I changed my mind

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The West got tougher and the only significant move we've made is add a rookie. How does that make us a playoff team? Sure we underperformed, but I would expect a similar result next year. The East now has a few more quality teams as well to compete with making for less guaranteed wins from the weaker conference. The only team that got worse was Houston and they really didn't get that much worse. I don't think it's a smart risk to take at this point to keep him. The road is even more difficult this year than last and Love's not going to be too happy that he could have been playing with Lebron but Flip kept him to play with the same roster that couldn't get the job done last year.

[TheGrey08]

The Rockets lost Asik, Lin & Parsons and only brought in Ariza. The Lakers got worse too. Most teams have stayed about the same except for PHO, N.O., SAC and DAL.

[ace [enjin:6598567]]

I'm not saying that we are a definite playoff team next year. I'm just saying that I think the odds of us becoming a contender are better if we keep Love, but the odds of the team becoming a raging dumpster fire are also higher. I'll do a quick study and see if the numbers tell me I'm an idiot.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Unless we're a contender with Love next year, it's not gonna matter because he's not gonna be here.

[Monster]

To me the basic idea of the OP is the potential of the team and wanting to see Love WITH that potential. The really sad thing is if LaVine reaches a chunk of his potential he is EXACTLY the type of player Love and Rubio needs. People keep talking about the potential of Wiggins LaVine Rubio etc but damn if you could keep Love DAMN if LaVine turns out to be pretty good Rubio Love and LaVine could be NASTY and the Wolves have other talent also like Pek and Dieng. Sigh I hope Wiggins turns out to be really good and another piece from that trade helps us be competitive until the young guys come together. Flip was part of a very quick rebuild with the Wolves almost 20 years ago hopefully it comes together that well again and then doesn't fall apart. We can dream right? :)

[Lipoli390]

Grey -- I hear what you're saying.

I have no doubt that Flip is comfortable keeping Love and taking a shot at convincing him to stay. Flip has a lot of confidence in his ability to coach this team up and put the Wolves in a good position to persuade Love to extend here for a 5-year deal that no other team can offer him. Worst case in Flip's mind is the Wolves get a lot of cap space from Love's departure. But Flip is entertaining offers and willing to do the "right deal" if it improves the team. Flip has said that and I know it sounds like posturing, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that it's not. As I've posted before, I disagree with Flip's approach, but I know that Flip is truly comfortable keeping Love.

Nevertheless, I think Flip will end up doing a deal with Cleveland. Getting Love is an opportunity the Cavs are smart enough to know they can't pass up. So they will ultimately give Flip what he wants in what will end up a true win-win deal for both sides. But I still wouldn't be shocked if we ended up keeping Love. And I have no doubt that, if Love starts the season with the Wolves he'll end the season with the Wolves.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Lip, I don't see how we could characterize any deal that ships a superstar out as "win-win". With Love's declaration to opt out, we've already lost. Now it's just a matter of what the consolation prize will be.

[TheGrey08]

Grey -- I hear what you're saying.

I have no doubt that Flip is comfortable keeping Love and taking a shot at convincing him to stay. Flip has a lot of confidence in his ability to coach this team up and put the Wolves in a good position to persuade Love to extend here for a 5-year deal that no other team can offer him. Worst case in Flip's mind is the Wolves get a lot of cap space from Love's departure. But Flip is entertaining offers and willing to do the "right deal" if it improves the team. Flip has said that and I know it sounds like posturing, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that it's not. As I've posted before, I disagree with Flip's approach, but I know that Flip is truly comfortable keeping Love.

Nevertheless, I think Flip will end up doing a deal with Cleveland. Getting Love is an opportunity the Cavs are smart enough to know they can't pass up. So they will ultimately give Flip what he wants in what will end up a true win-win deal for both sides. But I still wouldn't be shocked if we ended up keeping Love. And I have no doubt that, if Love starts the season with the Wolves he'll end the season with the Wolves.

That's what makes me wonder. If Love really told the team he wasn't coming back I don't think Flip would be happy going into the season with him on the team if he got anything close to a solid offer. It makes me wonder what Love has REALLY told the team.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I'm not "bashing" anyone, and I don't know how you could infer that I was. Like I said, trading for Wiggins is the "smart" play. Get the guy who's young with star potential and try again. I've just hoped for someone to be a star, then watched them fail, too many times to expect that it will happen with multiple guys at once.

Basically, I think ace is simply saying that he's been battered enough by rebuild after rebuild that the Wolves Promise of Hope v.7.0 Campaign doesn't seem like a ton of fun.

Hoping for things to develop in the future instead of enjoying what assets we have today...


[Note: Since I've been a fan from Day One, I can relate. The Promise of Hope gets old quickly. After a decade or more, it gets frustrating. But, this one feels different. Landing Wiggins is about the only way for the Wolves to tear it all down (yet again) without losing the fanbase. At least this time the team is trying something new... a #1 draft pick. And one with legit potential. I'm not excited about 60-loss seasons again. But in today's NBA, the Wolves are doing what needs to be done to succeed -- find a potential superstar and get lucky that he turns out. This time, however, I assume they'll do better by not insulting him at every turn...]

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I'd definitely want to keep Love for another year and try to make the playoffs, maybe steal a series and convince him to stay if I knew two things:

1-How bad is the chemistry between Love and his teammates? It looks like it's been pretty bad. Winning tends to fix that though. If the team chemistry is so bad that even if we become a decent playoff team this year we'd still have chemistry problems, then I'd trade Love.

2-How good a team would it take for Love to consider signing with? Would he only sign with a contender? Cavs/Bulls in East. OKC, Clippers in West? If his expectations are really that high, I think we've got to trade him. But if he says he'd be willing to sign with a dangerous, fun playoff team that could reasonably become a contender soon, then I think we keep him and try to become that team.

It's like we've been climbing a mountain since we traded KG, and we're finally right on the cusp of getting to the top portion of the mountain. But this is our last chance to get to that top part of the mountain or we fall back to the bottom of the mountain without our best climber. Trading Love is like going back to base camp 1 (Cavs) and getting another team of climbers that could be enough to one day get to the top or base camp 2 (Bulls) and get a more experienced team of older climbers that may not have a superstar but you know are good climbers. But keeping Love is like taking the risk that in the next push, you could get to the top portion of the mountain and convince him to stay on your team. It's risky, and I'd want to know the answers to 1 and 2 to get a sense for how risky it is. But after almost 10 years of climbing this freaking mountain, and now being this close to getting to that top part of the mountain and really competing with some very tough teams (for some reason, all the good climbing teams are on the west face), I really want to take that risk and just do what we can to make it to the next level and convince Love to stay. I think with this team, a new coach, and fixing some chemistry problems, it's definitely possible we could do that, but it all depends on points 1 and 2 above, and I don't think any of us REALLY know the answer to those questions except the people involved. But if you ask me, F it, let's go for it climb this F.ing mountain right now.