My Thoughts on Love

[mjs34]

My thoughts on Love are that if the losing was wearing on him, maybe he could have played some defense, or closed out some of those close games. He is clearly not a man of his word, or he wouldn't have made a decision already. It was nice of him to keep up the lie, while Flip signed on 30 mil in annual salaries last season to make a push for the PO's.

If I am Flip, I only trade him for a godfather offer. Anything less only continues the mediocrity of this team. Either we bottom out with picks for the future while dumping the longer salaried guys like Pek, or you entertain the fans next season and then start the rebuild with Love walking away for less money, less years, and less options.

oh please, Love was 4th in scoring 3 in rebounds, almost 5 assists a game. To put even a smidge of blame on him for not making the playoffs is stupid. Wolves wouldn't of scratched 20 wins this year without him

And yet they won over 30 games the season before without him. How do explain that? We spent over 10 mil more annually on salaries and had a healthy Love and didn't even post 10 more wins.

Love was 3rd in the league in PER behind only durant and Lebron

What does that have to do with Love playing D!

Name one other PF in the league that would of given the Wolves more wins this year

Lebron, TD, AD. Now explain to me what this has to do with Love playing/making a better effort on D!

The guy is whining about not making the PO's or winning enough, but yet there he is playing Ole defense on a regular basis. A little more effort and maybe we were in the PO's. When you are the franchise player and being paid like it, it is your job to win games.

[mjs34]

I also find it fascinating that Love's comments or that of his agent, came right after Rubio questioned his leadership. Maybe just a coincidence, or did Rubio push Love over the edge???

I guess I take a step back here ,Lloyd, and ask this question...how do we know either Kevin or his agent have made any comments at all? All I have seen is media speculation that all seem to be a reaction to a NY Daily News article saying Love had made up his mind. The NY Daily News! Basically one step up from the National Enquirer.

Ricky Rubio had made no negative statements about coming to Minnesota when the NY media concluded he was going to NY. This smells a lot like that to me.

Don't get me wrong...I still think the most likely scenario is that Kevin eventually leaves. I'm just suspicious of the NY-created media swirl.

You're right LST, we don't. I thought it was a more credible source, but it's just some new writer over at the four letter network making stuff up, with "sources close to the situation".

And the Daily News too. But Yahoo is now running a piece on "Wolves open to trading Love", what a mess. Like I said before, they won't be satisfied until he's in LA or NY.

I am starting to think this was started because someone inquired about Love and Flip actually discussed it. I think it makes sense that Flip would listen to offers knowing that Love can walk next season. I just find it silly that most of these so called sources don't seem to realize that Love can't sign an extension with the wolves or for any other team until January. He can only waive his opt out clause essentially extending for one more season.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I get why people are resentful of the way the story gets played out on ESPN. I also get how the fact that Love, his agent, and Flip haven't said anything directly also raises questions about what is really going on.

But let's be for real. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Stories like this don't go national without at least getting the ok from the player himself.

The truth is, this has been coming since Kahn denied Love the 5th year and let him sign a contract with a player option 4th year. Love has made it clear for years he wanted to be on a playoff team that could contend for a title. His criticism of Kahn and the Wolves a couple years ago was the real Kevin, not the friendly face he put forward to the Minnesota media about how excited he was to be in Minnesota after he caught flak for that interview (and after his agent probably saw what happened to Dwight Howard's image).

And that's exactly why we probably won't hear Love directly say that he wants out. He may say that he won't pick up his option just to test the market, and that he's still interested in seeing if the Wolves can be the contender he wants to play for. And part of him may actually want to see if the Wolves can be that team. But he won't directly say he wants to be traded, because he and his agent know what a PR hit the players who have said that have taken. And they know that indicating that he won't pick up the 4th year option is essentially asking for a trade, just without having to own it. The fact that he hasn't said anything openly yet isn't an indication that it's not true, it's just an affirmation that they're trying to do this quietly and without it hurting Love's image.

