I think that is the only way we get Cousins. I think Love just wants out of Cleveland. They could try something, but we should pass. Love's stock has never been lower. I still think he has plenty of talent, but I wouldn't give up the pick when we could potentially have both.
Love's back gives me some concern, especially after Nash. I know it's not the same, still doesn't ease my mind especially when you're talking max money.
He nor the Cavs are letting on. Maybe we'll find out of they lose in the playoffs because he and Blatt will be the scapegoats. Nothing will come out of his camp cause that will put his next contract at risk. The little I know: It popped up in October, bothered him enough in December to hit the headlines, and has resurfaced in recent weeks. Words like: "stiffness, soreness, and precautionary" are being used. I don't remember when/where I read/saw this, but there were some games where he couldn't feel his back and when he'd fall on his back, his teammates had to pick him up. He played through it like a champ, but if there's even a 20% chance of this being a recurring, nagging issue, I want no part of him. I trust our doctors to do their due diligence but if I've learned anything in the recent years with LA, we have the worst luck with injuries. If there's even a chance a player could get hurt, they will, and they'll likely miss time over it too. Factor in the back with the hand injuries he suffered in Minny and the term "injury prone" starts getting thrown around. Not what you want a max FA to be linked to.
Said it before and I'll say it again. I don't want Kevin Love on the Lakers. Too much money and he really has been injured a lot. We already have Randle at 4 as well and to me Julius is a more exciting prospect as a player.
I've heard it mentioned that this years FA class will be more inclined to sign 1 year deals with a player option on the 2nd year so they can go for the new max under the proposed 88mil cap for 2016
Top 25 2015 Free Agents, by Wins Above Replacement 1) Kawhi Leonard........13.19 (RFA) 2) Draymond Green.....12.77 (RFA) 3) Khris Middleton.......12.54 (RFA) 4) DeAndre Jordan......11.84 5) LaMarcus Aldridge...10.38 6) Marc Gasol.............10.16 7) Danny Green..........10.04 8) Paul Millsap..............9.82 9) Tyson Chandler.........9.38 10) Jimmy Butler..........8.74 (RFA) 11) Kevin Love.............8.71 12) Luol Deng..............8.22 13) Wesley Matthews....6.75 14) Lou Williams..........6.06 15) Greg Monroe..........6.04 16) Amir Johnson.........5.37 17) Thaddeus Young.....5.34 18) Mike Dunleavy........5.02 19) Jared Dudley..........4.65 20) Jeremy Lin.............4.39 21) Reggie Jackson.......3.96 (RFA) 22) Demarre Carroll......3.85 23) Robin Lopez...........3.80 24) Al-Farouq Aminu.....3.75 25) Gerald Henderson...3.66 WARP, a metric which is invented by Kevin Pelton, stands for Wins Above Replacement Player. The term and concept are borrowed from sabermetrics and, specifically, Baseball Prospectus. Conceptually, the WARP system seeks to evaluate players in the context of a team made up of them and four completely average players. The performance of this team is then compared to that of a team made up of four average players and one replacement level player. The method also draws heavily on the work of Dean Oliver. Using replacement level shows the value of players who can play heavy minutes and avoid injury while continuing to perform above replacement level. Using wins gives a measure of value that is easy to understand and constant over time. Lastly, by eschewing the traditional linear weights method so common in basketball analysis, WARP does a better job of incorporating defensive value. Learn more about WARP calculation. Provided the definition. Analystics based, but I thought interesting, nonetheless.
This is a really good article about the mindset of Rajon Rondo and after reading it, it will be easy to see why Kobe wants him here.....
^ Hence why I'm not so down on him as everyone else. There's still plenty of question marks though and plenty of problems with bringing him on board. It's got to be the right price. We need to make the right secondary moves, and man-oh-man we better get someone in here to keep him and Byron from ripping each other apart. Rondo/?? Clarkson/Ellington/Brown Bryant/Young Randle/Black Okafor/Davis I'm down.
I don't have a problem with Rondo or the way he plays the game. I'm afraid he's going to miss to many games. That's all.
Yeah, I read that a couple of weeks back. Baxter was on the show with Mason & Ireland. Mason asked Baxter specifically if Rondo would be a good fit; Baxter said that Rondo is be suited to best an environment where there is veteran leadership. So, a team that had Allen, Pierce, and Garnett could control Rondo and keep his head in the right place. The only other person suited to do that on this team is Kobe, and he's not going to be here for very much longer. Additionally, there are various reasons why this probably wouldn't make a good marriage. We've discussed them ad nauseam on this board, so I won't bother rehashing...
JALEN ROSE PREDICTS KEVIN LOVE AND RAJON RONDO TO THE LAKERS NEXT YEAR So the top 2 young stars on our squad are a PG and a PF and they bring players on their spot? I don't get it. hope it's not true. Sign a SF/C !!!!
At least Kevin Love is young/in his prime and we could always trade Randall. Meanwhile, why the hell would we spend big money on a 30 year old pg who is clearly declining fast when we have Clarkson? I swear, this Rondo thing is the true test for this FO. If they max him, it's time to burn the whole thing down.
Agreed. I would also add that his inability to make an outside shot or a FT is not insignificant playing next to Kobe.