The Timberwolves picked 21-year old small forward Luke Babbitt out of Nevada with the 16th overall pick of the NBA Draft. They then traded Babbitt and 27-year old Ryan Gomes to the Trailblazers for 23-year old SG/SF Martell Webster. Babbitt played in 34 games (all starts) for Nevada last season and he averaged 21.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He played in 68 games (all starts) at Nevada and he averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. The Blazers really like Babbitt but they will likely bring him along slowly. Ryan Gomes played in 76 games (64 starts) for the T-Wolves last season in which he averaged 29.1 minutes, 10.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. He has now played in 374 games (307 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 29.2 minutes, 11.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. Gomes is a solid basketball player who should provide good depth along the front line for the Blazers and he is more than capable than starting if they need him to. Martell Webster played in 82 games (49 starts) for the Blazers last season and he averaged 24.5 minutes, 9.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. He played 5 years for the Trailblazers appearing in 301 games (164 starts) in which he averaged 23.2 minutes, 8.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. This was a solid trade for the Trailblazers.

UPDATE: (6/29/2010) - The Trailblazers have released Ryan Gomes to create more cap space. I definitely don’t like this trade near as much as I did on draft night for the Blazers.