Wiggins: "I want to be here forever"

[Papalrep]

TKRO--Bottom line is if we build a great team around Wiggins he stays for a long time. If not he will get a wondering eye.

Exactly. Love liked Minny, his problem was with the incompetance shown by Taylor on down. If Flip gives him a team, he stays. If Not he leaves.

[Phenom]

Kahn and the Wolves lost Love the second he let go of McHale.

[mrhockey89]

Just think...had the Cavs not traded for Love, they'd likely look at going into next season with a lineup of Irving, Wiggins, LeBron, Aldridge, and Mozgov.

[zigzag22 [enjin:6591633]]

I have no idea how the lottery will play out, how good we will be next year, or if we will ever win a playoff series, but I have never been as excited about a player and franchise as I am with Wiggins. He's super young and this team is still super raw, but he just has "it." All of "it." As he becomes more comfortable both on and off the court, it's going to be just so refreshing and fun to watch this kid grow and become a MVP-caliber player.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Good find.

Everyone wants to downplay what this means, but this is a STARK contrast to how Love approached being in Minnesota. By Wiggins openly embracing Minnesota publicly, he is able to set our minds at ease and it makes it easier to embrace him as a "true" Timberwolf, something Kevin Love never was. Additionally, it openly invites other talented players to think that it's okay to come to the Wolves and that he's not looking to bolt at the first out possible.

To be fair, even after he was forced to be a back up to Ryan Hollins AND Darko Milicic. Even though he wasn't guaranteed 30+ mpg until AFTER he posted a 30/30 game. Even though Kahn publicly downplayed his abilities. Even though the team had no success. Even though he had arguably the worst collection of teammates in the league over the first few years in the L...

Kevin Love was practically begging to stay in Minnesota for 5 more years. Let's not change the narrative here. The Wolves didn't think he was worthy of that. Kevin Love acted accordingly. The guy seems extremely disingenuous in a lot of ways... but Love had every right to be upset with the Kahn regime.

We can argue all day whether Love was worth the max deal... but we KNOW Rubio is not worth it. And we also know that if he got it, there'd be a pretty high chance Love is still in Minnesota.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Good find.

Everyone wants to downplay what this means, but this is a STARK contrast to how Love approached being in Minnesota. By Wiggins openly embracing Minnesota publicly, he is able to set our minds at ease and it makes it easier to embrace him as a "true" Timberwolf, something Kevin Love never was. Additionally, it openly invites other talented players to think that it's okay to come to the Wolves and that he's not looking to bolt at the first out possible.

To be fair, even after he was forced to be a back up to Ryan Hollins AND Darko Milicic. Even though he wasn't guaranteed 30+ mpg until AFTER he posted a 30/30 game. Even though Kahn publicly downplayed his abilities. Even though the team had no success. Even though he had arguably the worst collection of teammates in the league over the first few years in the L...

Kevin Love was practically begging to stay in Minnesota for 5 more years. Let's not change the narrative here. The Wolves didn't think he was worthy of that. Kevin Love acted accordingly. The guy seems extremely disingenuous in a lot of ways... but Love had every right to be upset with the Kahn regime.

We can argue all day whether Love was worth the max deal... but we KNOW Rubio is not worth it. And we also know that if he got it, there'd be a pretty high chance Love is still in Minnesota.

God, I'm tired of the narrative that Kevin wasn't treated right in Minnesota. Were Rambis and Kahn both morons? Of course...we're lucky they're gone. And of course, Kevin should have gotten more minutes his rookie year. But get over it! Yes, Kahn didn't give him a 5th year, but the Wolves still gave him 4 years at more than $15 million a year...and didn't complain when he refused to play defense. And yet we're still saying that Kevin was mistreated here? Please. I'm not surprised that Kevin is now hinting about not being used correctly in Cleveland. Poor Kevin...mistreated again. I can guarantee that he will find a new reason that he is being mistreated by his 3rd team...and his 4th. It's part of his DNA, and he can't help it.

