When the draft lottery was held the Washington Wizards felt like missing out on a golden opportunity as they dropped to the 5^th overall pick despite having the worst record in the Eastern Conference. Thus, all dreams of acquiring either Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio came to a sudden end and the evaluation of other options began.

Nonetheless, the Wizards management was able to pull-off a deal that might just get them to where they want to be. Yesterday, Washington traded their 5^th pick along with Darius Songeila, Etan Thomas and Oleksiy Pecherov to the Timberwolves in exchange for Mike Miller and Randy Foye. On first glance it looks like a very one-sided deal since the Wizards acquire two very competitive players while giving up mediocre role players and a draft pick. However, Minnesota repeatedly stated that they are dedicated to rebuild their franchise from scratch and felt that another first round pick would help them to achieve this goal. Thus, the Timberwolves held the 5^th and 6^th overall pick as well as two more first round and second round picks each for a total of six draft picks.

If the Wizards would have known that Ricky Rubio was still around when it was time for Minnesota’s first pick they might have reconsidered doing this trade, but now it is all history. Either way, Washington will benefit from having forward Mike Miller on board who averaged 9.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists last year. Likewise, Randy Foye can be expected to provide solid contribution at the point guard spot after putting up career numbers in 2008-09 with 16.3 points, 4.3 assists and 3.1 rebounds per contest. Adding Miller and Foye to the team around former All-Stars Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison will most likely put the Wizards back into the playoff race in 2009-10.  Moreover, after this trade the Wizards fan crowd can expect further activity over the summer since Washington will have to pickup some more length in their frontcourt.

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