[Bryan88]

Basically the Wolves are down to two players for the third pick, OJ Mayo and Kevin Love. Of course they may look to trade down with either the Knicks or Bucks and that would then change the way things look, but as it stands right now, it is between those two.

The Chosen Two: Mayo or Love?

With the draft six days away, with the Wolves in Los Angeles today to see Danilo Galinari and in Chicago Saturday to see O.J. Mayo and Indiana’s Eric Gordon coming to town Monday, the best bet here for next Timberwolf is…

Hold the Mayo or give Wolves fans some Love?

My guess is that Mayo is the third player selected in Thursday’s draft because he is the only talent some scouts rate right up there with Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley. My hunch is that UCLA’s Kevin Love is your next Timberwolf.

That, of course, would entail either a trade down — although you might not be able to go any further than Memphis at No. 5 to ensure he’ll still be there (the Grizzlies also have the 28th overall pick) — or just boldly plucking Love with that third pick.

It’ll be interesting to see how it falls. USC coach Tim Floyd, who coached Mayo there, has Fred Hoiberg’s ear because Floyd coached Hoiberg at Iowa State and he presumably is raving about both Mayo’s talent, character and competitiveness. And I’ll bet Kevin McHale, who never tells, wants a big man.

Don’t worry, Brook Lopez is out. His talent level just doesn’t rate the third overall pick and all those silly mock drafts that still have him going third are uninformed and six weeks out of date.

The Wolves workout Gallinari on Friday, took another look at Lopez there and even got to spend about 30 minutes with Derrick Rose, the presumed No. 1 pick overall by Chicago six days hence. Wolves GM Jim Stack said it was more of a bonus and a coincidence that they got a look at Rose — who like Lopez and Gallinari are clients of agent Arn Tellem — and Stack emphasized that the Wolves didn’t work him out but had him shoot some threes and watched him workout.

As for that third pick, Mayo is the safest pick, a college freshman who is almost 21 and maybe the most NBA ready player in the draft. Safest pick, unless you consider the Stephon Marbury factor.

Will he happy here? Is a guy whom McHale joked (we think?) has youtube.com’s clips going back to third-grade ball too big for a market on the tundra. Maybe it’s telling that the only team we know he went and worked out for rather than the team coming to him in Chicago is the New York Knicks.

Love, on the other hand, seemed genuinely smitten with the idea of becoming a Timberwolf when he visited Target Center this week. His stock has risen big time and the Wolves are deliberating deeply how his outside game in the frontcourt would complement Al Jefferson’s inside game. Love’s skills, particularly passing abilities to invite comparisions to old-school Wes Unseld and Bill Walton, are unquestioned In doubt is how the Wolves would fare defensively with two guys no taller than 6-9 and not the most athletic fellas in the world anchoring their center/power forward positions.

Fred Hoiberg said the Wolves, if they draft Love, would have to go out and find next season’s version of Michael Doleac — but presumably much younger — to have a legitimate sized center for those rare times when they face a legitimate NBA center such as Yao Ming, Shaq or Dwight Howard.

The Wolves have talked plenty in the past month to other teams about trading down, but they’d have to get a pretty good piece(s) to do so to give up a chance at either Mayo or Love. Doubtful Love or Mayo would get past the fifth pick, so if they dealt with the Knicks, the Clippers or the Bucks, they’d be choosing from a group that includes Gallinari, Lopez, Joe Alexander, Eric Gordon, etc.