Around the NBA (non-Wolves talk)

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I can't help but watch Jamal Murray's game to game highlights and check his stats page every other week and think to myself, "Boy, the Wolves could have used a player like him."

30 against Phoenix, and then 38 against Portland the following game! My, oh, my. This guy is an efficient flamethrower and he's just 20-years old. Sky's the limit.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/murraja01.html

He's be in a Bulls jersey now anyway if we had taken him.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I can't help but watch Jamal Murray's game to game highlights and check his stats page every other week and think to myself, "Boy, the Wolves could have used a player like him."

30 against Phoenix, and then 38 against Portland the following game! My, oh, my. This guy is an efficient flamethrower and he's just 20-years old. Sky's the limit.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/murraja01.html

He's be in a Bulls jersey now anyway if we had taken him.

I'm not so sure. I think from a value standpoint that we just wouldn't have Justin Patton. And/or the Wolves would have included Tyus Jones in the trade.

I think Kris Dunn lost a lot of hype last year due to his ineptitude offensively. He struggled, as most rookies struggle, but for a player that was supposedly more seasoned, it was just a bad look. I tend to think Murray would have had more "whoa" moments showing his potential -- and hot shooting games -- and Thibs' need for perimeter shooting would have led him to keep the imaginative arrow-shooting guard.

LaVine, Markkanen, and perhaps Jones for Butler alone is about the same value-wise as the deal Chicago ended up with when you figure that they kept their first-rounder and we included a different young guard prospect.

Either way, I was more so pointing out that Murray is lighting it up and he's another very fun player to keep an eye on. I personally wish we had him and it's one of the draft topics that we'll continue to revisit moving forward -- Murray vs. Hield vs. Dunn.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Rumors are heating up:

- Cavs players were upset with Kevin Love. That's not exactly new. He's been THE whipping boy there for four years.

- A recent team meeting in Washington didn't go too well. And then they lost by 23 tonight to Dallas... with Barea chirping that Wall's teammates don't like him.

- Kawhi and the Spurs are having issues? What? WHAT?

- Meanwhile... things seem pretty solid with the new faces on the Wolves right now. Nice!

The Kevin Love stuff is super juicy gossip. Would have loved to been a fly on the wall there. All of the question marks with the "push up" season really seem to resonate all over again.

Maybe.

But the reports also seem to suggest that the Cavs players cooled their jets after hearing directly from Love about the absences.

In any case, Love has largely been a whipping boy whenever things go south in Cleveland. James' camp is very very good at finding an out when it's needed. Ultimately, it'll be Dan Gilbert (largely justified) this time around, but during the season, Love is still going to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to criticism.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Rumors are heating up:

- Cavs players were upset with Kevin Love. That's not exactly new. He's been THE whipping boy there for four years.

- A recent team meeting in Washington didn't go too well. And then they lost by 23 tonight to Dallas... with Barea chirping that Wall's teammates don't like him.

- Kawhi and the Spurs are having issues? What? WHAT?

- Meanwhile... things seem pretty solid with the new faces on the Wolves right now. Nice!

The Kevin Love stuff is super juicy gossip. Would have loved to been a fly on the wall there. All of the question marks with the "push up" season really seem to resonate all over again.

Maybe.

But the reports also seem to suggest that the Cavs players cooled their jets after hearing directly from Love about the absences.

In any case, Love has largely been a whipping boy whenever things go south in Cleveland. James' camp is very very good at finding an out when it's needed. Ultimately, it'll be Dan Gilbert (largely justified) this time around, but during the season, Love is still going to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to criticism.

And that's a shame because he's been an All-Star player this year and easily the second-best player for that Cleveland team. I'm sure LeBron could still carry them to where they are, but Love has definitely helped shoulder the load. Crowder has been a bust. By the way, I definitely called that. A season or two ago I argued that Crowder would be a much different player without Brad Stevens; that seems to be quite accurate. Thomas doesn't really solve anything for them -- in fact, he makes them a lot weaker in an aspect they already suck in (defense). And aside from a rejuvenated Wade, the bench has been pretty meh.

Love should be one of the last people that gets the finger pointed at, in my opinion.

[thedoper]

Rumors are heating up:

- Cavs players were upset with Kevin Love. That's not exactly new. He's been THE whipping boy there for four years.

- A recent team meeting in Washington didn't go too well. And then they lost by 23 tonight to Dallas... with Barea chirping that Wall's teammates don't like him.

- Kawhi and the Spurs are having issues? What? WHAT?

- Meanwhile... things seem pretty solid with the new faces on the Wolves right now. Nice!

The Kevin Love stuff is super juicy gossip. Would have loved to been a fly on the wall there. All of the question marks with the "push up" season really seem to resonate all over again.

Maybe.

But the reports also seem to suggest that the Cavs players cooled their jets after hearing directly from Love about the absences.

In any case, Love has largely been a whipping boy whenever things go south in Cleveland. James' camp is very very good at finding an out when it's needed. Ultimately, it'll be Dan Gilbert (largely justified) this time around, but during the season, Love is still going to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to criticism.

I think where there's smoke there's fire. If he keeps being the whipping boy I find it highly probable that his attitude likely plays a role with how he's perceived.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Rumors are heating up:

- Cavs players were upset with Kevin Love. That's not exactly new. He's been THE whipping boy there for four years.

- A recent team meeting in Washington didn't go too well. And then they lost by 23 tonight to Dallas... with Barea chirping that Wall's teammates don't like him.

