Apparently the Wolves were able to grant Gerald Green's request to be traded. MyFox Houston is reporting that Green has told them he is being traded to his hometown Rockets. In return, the Wolves get guard Kirk Snyder and a future 2nd round pick.

My gut reaction is "good for the Wolves." Snyder's nothing special, but is a cheap youngster that will be a restricted free agent this summer; the pick will be late in whatever draft it's in, but gives the Wolves another asset; Gerald has not shown any reason to keep him around. I still think they should have exercised Green's team option, but that's water under the bridge now. This is better than just letting Green walk. More details as they surface.

With the trade deadline approaching, I thought it would be fun to take a look at how much activity has gone down in recent deadlines. It was. In fact the trade deadline is probably my favorite day of the season. Let it be known that I also prefer to play the offseason in NBA 2k8 to actually playing the game... I know, I need help.

As far as what to expect between now and the end of the day tomorrow, I wouldn't get too excited. Four stars being moved in the span of three weeks is pretty incredible in and of itself. I think the Wolves have a potential role to play by taking on a bit of salary from a luxury tax team (Elson from San Antonio helps them AND gets us a cheap center), but other than facilitating another deal they have no immediate need to get something done.

The Wolves stink. I know it, you know it, most of the country knows it. It comes as no surprise, then, that most of the Wolves chatter in blogs, message boards and traditional media has surrounded player movement and just what the hell McHale and Co. will do to get themselves out of this one.

I started a series about finding Big Al a frontcourt mate, but in retrospect it was premature. Before we continue the "How to Fix the Wolves" talk, I thought it would be valuable to look at how successful teams have been put together.

This analysis has holes, to be sure, but it's just a start that will hopefully light a fire in your minds as to how us wanna-be GMs think about our armchair hobbies.

In my this morning's perusal of HoopsHype, I came across a nugget from the Nets Blast Blog (also, check out the guy's Soup-Nazi-esque photo): And [the Clippers] would undoubtedly play hardball, because [the] are so paranoid they always try to kill you in a deal, and everyone hates talking to them. Then I thought to myself, "Hmmm, he's right. The Clippers don't make a lot of trades." In fact, other than trading Jared Jordan's rights to the Knicks for cash, the only deal the Clippers have made since July 2004 (when they traded for Kerry Kittles, for those scoring at home) was dealing Marko Jaric to us.

I'm not the first to mention it, but Big Al's defense against the NBA's centers is neither sufficient now or in the long-term. Nothing against Al, but in order for him to dominate offensively over the next 10 years, he'll need a frontcourt partner to take the defensive load off of him.

I've never been a big fan of marquee free agent signings. Not only have today's successful teams been built through the draft and trades (San Antonio, Detroit, Dallas, Boston... Phoenix is an exception), but I don't trust free agents who play their butts off in a contract year and then go back to bad habits and a sense of entitlement when they've got $40+ million guaranteed (Kenyon Martin and Larry Hughes always come to mind, but Rashard Lewis may make me eat those words).