Kahn was a dipshit, and we are so fortunate to have him gone. But I will always be grateful to him for not giving Love that 5th year, and leading to our swapping him for Wiggins.

I don't begrudge any player wanting to leave...it's part of the game. But I don't have to like them, or be tolerant of their whining. The Wiggins quote is terrific and makes one thing perfectly clear. Wiggins is all about class. Love is not.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Good find.

Everyone wants to downplay what this means, but this is a STARK contrast to how Love approached being in Minnesota. By Wiggins openly embracing Minnesota publicly, he is able to set our minds at ease and it makes it easier to embrace him as a "true" Timberwolf, something Kevin Love never was. Additionally, it openly invites other talented players to think that it's okay to come to the Wolves and that he's not looking to bolt at the first out possible.

To be fair, even after he was forced to be a back up to Ryan Hollins AND Darko Milicic. Even though he wasn't guaranteed 30+ mpg until AFTER he posted a 30/30 game. Even though Kahn publicly downplayed his abilities. Even though the team had no success. Even though he had arguably the worst collection of teammates in the league over the first few years in the L...

Kevin Love was practically begging to stay in Minnesota for 5 more years. Let's not change the narrative here. The Wolves didn't think he was worthy of that. Kevin Love acted accordingly. The guy seems extremely disingenuous in a lot of ways... but Love had every right to be upset with the Kahn regime.

We can argue all day whether Love was worth the max deal... but we KNOW Rubio is not worth it. And we also know that if he got it, there'd be a pretty high chance Love is still in Minnesota.

God, I'm tired of the narrative that Kevin wasn't treated right in Minnesota. Were Rambis and Kahn both morons? Of course...we're lucky they're gone. And of course, Kevin should have gotten more minutes his rookie year. But get over it! Yes, Kahn didn't give him a 5th year, but the Wolves still gave him 4 years at more than $15 million a year...and didn't complain when he refused to play defense. And yet we're still saying that Kevin was mistreated here? Please. I'm not surprised that Kevin is now hinting about not being used correctly in Cleveland. Poor Kevin...mistreated again. I can guarantee that he will find a new reason that he is being mistreated by his 3rd team...and his 4th. It's part of his DNA, and he can't help it.

Kahn was a dipshit, and we are so fortunate to have him gone. But I will always be grateful to him for not giving Love that 5th year, and leading to our swapping him for Wiggins.

I don't begrudge any player wanting to leave...it's part of the game. But I don't have to like them, or be tolerant of their whining. The Wiggins quote is terrific and makes one thing perfectly clear. Wiggins is all about class. Love is not.

I don't know how to respond to this post, but I feel I can't just let it sit there...

Again, it's fine if you don't think Love was worth the max. But to sweep the ineptitude of the Rambis/Kahn regime away like it shouldn't be discussed or that it became irrelevant or that it's merely a convenient narrative seems very myopic to me.

They were beyond ridiculous. And even if I like/hate Kevin Love as a player, it's one of the few times where I can understand why he opted out. Many of us called it on "this" forum the moment it was announced that Kahn refused year 5 but gave him the player option. When a productive player is begging to play for the worst team in the NBA and that team tells him, "Nah, thanks but no thanks"... it leaves a mark.

The Wiggins piece covered up what was horrible decisions made by the Kahn/Rambis regime. Hopefully, Wiggins is what so many want/think he'll be and everybody can look back and laugh about the wasted era of Wolves basketball. Someday.

[mjs34]

Tired of hearing the excuses for Love. Neither Rambis or Kahn are still with the wolves so if Love is holding a grudge, that just shows immaturity on his part. It's funny how we continually hear the players and their agents tout the "it's a business" tagline, but then when it comes down to it we are supposed to overlook all their faults, coddle them like a bunch of two year olds, and pay them ridiculous sums of money.

