The Love trade that will never happen, but makes more sense for both teams
Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 11:56 am
Man, I've resisted any of the trade talk thus far, but it seems imminent at this point. First of all, almost every trade I see for Love has him going to a team in the West. If Love wants to make the playoffs, and if the Wolves want an easier road to the playoffs, Love should head East.
The trade I've always thought made the most sense is with Orlando, centered around Love/Martin in exchange for Afflalo/Tobias Harris/Nelson/Pick -- http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ma5q9m4
Why the Wolves do it-- The Wolves get 3 useful players and a lottery pick in a loaded draft
-Afflalo is in his prime and can shoulder a lot of the offense with the same efficiency that Kevin Love did.
-Tobias Harris is still only 21, and has already shown a ton of potential as an athletic stretch 4.
-Nelson offers another quality ball-handler to both back-up and play beside Rubio, and he's not that far removed from his prime
-The Magic have two lottery picks, so it may be easier to pry the #12 pick from them, assuming it doesn't move in the lottery
Why the Magic do it-- Allows them to keep their top-3 assets (Oladipo, Vucevic, and top-5 pick) while leaving cap room to sign another player
-I don't think Love would accept a trade here, so this is where it falls apart. But imagine they use their cap space to sign a PG like Lowry, making it slightly more attractive.
-Starting 5 would be: Vucevic/Love/Harkless/Oladipo/Lowry with Martin as a 6th man. That starting 5 has a mean age of 23.8. It's probably top-5 or 6 in the East, which isn't saying much, but again, that's why he should head east.
-Throw in a top-5 pick this year and they'd have the brightest future in the East, where over half the teams were actively trying to lose last year.
I know this isn't happening, but to me it's more enticing than a pick from the Lakers, a David Lee package, or a Boozer/Butler package that I see posted on other sites.
The trade I've always thought made the most sense is with Orlando, centered around Love/Martin in exchange for Afflalo/Tobias Harris/Nelson/Pick -- http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ma5q9m4
Why the Wolves do it-- The Wolves get 3 useful players and a lottery pick in a loaded draft
-Afflalo is in his prime and can shoulder a lot of the offense with the same efficiency that Kevin Love did.
-Tobias Harris is still only 21, and has already shown a ton of potential as an athletic stretch 4.
-Nelson offers another quality ball-handler to both back-up and play beside Rubio, and he's not that far removed from his prime
-The Magic have two lottery picks, so it may be easier to pry the #12 pick from them, assuming it doesn't move in the lottery
Why the Magic do it-- Allows them to keep their top-3 assets (Oladipo, Vucevic, and top-5 pick) while leaving cap room to sign another player
-I don't think Love would accept a trade here, so this is where it falls apart. But imagine they use their cap space to sign a PG like Lowry, making it slightly more attractive.
-Starting 5 would be: Vucevic/Love/Harkless/Oladipo/Lowry with Martin as a 6th man. That starting 5 has a mean age of 23.8. It's probably top-5 or 6 in the East, which isn't saying much, but again, that's why he should head east.
-Throw in a top-5 pick this year and they'd have the brightest future in the East, where over half the teams were actively trying to lose last year.
I know this isn't happening, but to me it's more enticing than a pick from the Lakers, a David Lee package, or a Boozer/Butler package that I see posted on other sites.