- Kawhi and the Spurs are having issues? What? WHAT?

- Meanwhile... things seem pretty solid with the new faces on the Wolves right now. Nice!

The Kevin Love stuff is super juicy gossip. Would have loved to been a fly on the wall there. All of the question marks with the "push up" season really seem to resonate all over again.

Maybe.

But the reports also seem to suggest that the Cavs players cooled their jets after hearing directly from Love about the absences.

In any case, Love has largely been a whipping boy whenever things go south in Cleveland. James' camp is very very good at finding an out when it's needed. Ultimately, it'll be Dan Gilbert (largely justified) this time around, but during the season, Love is still going to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to criticism.

I think where there's smoke there's fire. If he keeps being the whipping boy I find it highly probable that his attitude likely plays a role with how he's perceived.

It's usually his defense, actually. I could be wrong, but I don't think a bad attitude has been the root cause of most of the Love bashing over the past four seasons.

For example, there are rumblings this season about just that because the Cavs are actually better +/- when he's off the court.

I'm not here to make excuses for Kevin Love. He was flaws on the court, and probably off it, too. He is an inconsistent defender. Or even a bad one. But part of that is simply because he's the "rim protector" playing the 5 on a woefully inept defensive team right now. He's simply not equipped for that role.

And there's something to be said for Love going from a #1 option All Star to a #3 option stand-in-the-corner guy without too much complaining... despite being ripped often for what he can't do.

[Monster]

Rumors are heating up:

- Cavs players were upset with Kevin Love. That's not exactly new. He's been THE whipping boy there for four years.

- A recent team meeting in Washington didn't go too well. And then they lost by 23 tonight to Dallas... with Barea chirping that Wall's teammates don't like him.

- Kawhi and the Spurs are having issues? What? WHAT?

- Meanwhile... things seem pretty solid with the new faces on the Wolves right now. Nice!

The Kevin Love stuff is super juicy gossip. Would have loved to been a fly on the wall there. All of the question marks with the "push up" season really seem to resonate all over again.

Maybe.

But the reports also seem to suggest that the Cavs players cooled their jets after hearing directly from Love about the absences.

In any case, Love has largely been a whipping boy whenever things go south in Cleveland. James' camp is very very good at finding an out when it's needed. Ultimately, it'll be Dan Gilbert (largely justified) this time around, but during the season, Love is still going to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to criticism.

I think where there's smoke there's fire. If he keeps being the whipping boy I find it highly probable that his attitude likely plays a role with how he's perceived.

It's usually his defense, actually. I could be wrong, but I don't think a bad attitude has been the root cause of most of the Love bashing over the past four seasons.

For example, there are rumblings this season about just that because the Cavs are actually better +/- when he's off the court.

I'm not here to make excuses for Kevin Love. He was flaws on the court, and probably off it, too. He is an inconsistent defender. Or even a bad one. But part of that is simply because he's the "rim protector" playing the 5 on a woefully inept defensive team right now. He's simply not equipped for that role.

And there's something to be said for Love going from a #1 option All Star to a #3 option stand-in-the-corner guy without too much complaining... despite being ripped often for what he can't do.

Well said Abe. Love gets brought up all the time as the off man out or whatever because he is the obvious tradeble player to bring something else back. Maybe some guys don't like Love sure that wouldn't be surprising. His defense not great but this team has had problems with defense for multiple seasons. It's not just about Love. Even with LeBron this team seems to have some issues as a team. It's kinda amusing that Kyrie is gone and Love is there and...more problems have continued. Who's fault is it? One guy that's been a constant there is Gilbert I wonder about his influence around the organization.

[worldK]

Ty lue deserved some blame for the cavs woeful defense. He made the choice to go small and start love at center this season. What did he expect? Tristan thompson is a pretty good defender and he got benched so they can go small. Lebron can worked as a pf if they have a skilled defender at 5 but not with love. Crowder is not having a good year and they should have switch back to lbj/love/tt frontcourt to fix their defense.

[Monster]

Ty lue deserved some blame for the cavs woeful defense. He made the choice to go small and start love at center this season. What did he expect? Tristan thompson is a pretty good defender and he got benched so they can go small. Lebron can worked as a pf if they have a skilled defender at 5 but not with love. Crowder is not having a good year and they should have switch back to lbj/love/tt frontcourt to fix their defense.

I don't think any one move is gonna fix that defense. I'm a fan of Lue but I agree he deserves some of the blame. TT missed a bunch of games too so he wasn't an option to go back to for quite a while and remember the Cavs went on quite a roll with Love playing center.

PG defense isn't exactly the most important but the Cavs have Carlderon as the guy that's started the most games there. He wasn't a good defender 10 years ago. Rose is bad and IT wasn't the best when he was healthy. Shumpert has only played 13 games so he hasn't been an option to help on the perimeter either. It's no surprise that the Cavs are talking to the Kings about adding George Hill which would make sense for both teams to make a deal.

Edit:

The last 2 years the Cavs defensive rating has been bad and it doesn't reflect well on the players or coach Lue in particular. Defensive ratings by year:

2015-2016 10th
2016-2017 22nd
This year 29th

Last 15 games dead last with 113.3 Drating and the team right ahead of them? The Kings who they are looking to possibly deal for a guy on that squad. Good stuff. :)

[Big O [enjin:13874644]]

Tight game in Houston. Be nice to see a Cavs win!