Why do people think a bad team adding Kevin Love will be any better than the Wolves?

[Akrazotile]

It'd be one thing if he went to a team like the Suns or maybe the Wizards, but what are bottom feeders gonna do with him that the Wolves couldn't?

The wolves had a HOF coach, Rubio, Pekovic, Kevin Martin, and some ok rotation guys; Brewer, Barea, Mbah a Moute, Turiaf. Obviously nothing to write home about, but certainly as good as what the Lakers and Celtics and Knicks put out on the court. So why fans of those teams wanna trade a bunch of stuff to get him? It's the Carmel/Nuggets situation all over again.


Oh, right because the Celtics have Rondo coming back and he's so much.... different than... uhh.... Rubio......

Right...


Seriously, what's the hype about? If he's not winning on the Wolves, why is he gonna win on teams that finished WORSE than the Wolves? Just because the city is bigger? Hmm...

[atljonesbro]

If Love wants to win he should come to Atlanta. They become a legit contender in the East with him.

[Real14]

Kevin love never played with a melo type player.

[CelticBaller]

Seriously


I want him away from my celtics

[D-Rose]

Did you really need to create a new thread for this personal thought? Like we don't have enough K-Love trade threads? :facepalm

[tanner892]

didnt read

[Akrazotile]

didnt read

lol yes you did

[russwest0]

depends if he goes to the east or west

if he goes to the west i agree with you

[Derka]

In the Eastern Conference? There's no question.

[ZMonkey11]

He would commit himself as a wonderful third option. Cleveland maybe?

[Akrazotile]

In the Eastern Conference? There's no question.


So if he ends up on a team equivalent to last years Wolves, but they're in the East... you think that's a contender?

[oh the horror]

It's not about adding to the current rosters in hopes to make them better now dude.


It's about franchises ability to acquire said piece and build.


Lakers have shown the ability to put together good teams.

[MellowYellow]

K-love on the Knicks with Melo is a guaranteed contender, on the Lakers or Celts its another middling team for Love.

[CJ Mustard]

In the Eastern Conference? There's no question.
You'll just get your ass whooped by the Heat instead of missing the Playoffs altogether. Either way the result is zero championships.

[Akrazotile]

Still don't understand this. Only bad teams are going to be able to afford to pay him market value (which is highly inflated). Or a good team can trade the assets they have right now to get him, which ends up simply making it a lateral move.

What difference is he gonna make on a team that sucks as much as the Wolves do?

[BlackVVaves]

It'd be one thing if he went to a team like the Suns or maybe the Wizards, but what are bottom feeders gonna do with him that the Wolves couldn't?

The wolves had a HOF coach, Rubio, Pekovic, Kevin Martin, and some ok rotation guys; Brewer, Barea, Mbah a Moute, Turiaf. Obviously nothing to write home about, but certainly as good as what the Lakers and Celtics and Knicks put out on the court. So why fans of those teams wanna trade a bunch of stuff to get him? It's the Carmel/Nuggets situation all over again.


Oh, right because the Celtics have Rondo coming back and he's so much.... different than... uhh.... Rubio......

Right...


Seriously, what's the hype about? If he's not winning on the Wolves, why is he gonna win on teams that finished WORSE than the Wolves? Just because the city is bigger? Hmm...

Because the Lakers and Celtics front offices have displayed the acumen to assemble a championship level team, and more importantly, conjure and sustain a winning culture. The Timberwolves in contrast have shown a supreme incompetence when it comes to building a championship level team or winning culture. They are one of the most poorly run franchises for the last 15 years, if not THE worse.

That's why.

[Akrazotile]

Because the Lakers and Celtics front offices have displayed the acumen to assemble a championship level team, and more importantly, conjure and sustain a winning culture. The Timberwolves in contrast have shown a supreme incompetence when it comes to building a championship level team or winning culture. They are one of the most poorly run franchises for the last 15 years, if not THE worse.

That's why.


That was in an era when you could overpay your way to titles. It is going to be MUCH more difficult to do that in this era, and I think many people have still not quite made that realization.


If you want to win titles in this era, you are going to HAVE to pay guys on a curve. Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony and James Harden CAN'T be making the same amount of money as Lebron James and Kevin Durant if their teams want to win. They're just handicapping themselves badly.


Don't get me wrong, if a team can get Love for about $12M in cap space... then great. It's a good pickup. Paying him $18-19M is going to make it very hard to continue to put a title contender together.

He's just not worth that kind of money. Which I guess is my main point. Of course you could create a theoretical team on which Love can win a title. But a team where he is making the max and is within realistic salary expenditures in the new CBA? I just don't see it.

[BlackVVaves]

That was in an era when you could overpay your way to titles. It is going to be MUCH more difficult to do that in this era, and I think many people have still not quite made that realization.


If you want to win titles in this era, you are going to HAVE to pay guys on a curve. Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony and James Harden CAN'T be making the same amount of money as Lebron James and Kevin Durant if their teams want to win. They're just handicapping themselves badly.


Don't get me wrong, if a team can get Love for about $12M in cap space... then great. It's a good pickup. Paying him $18-19M is going to make it very hard to continue to put a title contender together.

He's just not worth that kind of money. Which I guess is my main point. Of course you could create a theoretical team on which Love can win a title. But a team where he is making the max and is within realistic salary expenditures in the new CBA? I just don't see it.

