Best team in the NBA with Love. Worst without him.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The title of the thread is a bit of hyperbole. Obviously. But I came across this blurb (stat) in the game recap:

Minnesota was up 33 - 31 when Love went to the bench in the 2nd quarter. Toronto went on a 15 - 0 run with Love out of the game.

Love returned and the Wolves went on a 17 - 2 run.

Yikes. I only saw about 5 minutes of the 4th quarter. Did the team just fall apart when he left, or is there some context to explain what happened in the 2nd quarter? Because that could be an alarming, and pretty damn telling, stat... reminiscent of the old Kevin Garnett days.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The bench sucks ass. Rubio also got in foul trouble early due to some questionable calls by the refs. That meant Rubio went to the bench and we all got to see more of Barea. That's what happened in the 2nd quarter.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

You're lucky you weren't watching during that stretch, abe...it was painful to watch our season circling the drain. It had a lot to do with Love going out and, as Cam mentioned, Rubio's foul problems. But it also had a lot to do with Adelman's ridiculous lineup. Cunningham rather than Dieng, Luc rather than Muhammad, and Bud rather than anybody. 15-0 happened in the blink of an eye, and even the stubborn Adelman had to make an adjustment and put Love back in.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I've been mostly quiet about the Adelman and Barea bashing.

In part, because I bashed the Barea signing from the beginning. I thought he was rewarded for being the worst player on the court for 4 of 6 NBA Finals games.

But it IS a problem. Barea is in a role that doesn't suit him. And Adelman's "stubborness" only makes it more painful to watch.

He's now 5 - 25 over the past 3 games. In some of his "better" games recently, he's started off great, only to implode later. It's basically a disaster at this point. And he'll be the scapegoat for the season.

I hope he's not the only one blamed though. The season went sideways, and ultimately upside down, for several reasons. Some are Barea-related... some are not.


[Note: I did choose Barea over Ridnour if a choice had to be made last summer. I thought Rubio would be that 36 minute guy, so you'd only need Barea for 10 - 20 minutes per game, depending on the team's need. As a DEEP option, a hot or cold type of game-changer, he offered value.]

[thedoper]

I was watching the Toronto feed online last night. They gave a stat when Ricky went out of the game with his 3rd foul that we are the 3rd best offense in the league with Rubio on the floor and the 27th with him on the bench. I think that explains our team quite clearly. Last year when it looked like we had to make a choice between Barea and Luke I wanted JJ at first, but after thinking about it for a while I knew we needed someone to run the offense and switched my opinion. I can't help thinking at this point that JJ was Adelman's guy. It is the only explanation that makes sense at this point.

[mjs34]

I think we aren't looking deep enough when bashing JJ. He certainly brings a lot of it on himself, but what are his options? Adleman has him on the floor with DC, Luc, Bud and Pek. Not one of those guys can handle the ball or create their own shot, and it's even worse defensively. When you play long enough in a system like that, you might start overreacting like JJ is doing.

[KiwiMatt]

I think we aren't looking deep enough when bashing JJ. He certainly brings a lot of it on himself, but what are his options? Adleman has him on the floor with DC, Luc, Bud and Pek. Not one of those guys can handle the ball or create their own shot, and it's even worse defensively. When you play long enough in a system like that, you might start overreacting like JJ is doing.

Fair take SJM. Barea is playing out of position. He's a SG in a PG body. He can't set up offense and needs to play off the ball to be effective and cause mis-matches and create his own shot. I remember watching a few games mid season where Shved was in charge of ball handling duties and Barea played off him. It looked ten times better and was a lot more effective. Unfortunately Adelman didn't see it and has permanently bench Shved and given Barea all of the backup PG minutes.

Barea mad a name for himself playing off Jason Kidd, why can't he play off Shved or Rubio in certain match ups? I'll tell you why, because Adelman doesn't have a clue!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I think we aren't looking deep enough when bashing JJ. He certainly brings a lot of it on himself, but what are his options? Adleman has him on the floor with DC, Luc, Bud and Pek. Not one of those guys can handle the ball or create their own shot, and it's even worse defensively. When you play long enough in a system like that, you might start overreacting like JJ is doing.

When Rubio was in foul trouble last night, he got burn with the starters and looked just as awkward running an offense. The difference was Love and Pek were able to bail him out a few times. We've seen this in other instances when Adelman has left JJ in late fourth quarters instead of Ricky and the execution goes downhill. JJ's just not a good point guard. Can he be a decent sparkplug? Sure, but his inconsistency and ballhogging nature will always be two huge negatives against him.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Sadly, this a pretty damn accurate statement and not really hyperbole at all. We generally win by about 8 points per 100 possessions when Love is on the floor and lose by about 8 points per 100 possessions when he is off the floor, for a net difference of 16 points per 100 possessions. That is a huge difference. Rubio is second on the Wolves with a net on/off rating of about 11 points per 100 possessions.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

Love isn't the problem but he's not the solution to our problems either. Yes he can put up great offensive number and carry a team for stretches (while he's hot) he can't carry a team in the long run because he doesn't impact both ends of the court. Most people consider Love a star but what other top 10 player hasn't been able to carry his team to the playoffs?