While I do think Love mostly wants out of Minnesota and will probably get it, I DO think the media plays a role, just not the one people seem to think. The traditional view is the media just report the stories they hear, and while I think it is very likely that these Love stories are true than not, I do believe this is a little naive. Skeptics on this board and in small markets generally often suggest players really want to stay with their teams, and that rumors that they want to leave are just the national media turning their fantasies into a reality, driving stories they know will grab headlines, big names, big markets, big money. But I also think this viewpoint exaggerates the facts, and at worst, flirts with ridiculous conspiracy theorizing.

Here's where I think the middle ground is: that what players want, and the stories that the media depicts them wanting, often mingle and interact. If a star hints that he's not happy, the media will definitely report it, and the more the media reports it, the more likely it is to feel true to everyone involved, including the star player. In other words, there's a dialogue between reality and the narrative, they shape and drive each other. In this case, I think Love has indicated that this was coming for a long time, but the media stories about it have also reinforced his thinking to the point where it feels inevitable to everyone involved.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

My thoughts on Love are that if the losing was wearing on him, maybe he could have played some defense, or closed out some of those close games. He is clearly not a man of his word, or he wouldn't have made a decision already. It was nice of him to keep up the lie, while Flip signed on 30 mil in annual salaries last season to make a push for the PO's.

If I am Flip, I only trade him for a godfather offer. Anything less only continues the mediocrity of this team. Either we bottom out with picks for the future while dumping the longer salaried guys like Pek, or you entertain the fans next season and then start the rebuild with Love walking away for less money, less years, and less options.

oh please, Love was 4th in scoring 3 in rebounds, almost 5 assists a game. To put even a smidge of blame on him for not making the playoffs is stupid. Wolves wouldn't of scratched 20 wins this year without him

And yet they won over 30 games the season before without him. How do explain that? We spent over 10 mil more annually on salaries and had a healthy Love and didn't even post 10 more wins.

Love was 3rd in the league in PER behind only durant and Lebron

What does that have to do with Love playing D!

Name one other PF in the league that would of given the Wolves more wins this year

Lebron, TD, AD. Now explain to me what this has to do with Love playing/making a better effort on D!

The guy is whining about not making the PO's or winning enough, but yet there he is playing Ole defense on a regular basis. A little more effort and maybe we were in the PO's. When you are the franchise player and being paid like it, it is your job to win games.

Just hopping in the discussion for some minor disagreements.

1) LeBron's a SF. He's always been a SF. That's his position. Best player in the game. Might as well say he's the best PG and SG in the game too. Why don't we? Because that's not his position.

2) Duncan and Davis don't get this team more wins. No way, not even close. Duncan's not even the MVP on his own team at this point in his career. He can't shoulder the load offensively like Love does, and we need him to. Davis just scratched and clawed the Pelicans to 34 wins. Yippee. He's a big time talent (not on Love's level), but I don't see his defensive impact making more wins for this team either.

[mjs34]

My thoughts on Love are that if the losing was wearing on him, maybe he could have played some defense, or closed out some of those close games. He is clearly not a man of his word, or he wouldn't have made a decision already. It was nice of him to keep up the lie, while Flip signed on 30 mil in annual salaries last season to make a push for the PO's.

If I am Flip, I only trade him for a godfather offer. Anything less only continues the mediocrity of this team. Either we bottom out with picks for the future while dumping the longer salaried guys like Pek, or you entertain the fans next season and then start the rebuild with Love walking away for less money, less years, and less options.

oh please, Love was 4th in scoring 3 in rebounds, almost 5 assists a game. To put even a smidge of blame on him for not making the playoffs is stupid. Wolves wouldn't of scratched 20 wins this year without him

And yet they won over 30 games the season before without him. How do explain that? We spent over 10 mil more annually on salaries and had a healthy Love and didn't even post 10 more wins.

Love was 3rd in the league in PER behind only durant and Lebron

What does that have to do with Love playing D!

Name one other PF in the league that would of given the Wolves more wins this year

Lebron, TD, AD. Now explain to me what this has to do with Love playing/making a better effort on D!

The guy is whining about not making the PO's or winning enough, but yet there he is playing Ole defense on a regular basis. A little more effort and maybe we were in the PO's. When you are the franchise player and being paid like it, it is your job to win games.

Just hopping in the discussion for some minor disagreements.

1) LeBron's a SF. He's always been a SF. That's his position. Best player in the game. Might as well say he's the best PG and SG in the game too. Why don't we? Because that's not his position.

