It's not all great even now for Kevin in Minnesota. What are chances you think he leaves? Must factor in that it is insanely cold in the winter for a southern CA transplant. For chrissakes his uncle was a member of the "Beach Boys". Also not fond of what D'antoni is fond of......"stretch" adjective in front of basic power forward position. The nightmare scenario for the Cleveland Cavaliers is getting real By Tony Manfred5 hours ago he told Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com that he doesn't like being a stretch-four: "I heard some people calling me that but I know I’m not a stretch-four. I’m a post player that can shoot. Right now I’m just doing what I’m called to do. For good, bad or indifferent, I’m playing my role and doing what’s asked of me. Tonight, I stayed out on the perimeter." He has gone from one of the five best offensive players in the league in Minnesota to a glorified role player in Cleveland. That could improve in time (it took the Miami Heat more than a year to flourish in the Big 3 era), but is Love really going to re-sign with the Cavs knowing that he's going to be standing in the corner and scoring 13 points a night? Blatt said Love came to him and asked for a rest. Later, Love said it was Blatt who proposed the idea of two games off. In February, LeBron seemed to call out Love in a tweet. For context, Love used the phrase "fit out" when talking to ESPN in October, saying, "I'm comfortable and just not trying to, I guess, fit in so much. I had a talk with the guys on the plane ride over (to Brazil) and also at different practices off the floor and they told me to fit out. Just be myself." LeBron initially denied the tweet was about Love, and then, in front of a small group of reporters, admitted that he knew what he was doing. The Cavaliers have been one of the three best teams in the NBA since trading for J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Timofey Mozgov. LeBron has surged during that period, vaulting himself into the MVP discussion. Irving has been lights out, converting some doubters with a string of strong performances. Love, though, remains marred in the rut he's been in all year. People are starting to speculate that he'll leave this summer, even though teams like the Lakers and Knicks can't offer him as much money as the Cavaliers. As disappointing a season as he's having, that'd be a disaster for Cleveland. They traded two No. 1 overall picks to get him, including Andrew Wiggins, who has been way better than expected. The real problem is that they can't really replace him if he leaves. Under NBA rules, the Cavaliers can go over the salary cap to re-sign Love. But they can't go over the cap to sign a free agent from another team to replace him. It's not like they can let Love leave and use the money they would have given him to sign Marc Gasol. With around $60 million already committed to players next year, if the Cavs lose Love, they also lose the ability to have three max-contract players unless they're able to pull off a trade. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/nightmare-scenario-cleveland-cavaliers-getting-163538152.html
They'll let him walk and pay Tristan Thompson this summer. Love is going to NY or LA probably. I wouldn't mind I guess but... it's not one of our major weaknesses and Randle is already here. Awkward fit in LA unless Randle starts playing SF or something. It's a stretch, but what else could you do to make room?
I could see him going to NY actually. They need all the help they can get and if they end up with the 1st or 2nd pick and leave this off-season with Love and Towns/Okafor to go along with Carmelo they've done something right. I just have a really hard time imagining the first player who looks at NY and thinks "oh yeah that's where I really want to go". Cleveland though is about to look very, very stupid if Love leaves.
Losing Love and Wiggins for nothing would bring a great big smile to my face. I'd rather have Okafor/Towns and Randle than Love on our team. But I'd rather have Love than Rondo as far as off season possibilities go.
Yea, I don't mind Love, and I think Blatt is not using Love correctly. The only issue I have is that we already have Randle. Love wouldn't be a great fit.
Let's be honest guys. Love has been a 20-15 dude in this league. Randle has played 8 minutes. We may need to slow the Randle hype train down a tad. If Love comes to us begging to be here, we probably sign him and trade Randle, I hate to say it.
Why would we trade Randle? We could even go small ball with Love-Randle-SF-Kobe-PG and still be okay.
Or huge ball and go Clarkson/Kobe/Randle/Love/Davis or something like that. Spacing would be pretty wonky though...
I don't think it is a nightmare scenario. I think you see plenty of guys looking to go to Cleveland, and I think they'd replace Love pretty quick. If you have Irving and LeBron you're ok, you don't need that 3rd guy, that big, to be the best in the league. There are 2nd tier guys out there that could get the job done, and probably play better D than Love. As for us, don't really want him in LA anymore either, no D, and complains about his sacrifices in a winning situation. Bosh didn't complain about sacrificing DURING title runs, he wanted those damn titles, that's what I want here.
To be fair he's not complaining. The media is kind of fanning the flames here, but Love hasn't done much to rock the boat. He's tried to capitulate, but he's also voiced his displeasure in his role. I'm okay with that. I still am not sold I want him, but if we get him I guess I won't be mad... If he's in a situation he chooses and he wants, you have to imagine some of the problems would go away right? I mean he's clearly a talented dude. I just feel like we have other needs that are more urgent. If by some miracle we address PG, SF, and C and still have room for him then f*** it sure, why not?
While I agree with you, I have to say this: whoever goes to the Knicks and turns that franchise into the basketball powerhouse that it should be, will be seen as a God among men. Why not give it a shot?
Because its eaten and spit out anyone who has tried since Ewing... and even he never got the ring. Anthony has been disappointing, Amar'e was injured into oblivion... it's clear there's some terrible leadership from Dolan over there. Is it worth trying to turn it around?
Cavs getting beat by 4 with Kevin Love in the rotation.... Kevin Love sits the entire 4th quarter again.... Cavs win by 18..... DO NOT WANT KEVIN LOVE. This has become a theme.
Fingers crossed that NY throws him a good contract, don't care how much he wants to come to LA, I don't want him here.
i think love can be utilized better/more extensively than he has been thus far in cleveland. i also think his teams in minny were often under-talented to get a good read on his suitability as a centerpiece on a winning team. i do think that the lakers are in an odd position with respect to love because of randle. while it's totally fine to bring randle off the bench next year, if he develops quickly that would create a fairly sizable problem. ny's also an odd fit because they wouldn't have enough cash left to get a deandre jordan type at center, which is sort of necessary when love's the pf. love could end up being like dirk: hard to build around, but if you get it right, you can win big.
I think it's possible to build around him just like it (or at least was) possible to build around Carmelo, just really difficult. And in the end is it worth it? Now if he came here he'd have to be at worst the #2 option and do we have time for that? He wants to post up, but he's a 6'9"-6'10" load who isn't really all that athletic. I haven't seen evidence of great footwork either so I'm not entirely sure he's that different from Dwight Howard wanting to post up. Just the giggles lets say we do go after him. His max starts at 20.2 million. I don't know if he gets maxed this summer, but that's entirely possible. I'll trade Kelly, Sacre, and Hill to move up into the teens for our second 1st round pick. Kobe-25 Young- 5.2 Pick- 5 Randle- 3.1 20s Pick- 2 Clarkson -.85 Black- .85 42 + 3.38 Cap Holds= 45.38 million. Leaves 22.02 million to spend. Give 20.2 of that to Love. New total is 62.2 + 2.8 Cap Holds= 65 million. Leaves 2.4 million to spend. Spend that on Ellington I suppose. Clarkson/??? Kobe/Ellington Dekker/Young Love/Randle Towns/Black It's not terrible at all.
