TRADE KEVIN LOVE NOW

[ace [enjin:6598567]]

whats wrong with some of yall. you really imagine the t-wolves able to get a legit piece for barea,shved & cunningham? in order for love to stay lmfao rofl good luck with thathahahahahahahahahha!!!!!!!! im telling you now is the time to get something for love b4 he walks off.

blake griffin? carmelo anthony? theres lots of teams willing to trade 4 love right now.

Love is under contract for another year and a half. He wouldn't be "a half season rental" for anyone. It would be idiotic to trade him now. If the Wolves flop next year, then they should trade him by the deadline.

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Trading kevin love would be the worst possible thing that can happen to this frachise right now.

Love is a special kind of player with unique skills and tough as nails. Learn to appreciate the guy, a player with the skills of love rarely if ever walk in the door.

What flip should do is to make 1 last effort this offseason to build a contending team around the core of love-rubio-pek. he blew his chance this past off season. Martin is not good enough to be the 4th guy to push us into contention. Flip better step up.

Martin is not good enough to be the 4th<<<<< guy LMAO... Kmart is not whats wrong with this team...

Martin is not whats wrong with the team but he is not the solution either. There are a lot of flaws with this team but the core 3 is love-rubio-pek. The rest is not working and martin is the guy with the more difficult contract to move. If we could move him now, then we should.

IDK.....6.5 Mill for a guy that puts up>>>19ppg,,,3rpg,,,3apg,,1 stl ,,1.8 3pg,,,88%FT,,,43%FG... I would like to have you find me a player that puts numbers up like that,But makes less then martin,, Can't be a player on his rookie contract... IMO it's a great deal for the wolves and other NBA teams would love to have martin and that contract IMO...

keep in mind that we can't place an blame on Love, Ricky, or Pek.......we have to blame someone.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Besides getting lucky (for the 1st time ever) in the lottery AND the draft, I don't see how the Wolves can improve significantly... at least enough to get Love to resign.

Moving bit parts on meh to bad contracts (Brewer, Budinger, Barea, Moute, Martin, Cunningham, et al) will NOT move the needle and get somebody to offer up a better player.

That leaves Pekovic and Rubio. They will have decent (but not out of this world) trade value. So, if the current roster isn't working... how willing are you to swing for the fences?

Trade Rubio for a young upstart guard and HOPE that guy makes the leap?
Trade Pekovic for a legit defensive big and HOPE that guy changes the chemistry enough to show up in a lot more wins?

Because the status quo is not good enough. It MIGHT be good enough to make the playoffs next season. But it's doubtful. Which team is falling off? Not to mention, New Orleans will be even better. And maybe others.

Face it. Not to be Debbie Downer (but I've been realistic about the Wolves since my very first post)... the Wolves have one of the bleakest futures in the NBA... AGAIN.

To be even a marginal team, they need Love to resign. And I don't know how even the most optimistic fan is thinking that's happening if the team can't get above .500.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm admittedly way down on the 2013-14 T-Wolves, abe, and looking at the calendar a couple times a day waiting for baseball to start. But I'm a hopeless optimist, and although there is a lot of logic in your post, I see several ways this club can take a big Portland/Phoenix type leap next year. Here are some of the ways:

1) A new coach. I think most of us see this as inevitable before next year, and a good thing. As much as I like Adelman, he looks tired and has lost this team. There's no reason an aggressive new coach can't give us a big lift like Hornacek did this year.

2) Addition by subtraction. I also think most of us see JJ gone by next year, and see that as a good thing. His style of play is unlike anyone else in the league in almost completely ignoring his teammates...exactly the wrong attitude for a PG. Anyone else as backup PG will help us next year.

3) Addition by addition. This year's draft is the strongest in years, and there will be excellent SG options available to us when we pick. A Gary Harris or Zach Lavine backing up Martin instead of Shved makes the second unit instantly more potent.

4)Potential contributions by this year's draftees. Adelman didn't want to play them. but Shabazz knows how to score and Dieng knows how to block shots...two things that we need.

5) Continued improvement by Rubio and Love. They are still young, and still getting better. It's hard to imagine Love can get much better, but he is still adding to his game. This year he has become an adept passer, and just last game he made a spin move I have never seen that made my jaw drop. And I believe Ricky is likely to become a better shooter and refine his already elite passing skills. We already have one of the top 5 starting units in the NBA, and there is further upside for this unit.

My optimistic thoughts about the future...

[Phenom]

If Abe's evaluation is correct, and it certainly may be, then trading Love is the best option. If there was a draft to try and crash, this is the one and Love ilcould probably fetch any pick. Waiting another year to trade him will drive his trade value down and limit potential suitors, who will want a year to convince him to stay, or trade him at the next deadline.

That said, Flip won't do it.

[Squishypoo [enjin:6648839]]

Would anyone do>> PEK and JJ for Joakim Noah/DJ Augustin and Dunleavy... Noah is just way more involed on both sides of the ball then pek is.. Noah is a great passing big with over 4APG the last 2 years..Just the other night noah went for 19 points,,11 ast ,,,16Reb and 3 blocks lol.... Then add Dunleavy and DJ to the bench who both can score...IDK Just thinking out loud lol..

