Love Visiting Boston This Weekend

[Lipoli390]

Lip, the only issue I have with what you're saying is what Flip does depends heavily on what other teams do and what Love wants to do. What if other teams don't include their best asset because Love refuses to at least pick up his option for the following year? It just seems a bit foolish to want Flip to make that decision when he's not the one controlling all of the moving parts.

As far as a trade with the Celtics goes if we could get Green, Olynyk, and picks I'd happy, especially if we could get Randle at 6. In my opinion Dieng, Olynyk, and Randle would be a near ideal (in theory) rotation at PF/C.

Rage -- I get what you're saying. I agree there's a point at which all the offers could end up so bad for the Wolves that Flip would be better off keeping Love. But if Flip has concluded as I have that it's unlikely he'd be able to get Love to re-sign here next year, then he should have his mind made up to trade Love this summer for the best reasonable offer. I'm assuming Flip will end up with a good offer or two significantly better than losing Love for nothing in a year.

It may not be the sort of offer we'd all like or consider worthy of Love's proven abilities, but simply needs to be something better than the high risk of losing Love for nothing next summer. Ideally, it would be Cleveland's #1 pick + Waiters and Thompson. But if it's Olynyk, Green and the #6 pick from Boston I'd roll with that. I think we could get a decent combination of players, picks and some salary savings from the Suns. Getting Thompson, Lee and Barnes from the Warriors would also be but petter than just watching Love walk.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

But if it's Olynyk, Green and the #6 pick from Boston I'd roll with that. I think we could get a decent combination of players, picks and some salary savings from the Suns. Getting Thompson, Lee and Barnes from the Warriors would also be but petter than just watching Love walk.

[thedoper]

If only all the teams were dumb enough to put their pitches to Love in writing then they could get tampering penalties. I guess there is only one owner dumb enough to ok that.

To me I would say no deal with Boston without all of their future Brooklyn picks too. If they got those picks for those dinosaurs, they should at least be willing to flip them for a bonafide star.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I was listening to ESPN radio this morning and they were talking about Love's visit to Beantown. What surprised me was how negative they were about him, citing his substandard defensive effort and performance. Antonio Davis went so far as to say he refuses to defend the 3-point line because it would negatively impact his rebounding stats.

I know this is only one instance, but it made me think we on this board are being overly optimistic in predicting what kind of offers we might get for Love. Yes, his offensive and rebounding stats are spectacular, but the national media (and presumably the league's GMs) recognize that he is a classic one-way player...and one-way players don't win championships.

KG was older when we traded him to Boston, but he was in the prime of his career, clearly had several more years left in his career, and was the prototype of a 2-way player. The Celtics were willing to give us a decent return because they had a fairly high comfort level that Garnett was the piece that would take them to a championship. The current Celtics can't believe that, and as a result, we should not expect as good a return for Love. There has been talk about Olynyk, filler and multiple picks, but I think Lip's suggestion of Olynyk, Green and #6 is the ceiling for what we can expect. I handicap Cleveland's willingness to trade us #1, Waiters and Verajeo, or Golden State's willingness to include Thompson in a package with Lee and Barnes, as not very high...perhaps 10%.

The kind of offers that Flip can expect really puts him in a tough spot. I would want him to reject any Cavs or Warriors deals that excluded #1 or Klay, and I wouldn't be excited about a Boston deal that didn't include multiple first round picks. But I'm an Olynyk fan, so I might be inclined to take an offer of Kelly, Green and #6...maybe. But I would feel better if they included the Nets' 2015 pick, and wouldn't condemn Flip if he didn't think the Boston offer was enough.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It's not often that a 25 year old star becomes available. That's why I expect offers to be big time. Name the last 25 year old star that was available via trade... It's rare waters we're entering.

[Lipoli390]

But if it's Olynyk, Green and the #6 pick from Boston I'd roll with that. I think we could get a decent combination of players, picks and some salary savings from the Suns. Getting Thompson, Lee and Barnes from the Warriors would also be but petter than just watching Love walk.

Oh man that would be a worse return then what we got for KG. good thing you aren't making the trades

[Lipoli390]

Long -- i think your analysis is pretty sound; however I suspect that Love has a bit more value than you ascribe to him. As Cam pointed out, a 25-year old perennial all-star has a lot of value because he gives you a lot of years in his prime and probably still has some untapped upside left. I disagree somewhat with the take on Love as a one-way player. He's a prolific defensive rebounder and that alone makes him a two-way player. We have also seen him use his wide body and physical strength to pretty effectively guard opposing PFs and even centers when he puts forth the effort. On the offensive side of the ball, he is absolutely unique in his ability to hit the three, score inside, control the offensive glass and set up his teammates with his passing game.

I'm sure GMs around the League recognize Love's shortcomings, but I would bet almost all of them rank his as the best or second best power forward in the League..

[PatrickBateman [enjin:8062828]]

Boston can't offer anymore than Sacramento can.

Gay+McLemore+8 for Love makes more sense than anything Boston can offer.

[Coolbreeze44]

I think Olynyk, Green, and #6 is laughable. I really do. I am 100% confident that we can do better than that if we trade him the night of the draft. If we can't, by all means keep him and see what happens. Flip would be painted a worse version of David Kahn if he made that deal.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Long -- i think your analysis is pretty sound; however I suspect that Love has a bit more value than you ascribe to him. As Cam pointed out, a 25-year old perennial all-star has a lot of value because he gives you a lot of years in his prime and probably still has some untapped upside left. I disagree somewhat with the take on Love as a one-way player. He's a prolific defensive rebounder and that alone makes him a two-way player. We have also seen him use his wide body and physical strength to pretty effectively guard opposing PFs and even centers when he puts forth the effort. On the offensive side of the ball, he is absolutely unique in his ability to hit the three, score inside, control the offensive glass and set up his teammates with his passing game.

I'm sure GMs around the League recognize Love's shortcomings, but I would bet almost all of them rank his as the best or second best power forward in the League..

I hope you're right, Lip. I'm convinced that the Wolves' best course of action is to take the best deal they can on or before draft night, but I just have this sick feeling that it won't be close to being enough. And if ti does fall far short of the deals we are discussing, I then hope that Flip doesn't pull the trigger. But I have to admit that I have seldom felt so wishy washy in my views on a Wolves' issue.,,I find my opinions changing like the tides and that I am easily influenced by others' arguments. I think that speaks to the complexity of this issue, and all the variables involved.

I hear what you and Cam are saying about Love's perceived value, and I really want to believe that you guys are right...and you very well might be. But the derision with which ESPN radio discussed him today shook me up a little. We may think that Kevin is a 2-way player, but that doesn't seem to be the prevailing opinion. And he falls quite short in his "2-wayness" when you compare to the last Kevin that we suffered through this process with.