I generally agree with everything you're saying. I'm just asserting, as an observer, there's more promise in franchises with the relationships throughout the league (which is critical when pursuing trade partners), and basketball aptitude that enables an understanding of how to fit together moving pieces....than a franchise that has a recent and past history of neither.

I agree that Love is not the kind of player than can singlehandedly put a team of scrubs on his back and push his way into the playoffs. He is not a LeBron, or Wade, or Kobe, or KG, or Hakeem, or Barkley. He isn't even a Pau Gasol in Memphis or Patrick Ewing in New York. He clearly can't be the only star on a team, or your team will be lottery bound like the Wolves. I definitely agree.

The thought is, if you can add a dynamic player on the perimeter, and formidable defender in the post next to him, you might have the framework for a potential contender. It's definitely possible, like in Houston or Golden State or Chicago. And the allure of LA or standard of excellence in Boston beckons the reasoning that if Love is in place there, other players will gravitate.

Guess we'll have to wait this experiment out and see.

[stalkerforlife]

Didn't the Wolves win like 40 games this year?

That'd be 50+ in the east.

[SwishSquared]

The current Wolves would be a second-round exit in the East. However, Boston literally can rebuild itself this summer. They easily have the most trade assets to complete a deal for Love, then can acquire Asik through a trade involving a non-guaranteed contract + pick or simply get Asik + Lin for next to nothing just to help Houston clear cap. Could re-package Lin + future pick(s) for Hayward in a S&T. The Celtics starting 5 next year could be:

Rondo-Hayward-Green-Love-Asik

That is at worst a 3 seed and can get to the ECF next season imo. Love's not on the level, as others said, to drag a team full of dead weight to the playoffs and make a run. Put a couple stars and nice pieces around him? He can definitely make noise in the playoffs in that situation.

[el gringos]

That was in an era when you could overpay your way to titles. It is going to be MUCH more difficult to do that in this era, and I think many people have still not quite made that realization.


If you want to win titles in this era, you are going to HAVE to pay guys on a curve. Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony and James Harden CAN'T be making the same amount of money as Lebron James and Kevin Durant if their teams want to win. They're just handicapping themselves badly.


Don't get me wrong, if a team can get Love for about $12M in cap space... then great. It's a good pickup. Paying him $18-19M is going to make it very hard to continue to put a title contender together.

He's just not worth that kind of money. Which I guess is my main point. Of course you could create a theoretical team on which Love can win a title. But a team where he is making the max and is within realistic salary expenditures in the new CBA? I just don't see it.
So much foolishness.

[guy]

Oh, right because the Celtics have Rondo coming back and he's so much.... different than... uhh.... Rubio......


Are you serious? Rondo is easily a huge upgrade of a teammate over Rubio.

[outbreak]

your saying rondo is like rubio? the same rondo who's dropped 40 points in a play off game? rondo struggles with his shot but he's 10 times the scorer rubio is and can score when needed, not to mention his iq is higher. Plus celtics have an ownership and culture that encourages winning and is more palatable to free agents. Lakers have the same atmosphere and will be able to use love to add more talent. Knicks problem was they made a retarded deal for amare knowing his body wouldn't last and they moved all their semi talented players for melo rather than waiting for a free agency deal. No one wants to go there now because of their messed up management and bad cap.

[outbreak]

The current Wolves would be a second-round exit in the East. However, Boston literally can rebuild itself this summer. They easily have the most trade assets to complete a deal for Love, then can acquire Asik through a trade involving a non-guaranteed contract + pick or simply get Asik + Lin for next to nothing just to help Houston clear cap. Could re-package Lin + future pick(s) for Hayward in a S&T. The Celtics starting 5 next year could be:

Rondo-Hayward-Green-Love-Asik

That is at worst a 3 seed and can get to the ECF next season imo. Love's not on the level, as others said, to drag a team full of dead weight to the playoffs and make a run. Put a couple stars and nice pieces around him? He can definitely make noise in the playoffs in that situation.

grantland?

[kennethgriffin]

maybe hes better suited as a 2nd banana like gasol was

maybe he needs a kobe to take the pressure off him

[fpliii]

maybe hes better suited as a 2nd banana like gasol was

maybe he needs a kobe to take the pressure off him
Problem is, there aren't enough Kobes to go around. :confusedshrug:

[kkb_12]

Love is borderline star, and would be great 3rd option on contending team. Team with Love as the best player will not make play off, team with Love as a second best player is the first round exit team (unless the first option is Lebron James, or 7 years younger Steve Nash where they would make finals).

[SwishSquared]

grantland?
I saw Simmons' recent article and thought that trade idea was almost common knowledge at this point. There was a thread a few weeks back regarding a Love trade and I suggested Celtics are getting Hayward, Asik, and Love in separate deals while retaining Green, Rondo, and KO. Simmons' idea had Boston giving up more picks in near-term. In that old thread I said 2014 #6, 1 Brooklyn pick and 2016 Boston pick. I think the Grantland article also didn't mention Hayward trade (believe in that thread I originally said Bradley + Clippers' pick for Hayward, Bogans + Philly pick for Asik, and Bass + Anthony + Sully + more filler + picks for Love).