2) Duncan and Davis don't get this team more wins. No way, not even close. Duncan's not even the MVP on his own team at this point in his career. He can't shoulder the load offensively like Love does, and we need him to. Davis just scratched and clawed the Pelicans to 34 wins. Yippee. He's a big time talent (not on Love's level), but I don't see his defensive impact making more wins for this team either.

Lebron has been playing PF for the Heat the whole season.

Duncan and Davis are plus defenders, so even though they may not be the scorer Love is, you can't say they wouldn't make as big of a difference. 34 wins isn't that short of the 40 (yippee) that Minny posted. I would trade Love and a first for AD today.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

My thoughts on Love are that if the losing was wearing on him, maybe he could have played some defense, or closed out some of those close games. He is clearly not a man of his word, or he wouldn't have made a decision already. It was nice of him to keep up the lie, while Flip signed on 30 mil in annual salaries last season to make a push for the PO's.

If I am Flip, I only trade him for a godfather offer. Anything less only continues the mediocrity of this team. Either we bottom out with picks for the future while dumping the longer salaried guys like Pek, or you entertain the fans next season and then start the rebuild with Love walking away for less money, less years, and less options.

oh please, Love was 4th in scoring 3 in rebounds, almost 5 assists a game. To put even a smidge of blame on him for not making the playoffs is stupid. Wolves wouldn't of scratched 20 wins this year without him

And yet they won over 30 games the season before without him. How do explain that? We spent over 10 mil more annually on salaries and had a healthy Love and didn't even post 10 more wins.

Love was 3rd in the league in PER behind only durant and Lebron

What does that have to do with Love playing D!

Name one other PF in the league that would of given the Wolves more wins this year

Lebron, TD, AD. Now explain to me what this has to do with Love playing/making a better effort on D!

The guy is whining about not making the PO's or winning enough, but yet there he is playing Ole defense on a regular basis. A little more effort and maybe we were in the PO's. When you are the franchise player and being paid like it, it is your job to win games.

Just hopping in the discussion for some minor disagreements.

1) LeBron's a SF. He's always been a SF. That's his position. Best player in the game. Might as well say he's the best PG and SG in the game too. Why don't we? Because that's not his position.

2) Duncan and Davis don't get this team more wins. No way, not even close. Duncan's not even the MVP on his own team at this point in his career. He can't shoulder the load offensively like Love does, and we need him to. Davis just scratched and clawed the Pelicans to 34 wins. Yippee. He's a big time talent (not on Love's level), but I don't see his defensive impact making more wins for this team either.

Lebron has been playing PF for the Heat the whole season.

Duncan and Davis are plus defenders, so even though they may not be the scorer Love is, you can't say they wouldn't make as big of a difference. 34 wins isn't that short of the 40 (yippee) that Minny posted. I would trade Love and a first for AD today.

And Bosh has been playing center. Is he a center? No. The Heat use a small lineup to create mismatches. You know this. LeBron's a small forward in basketball discussions.

I can and here's why. This team looked out of sorts offensively without Love on the floor. Duncan and Davis aren't scoring machines in the way Love is. We needed that from Love, our PF, the entire season. The defensive impact from those guys doesn't exceed the impact from Love's offense, in my opinion.

Is 40 larger than 34? Yes? Then what's it matter how short it is. The previous poster said: "Name one other PF in the league that would of given the Wolves more wins this year".

You named a SF and two PFs who wouldn't have given the Wolves more wins. What am I missing?

[mjs34]

Your missing the Pelicans had all sorts of injury issues, and SA posted 60 wins. Most would agree that the wolves have a better team than the Pelicans even if you take away Love and AD, and considering that Pels lost Anderson, Smith and Holiday for a good portion if not all of the season you would expect they could have bested the 40 wins. While TD isn't the MVP on his team, he is still the player that sets the tone for that D, and while the wolves may have scored less they also would have given up substantially less. Your opinion is exactly that, an opinion. You have nothing to backup saying the wolves wouldn't have won more games.

Regardless of how big or small the lineup is in Miami, they are a top team with Lebron playing PF. He is playing against other PF's, and had no problem defending them. Therefore he is a PF and would have given the wolves WAY more wins.

