason to expect any sort of significant dropoff from Garnett. He’s remained remarkably healthy throughout his career. (He sat out the final six meaningless contests, his first missed action since the 01-02 season.). That said, there’s a better chance of a 10% drop across the board than a 10% jump. Nobody would argue with you for taking KG with the #2 pick this year. But at the same time, nobody would argue if you passed on him at #5.

The Support: Ricky Davis, GF
It was a pretty great season for Ricky Davis. BV and I had a bet as to whose 10^th round pick would be more valuable – his (Davis) or mine (Eddie Jones). It was close for a while, but Davis stayed strong the entire year, finishing 49^th on the player rater, far ahead of Jones at 70. But that illustrates the value of a player like Davis. If you know what to look for, those breakout swingmen will be there in the late rounds. Davis will be a mid-round pick this year and will likely return a fine value, but he’s not worth reaching for, even with his 20/5/5 potential. It’s worth nothing that Davis shot 47% in his parts of three seasons with the Celtics and he has shot 43.4% over the rest of his career, including just 42.9% with the Wolves last season.

The Supporting Support: Mike James, PG
The 2005-2006 version of Larry Hughes, James played like a man possessed in his contract year. He was solid in the season’s first couple of months, picked it up in January and went on one of the most improbable recent stretches of dominant play after the all-star break, averaging 24.6/3.6/6.5 with 2.9 3s and 1.2 steals on 47% and 85% shooting. Basically, he was Ray Allen with a few more assists over that stretch, and it catapulted him to the #24 spot on the player rater. All of this from someone who may very well have gone undrafted in your league, and a perfect example of why it pays to be active on the free agent list early in the season. You can’t ignore the fact that James averaged 41 mpg over that monster stretch and averaged 37 mpg overall. His rate statistics were actually pretty much in line with his performance over the past few seasons, save a dramatic increase in scoring. It’s always hard to predict what follows a season like this, but some drop has to be expected. James’s draft position could be one of the most volatile. He’ll almost certainly be the Wolves starting PG, but it remains to be seen how many minutes he’ll play and how he’ll adapt to his new squad. As a top 25 player last year, you could probably defend taking him in the 4^th round, and he could fall as low as the 7^th.

The Sleeper: Randy Foye, G
It’s hard to call one of the favorites for rookie of the year a sleeper, but there’s nobody else on the team who really fits the bill. Foye should battle Trenton Hassell for the starting SG job, and the result of that competition will go a long way to determining Foye’s draft position. I’m always wary of rookies, under any circumstance, and the fact that Foye shot just 41% at Villanova last year with a mediocre assist/turnover rate doesn’t get me too excited. But it’s all about opportunity, and should Foye get the opportunity you can count on him to at least fire up a decent amount of 3s.

The Slacker: Eddie Griffin, FC/Marko Jaric, G
The two pillars of the DM Tower of Fantasy Basketball Hatred. Both of these guys had typical seasons last year. Griffin did block the 10^th most shots in the league while appearing in 70 games, so at the very least he was a source of cheap blocks. But he was taken at the end of the sixth round in my league. His had his monthly breakout game and would quickly revert to old form before disappearing completely for most of the second half of the season. He’s done this for four seasons now. If you really need to spend your last pick of the draft on him, fine. Anything else is a waste. Mark Jaric, I actually drafted this bum last year. Jaric is tempting because he can contribute in 3s, assists and steals, but he never actually does because he’s not a good basketball player, so he doesn’t get to play all that much. Jaric was especially ineffective last year and eventually lost his starting job. Only five years left on that contract! Mike James should supplant him as the starter. Drafting either one of these guys is like punching yourself in the face.

Double Dribbles: Mark Blount was mildly effective, in his Mark Blount way, after coming over from Boston. This means he had some decent scoring games, but didn’t grab many boards, blocked a shot here and there, and turned the ball over a whole lot (although not nearly as much as with Boston). His durability (81 games) and solid shooting helped make him the 100^th best player, meaning he was a serviceable #2 center in deep leagues. If he’s one of your centers, you better be getting help in boards and blocks elsewhere … Trenton Hassell falls into the same category as guys like Bruce Bowen and Quinton Ross – defensive specialist SFs with nothing resembling fantasy value