Love should be thanking Kahn for the extra 10-15 mil he is going to pocket over the next few years, just like Kahn told him he would.

As a player, I would be more offended by being benched in the fourth quarter of close games, than I would by not getting a guaranteed fifth year.

I think the wolves are already ahead of the game when it comes to Wiggins. What he isn't giving them on offense is likely to change in the next couple of seasons, and he is already a better defensive player, and significantly better for team chemistry going forward, not to mention on a rookie deal for another 3 seasons.

While I don't put much stock in Wiggins proclamation of staying forever, I do think he is sincere about it right now. That at the very least doesn't hurt the wolves as an organization going forward, like Love's little tantrum when signing a $60 mil dollar deal.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I don't want to give Kahn credit for a good decision, even though it ultimately ended up positive for us...he stumbled into it, and ended up with a good result for all the wrong reasons. But I'm not buying that Kevin was begging to play for the Wolves. As always, Kevin's loyalty was to himself...not the team. He wanted the max deal not because he wanted to be in Minnesota for 5 years, but because he needed it for his own inflated ego. It hurt him to think the GM valued Rubio more than him, and Kevin being Kevin, he never got over the disrespect...even though the Wolves gave him $60 million reasons to get over it.

I was a big fan of Kevin Love the player while he was here...well, Love the offensive player and rebounder, that is. I admired his grit and determination on the boards, and his efforts to improve his offensive game. But his lack of interest in anything that didn't show up in the box score (i.e. defense) was distasteful to me. As was his lack of interest in building any real relationships with anyone within the organization, except for the towel guy. But I never saw him as a max player, and always thought 4 years at $15 million per year was at the upper end of what he deserved. His ho-hum stats and 4th quarter benching because of defensive lapses this past year demonstrates why he is far from a max player.

But at least he brought us Wiggins, a true 2-way player who someday will legitimately earn a max contract. And won't pout and feel like the Wolves owe him more than he owes the Wolves, and seems to have as much loyalty to the Wolves as we rabid fans do. The unsuccessful Love era is over, and at some point the conversation about him will go away...yes, even from Love-detesters like me. . But it's legitimate to think about the contrast between how Wiggins behaves compared to Kevin, and I'm not surprised Wiggins' unbridled enthusiastic comments about a team that just won 16 games. We're lucky to have him.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Tired of hearing the excuses for Love. Neither Rambis or Kahn are still with the wolves so if Love is holding a grudge, that just shows immaturity on his part. It's funny how we continually hear the players and their agents tout the "it's a business" tagline, but then when it comes down to it we are supposed to overlook all their faults, coddle them like a bunch of two year olds, and pay them ridiculous sums of money.

That's just the nature of sports. While none of us can comprehend most athletes' actions when compared to real-world problems we all deal with... we have to remember the contextual world these guys live in.

Whether it's Kevin Love or Kevin Garnett or Blake Griffin or LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Bosh or Zach Randolph or maybe even Kris Humphries... sitting behind Hollins and Darko leaves a mark. Being told you're out best player and we're the worst team in the league... and we know you are desperate to stay anyway... but we don't like you THAT much leaves a mark.

For me, it's not about Kevin Love. It's about actions from a former overmatched regime that should have never been hired in the first place having residual effects many years later.

Saunders might have bailed out Glen Taylor with the Wiggins trade. At worst, it's ignited a fanbase's optimism in a lot of ways. Losing Kevin Love might be the best thing to ever happen to this franchise. Great if that comes true. But call it excuses or not... I can't imagine many players sticking around any longer than Kevin Love did for this organization if they were put in the same spot.


[Note: I don't think this is harping on the past to the point of needing a "just let it go" response from other posters. At least I'm not trying to make it that type of post. After all, Taylor is still the guy at the top and we've recently seen residual effects from those decisions years ago. Taylor missed the mark so badly on the Kahn hire... we can hope he's learned his lesson since then... or be afraid that he's just a horrible owner who makes horrible decisions one after another.]