[The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]]

My thoughts on Love are that if the losing was wearing on him, maybe he could have played some defense, or closed out some of those close games. He is clearly not a man of his word, or he wouldn't have made a decision already. It was nice of him to keep up the lie, while Flip signed on 30 mil in annual salaries last season to make a push for the PO's.

If I am Flip, I only trade him for a godfather offer. Anything less only continues the mediocrity of this team. Either we bottom out with picks for the future while dumping the longer salaried guys like Pek, or you entertain the fans next season and then start the rebuild with Love walking away for less money, less years, and less options.

oh please, Love was 4th in scoring 3 in rebounds, almost 5 assists a game. To put even a smidge of blame on him for not making the playoffs is stupid. Wolves wouldn't of scratched 20 wins this year without him

And yet they won over 30 games the season before without him. How do explain that? We spent over 10 mil more annually on salaries and had a healthy Love and didn't even post 10 more wins.

Love was 3rd in the league in PER behind only durant and Lebron

What does that have to do with Love playing D!

Name one other PF in the league that would of given the Wolves more wins this year

Lebron, TD, AD. Now explain to me what this has to do with Love playing/making a better effort on D!

The guy is whining about not making the PO's or winning enough, but yet there he is playing Ole defense on a regular basis. A little more effort and maybe we were in the PO's. When you are the franchise player and being paid like it, it is your job to win games.

Just hopping in the discussion for some minor disagreements.

1) LeBron's a SF. He's always been a SF. That's his position. Best player in the game. Might as well say he's the best PG and SG in the game too. Why don't we? Because that's not his position.

2) Duncan and Davis don't get this team more wins. No way, not even close. Duncan's not even the MVP on his own team at this point in his career. He can't shoulder the load offensively like Love does, and we need him to. Davis just scratched and clawed the Pelicans to 34 wins. Yippee. He's a big time talent (not on Love's level), but I don't see his defensive impact making more wins for this team either.

Lebron has been playing PF for the Heat the whole season.

Duncan and Davis are plus defenders, so even though they may not be the scorer Love is, you can't say they wouldn't make as big of a difference. 34 wins isn't that short of the 40 (yippee) that Minny posted. I would trade Love and a first for AD today.

And Bosh has been playing center. Is he a center? No. The Heat use a small lineup to create mismatches. You know this. LeBron's a small forward in basketball discussions.

I can and here's why. This team looked out of sorts offensively without Love on the floor. Duncan and Davis aren't scoring machines in the way Love is. We needed that from Love, our PF, the entire season. The defensive impact from those guys doesn't exceed the impact from Love's offense, in my opinion.

Is 40 larger than 34? Yes? Then what's it matter how short it is. The previous poster said: "Name one other PF in the league that would of given the Wolves more wins this year".

You named a SF and two PFs who wouldn't have given the Wolves more wins. What am I missing?

Sorry for jumping in the middle of this but it seems interesting. When it comes to Davis and Duncan it's a tough call but we wouldn't be any worse if we replaced Love with either of them. The difference in defense is probably greater than the difference in offense. I doubt Duncan's ability to go 100% for an entire season so Love might have an edge there but that's about it.

Lebron played PF all year for the Heat so I don't see any reason why he couldn't play PF all season for us. I find it a little bit funny that you think playing a 7 footer at center and a guy who is as big and more athletic than Love at PF is small ball.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Lebron doesn't really play a position. We'll look back at this era as one when players began to define positions more than the other way around.

Is James a PF? I dunno. Sorta. Not really. I guess so.
Is James a SF? I dunno. Sorta. Not really. I guess so.
Is James a SG? I dunno. Sorta. Not really. I guess so.
Is James a PG? I dunno. Sorta. Not really. I guess so.

I wouldn't want to pigeon-hole James into any one "position" because the guy does a helluva lot out on the court. I don't know any PF who can dribble and pass and create like him. And I don't know an PG who can attack the rim and post up like him.

He's a basketball player... forget about positions.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I never said LeBron couldn't or hasn't played PF. I said he's a small forward. He's played small forward for the majority of his career. That's what I'm going with. Durant played SG his rookie season, has played PF when the matchup calls for it, but he's a small forward too. This is really going off topic for the subject of this thread, though.