[thedoper]

Would anyone do>> PEK and JJ for Joakim Noah/DJ Augustin and Dunleavy... Noah is just way more involed on both sides of the ball then pek is.. Noah is a great passing big with over 4APG the last 2 years..Just the other night noah went for 19 points,,11 ast ,,,16Reb and 3 blocks lol.... Then add Dunleavy and DJ to the bench who both can score...IDK Just thinking out loud lol..

I would in a heartbeat. But I don't see what is in this deal for Chicago. You could argue that Noah and DJ are better than JJ and Pek, plus we get Dunleavy. Unless they want nothing to do with these 3 players we would need to sweeten that deal somehow. Even though we lack sweeteners on our roster.

[horatio81 [enjin:7751176]]

I think some posters here are operating under the delusion that Love is staying. He absolutely isn't. Didn't get the contract he wants. Fanbase not 100% on his side. Likely to be a coaching change. Pg hasn't developed. Center doesn't cover Love's weaknesses. No assets or cap space to obtain missing pieces. Roster topping out at 11th in the West. He'd be insane not to go, honestly.

This team bottomed out for several years when we already had Love and Pek only to WHIFF BADLY on basically all of our draft picks. You can't overcome that kind of mismanagement through free agency in a smaller market. Period.

If you want a contender in Minnesota, you have one option: trade everyone of value for picks, bottom out for another 2-3 years, and hope you nail your picks for a change. That's the only way you contend in this league without the luxury of a big market draw or Greg Poppovich.

[thedoper]

I think some posters here are operating under the delusion that Love is staying. He absolutely isn't. Didn't get the contract he wants. Fanbase not 100% on his side. Likely to be a coaching change. Pg hasn't developed. Center doesn't cover Love's weaknesses. No assets or cap space to obtain missing pieces. Roster topping out at 11th in the West. He'd be insane not to go, honestly.

This team bottomed out for several years when we already had Love and Pek only to WHIFF BADLY on basically all of our draft picks. You can't overcome that kind of mismanagement through free agency in a smaller market. Period.

If you want a contender in Minnesota, you have one option: trade everyone of value for picks, bottom out for another 2-3 years, and hope you nail your picks for a change. That's the only way you contend in this league without the luxury of a big market draw or Greg Poppovich.

It hurts but I agree. My only wrinkle is that think that the team will be gone before that plan can ever be enacted. Our franchise needs to be in the playoffs, and it isn't happening. Any good will that was established before Rubio's injury seems to be long gone now.

[KiwiMatt]

I'm admittedly way down on the 2013-14 T-Wolves, abe, and looking at the calendar a couple times a day waiting for baseball to start. But I'm a hopeless optimist, and although there is a lot of logic in your post, I see several ways this club can take a big Portland/Phoenix type leap next year. Here are some of the ways:

1) A new coach. I think most of us see this as inevitable before next year, and a good thing. As much as I like Adelman, he looks tired and has lost this team. There's no reason an aggressive new coach can't give us a big lift like Hornacek did this year.

2) Addition by subtraction. I also think most of us see JJ gone by next year, and see that as a good thing. His style of play is unlike anyone else in the league in almost completely ignoring his teammates...exactly the wrong attitude for a PG. Anyone else as backup PG will help us next year.

3) Addition by addition. This year's draft is the strongest in years, and there will be excellent SG options available to us when we pick. A Gary Harris or Zach Lavine backing up Martin instead of Shved makes the second unit instantly more potent.

4)Potential contributions by this year's draftees. Adelman didn't want to play them. but Shabazz knows how to score and Dieng knows how to block shots...two things that we need.

5) Continued improvement by Rubio and Love. They are still young, and still getting better. It's hard to imagine Love can get much better, but he is still adding to his game. This year he has become an adept passer, and just last game he made a spin move I have never seen that made my jaw drop. And I believe Ricky is likely to become a better shooter and refine his already elite passing skills. We already have one of the top 5 starting units in the NBA, and there is further upside for this unit.

My optimistic thoughts about the future...

Good post LST, couldn't agree more.

Look at Portland last season to this season. They made a huge leap and pretty much kept their starters intact and strengthened their bench (which was their main problem last season). We are in exactly the same boat this season - starters who can match it with anyone, but a bench which wouldn't look out of place playing in the D League.

Barea needs to go. Don't really need to say much more to validate why, it is obvious by watching him play or even just looking at the boxscore. We need a back up PG who can shoot the ball at 45%, especially with Rubio as our starting PG. Barea is shooting just as bad a Rubio this season, which has cost us more than a few games IMO

Strong draft this year as LST stated and it looks like we will be keeping our pick. Hopefully Flip does his homework and doesn't botch this one. Haven't had a chance to study the draft much this year.

I still have faith in Bazz and Dieng. They just need more burn and now is the ideal time. Both are capable of giving us two things we sorely lack - bench scoring and low post defense.

We also seriously lack a PF/C who can come off the bench and score 10ppg. Cunningham and LMAM aren't the answers here. Would be nice to have a guy like Speights or Carl Laundry.