Minnesota Sports Forum

During the course of the day, my mind wanders sometimes. I am firmly in the camp that we should keep Love and go all out at winning this year to get him to stay, but I enjoy thinking up trades. Here's my Love trade.

MIN trades:
Kevin Love
Nikola Pekovic

MIN receives:
Russell Westbrook
Serge Ibaka

OKC trades:
Russell Westbrook
Serge Ibaka

OKC receives:
Kevin Love
Omer Asik

NO trades:
Ryan Anderson

NO receives:
Nikola Pekovic

HOU trades:
Omer Asik

HOU receives:
Ryan Anderson


The salaries all work in the trade machine. Analysis:

MIN:
Parts ways with a star player and a well above average starter. Gets the same in return, while becoming a much better defensive team and getting someone who can score off the bounce. Rubio gets shots for everyone all day, and Westbrook averages 30 ppg.

OKC:
The main argument OKC fans have had in Love/Pek trades is that they don't want the defensive problems that come with two ground-bound guys that can't block shots. Getting them Asik fits much better with Love, and allows them to run a 3-big rotation of Love/Asik/Adams. They would start Jackson at PG and Durant at SF, obviously. This leaves a small hole at SG though. Tweaks may be needed to get a player there, or Lamb could fill in and Minnesota could send a pick.

NO:
The Pels commit highway robbery and swap Anderson for Pek, who fits amazingly with Davis.

HOU:
Get rid of redundant, oft-benched Asik in exchange for the team's perfect PF fit. Howard plays like it's Orlando again.

Houston and New Orleans would both likely agree to this in terms of value. They send out redundant players for upgraded starters. The Pelicans might have salary concerns, but those can be rectified. As a Wolves fan, I take this if I'm offered it. We would likely need to find a SF who can score a bit better, but perhaps Shabazz can fill that role. If not, we are still the best defensive team in the league. OKC gets a star who fits better in exchange for Westbrook. Ibaka is better than Asik, but they fill similar roles. Might have to send a pick or SG to OKC to make it more appealing.

1. What do you think?

2. If we threw in #10 to OKC, would you still do it?


EDIT: Yeah, I meant 13 instead of 10.

I like this, I like this a lot.

Dieng and Ibaka as our bigs? Rubio and Westbrook in the backcourt? We just turned into the best defensive team in the NBA in one post. Lol

Maybe roll the dice on McDermott and have him play the 3.

Rubio
Westbrook
McDermott
Ibaka
Dieng

Fun to think about. Never happens, though.

Don't think OKC does it

Yeah that's the hold up I think. Our #10 could either be sent to them or flipped for something that could make them do it IMO. I'm sure Orlando would do Afflalo for 10.

Then the question is if you do Love/Pek/10 for Westbrook/Ibaka? With the long-term deals and fits considered, I think I do. Also, is Jackson/Afflalo/Durant/Love/Asik better than what OKC currently has? I think they would be more balanced and their offense would flow more smoothly.

ace wrote:Yeah that's the hold up I think. Our #10 could either be sent to them or flipped for something that could make them do it IMO. I'm sure Orlando would do Afflalo for 10.

Then the question is if you do Love/Pek/10 for Westbrook/Ibaka? With the long-term deals and fits considered, I think I do. Also, is Jackson/Afflalo/Durant/Love/Asik better than what OKC currently has? I think they would be more balanced and their offense would flow more smoothly.

We have 13 not 10....

Ibaka is a top 5 PF
Westbrook is a top 2 PG
For
Love top 3 PF
Asik Top 20? C

They need more

Oops, I don't know how I screwed up the pick number. I've looked at too many trades. To your point, Love is the best PF in the league and scores without dominating the ball. Asik is much better than a top 20 C when he's getting starter minutes. He averaged a double double last year along with good D. I mentioned they might need more in my original post. How much more?

northernhoops wrote:Ibaka is a top 5 PF
Westbrook is a top 2 PG
For
Love top 3 PF
Asik Top 20? C

They need more

Westbrook isn't top-two. CP3, Tony P are without a doubt better than he is. Rose when healthy is too. Not a knock on Russ, but I can't give him that label.

Also, Ibaka isn't a top-five PF to me. Love, Griffin, Aldridge, Davis, Dirk, Bosh, West (maybe). That's without debating whether or not Duncan's a 4. Just too many names better than him.

I thought the deal was fair actually. Solves a lot of OKC's flaws. Three-point shooting, low post offense, offensive rebounding, better ball movement. Jackson/Sefalosha/Durant/Love/Asik. To me, that's better than Westbrook/Sefalosha/Durant/Ibaka/Perkins.

These are such stupid trade ideas.

OKC wouldn't deal Ibaka straight up for Love, let alone Westbrook for Pek.