Holding the fifth pick in Thursday night's NBA draft, Memphis Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace experienced a rare onset of common sense and chose Kevin Love, a 6-10 power forward/center from UCLA. Love, a fabulous passer and tough rebounder with a high basketball IQ, who can run the floor and would have teamed nicely with a couple of point guards who can move the basketball (Mike Conley, Jr., Kyle Lowry, and Javaris Crittendon) and a sharpshooter like Mike Miller. He also would have helped fill the Grizzlies' major hole up front.

Then Wallace was unfortunately struck by the realization that he was, well, Chris Wallace. In a turnaround reminiscent of that time everybody thought the Penguin was good when he was really plotting to take over Gotham, Wallace dealt Love, Miller, Brian Cardinal's terrible contract and backup Jason Collins for third overall pick O.J. Mayo, perennial discontent Antoine Walker, pine-warmer extraordinaire Greg Buckner, and Marko Jaric's even worse contract. Sources indicate that Wallace attempted to include Pau Gasol in the deal as well, only to find out he had already traded him to the Lakers for ten cents on the dollar. We can only do this deal justice by breaking it down one painful element at a time.

First, the obvious. Yeah, Mayo is overall a better prospect than Kevin Love, but does he really fit better with the Memphis team? The Grizz now have Mayo, Conley, Lowry, and Crittendon, giving them a huge logjam in the backcourt and seemingly leaving them without any players taller than 6-8 (unless you count Kwame Brown, something I'm pretty sure nobody has done in three years). Plus, knowing Wallace, he'll end up trading at least two of those players for future considerations that end up being a late second rounder and six tickets to the Memphis Rock 'n Soul Museum (one for him and each of his five starters! Woohoo!).

On the bright side, Wallace somehow managed to find a contract even worse than Brian Cardinal's for the Grizzlies to take on. Apparently, trading Cardinal away provided far too little challenge for Wallace; he'll have much more fun with Marko Jaric's monster deal. The real bonus? Antoine Walker. Here's a guy who wore out his welcome in Boston, then in Dallas, then in Atlanta, then in Boston again. I'm pretty sure he never even had a welcome to wear out in Minnesota. Now he can act as mentor to all those young guards. Super! Finally, Wallace deprived us of the (Rudy) Gay-Love era in Memphis, something for which I can't forgive him.

Meanwhile, Kevin McHale finally found the one GM who could make him look competent. Love and Al Jefferson, while a little undersized, are both ferocious rebounders. Jefferson is a natural scorer and Love is a natural passer, so they should complement each other well. If Randy Foye can shake the injury bug, he and Mike Miller should for a decent guard combo, and it looks like the Wolves might have the makings of a nice young core. Plus, they saved a little money by trading Jaric's contract for Cardinal's.

How does Chris Wallace even have a job anymore? The guy can't even successfully dump salary, much less build a competitive NBA team. This is a team that has been in the lottery for the past 600 years, has won 44 games in the past TWO years, and doesn't even look like it's headed in the right direction. Billy King is gone, Isiah is gone...shouldn't Wallace be next?