Former USC and UCLA stars will lose early, but Westbrook is in best position

BIG LOVE: UCLA's Kevin Love is greeted by NBA commissioner David Stern after he was selected by the Grizzlies. He later was traded to Minnesota.
DEFENSE: Memphis Grizzlies' O.J. Mayo tries to guard against the Lakers' Dwayne Michell, front, during NBA Summer League play.
COURT LEADER: Former USC guard O.J. Mayo brings the ball upcourt for the Grizzlies' summer team.
LEARNING: Russell Westbrook watches from the bench during a summer league game.
TALENT: Russell Westbrook, left, chats with teammate Kevin Durant during a summer league game.
LOOKING TO SCORE: Russell Westbrook goes up for a shot in a summer league game.
PLAYMAKER: Former UCLA point guard already has been impressive and is a big part of Oklahoma City's plan to grow into a power.

By Kevin Ding | Orange County Register

July 14, 2008 at 7:12 a.m.

Memphis’ Pau Gasol stopped singing the blues and Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett came in out of the cold. They were freed by trade and wound up going head-to-head in the Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals.

What has become of their old teams? Curiously for Southern California sports fans, it’s USC’s O.J. Mayo going down to Gasol’s old team and UCLA’s Kevin Love becoming the new Garnett – after Mayo and Love were traded for each other on draft night.

Even more curiously, though, it’s UCLA’s Russell Westbrook who landed in the best long-term situation.

Picked fourth in the draft between Mayo and Love, the hugely underrated Westbrook went to an even more obscure NBA outpost in marquee and relevance – Oklahoma City, where the former Seattle SuperSonics are going – but he’s the only one going to a club that knows what it’s doing.

All three players are just starting the pro life these days; Mayo and Westbrook already debuted in recent days in NBA summer-league play, and Love plays his first game Monday.

Westbrook has immediately been a revelation for all who’ve seen him in the Orlando summer league. He has spawned premature but intriguing talk that the defensively gifted Westbrook – now given more creative authority than Ben Howland ever dreamed for him at UCLA – could develop into the best point guard from a draft that began with No. 1 overall pick Derrick Rose.

Here’s what Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti, groomed for his job with good work with the great San Antonio Spurs, is basically doing: In his three young perimeter players, he has one guy who will be a dominant offensive force in this league (shooting guard Kevin Durant), then two guys who could become the best defenders at their positions (point guard Westbrook and small forward Jeff Green).

Oklahoma City, Memphis and Minnesota all are going to lose a ton of games in the stacked Western Conference next season, but at least the OKC crew has a clear plan to become the best.

The Grizzlies are just going cheap and exciting by trading for Mayo (eight turnovers in his NBA summer debut, by the way, carrying over his main problem at USC) at the ridiculous expense of Mike Miller. And before anyone assumes Mayo will breeze to the Rookie of the Year trophy, Rudy Gay is clearly the Grizzlies’ go-to guy. (Don’t be surprised, either, if impressive Javaris Crittenton, whom the Lakers were at least nice enough to help out by getting him some tickets to come watch one of their playoff games, seriously competes with Mayo for playing time.)

The Timberwolves had a prime position at No. 3 overall in the draft, and though they’ll be better right now with Miller and Al Jefferson, Minnesota vice president Kevin McHale blew it again in pegging Love’s upside to be equal to Mayo’s. Love calls McHale “maybe my favorite player of all time” – and that’s because their whole match is all about self-love, so to speak.

McHale sees his game in Love’s game and is overly enamored with it.

Westbrook will have a more useful, day-to-day mentor in Oklahoma City in former UCLA point guard Earl Watson. And as the days go by and the kids grow up, Westbrook won’t stay under the radar for long.