Love has been holding us back?!?!

[Saltine]

I do believe wiggins will play better than a hobbit.

i hope so, no way will he be as good as Scottie Pippen... dude can't pass.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... esc01.html

[Narf]

I do believe wiggins will play better than a hobbit.

i hope so, no way will he be as good as Scottie Pippen... dude can't pass.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... esc01.html

No way he'll be a top 50 player of all time? Sure, I'm with you on that.
Well, unless he becomes the best defensive wing in the NBA with a solid offensive arsenal (even if he's no Pippin passing).

[alexlgnd]

I do believe wiggins will play better than a hobbit.

i hope so, no way will he be as good as Scottie Pippen... dude can't pass.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... esc01.html

No way he'll be a top 50 player of all time? Sure, I'm with you on that.
Well, unless he becomes the best defensive wing in the NBA with a solid offensive arsenal (even if he's no Pippin passing).

I never really saw Pippin as a passer though, more of a scallyway who enjoyed his pipeweed and cloaks.

[slicedbread2]

I think the article has some truths in it with how Love was a defensive liability at times who could have put more effort on the defensive end, but it's a bit unfair to say he held this team back.

The real culprits were clearly Kahn and ownership and Saunders somewhat. I'll just bring out a few records for how badly this was mismanaged from Love's time here to the end:

1) Drafting. 2009 draft. After thankfully trading Mayo who is really was a one dimensional shooter who was subpar in everything else and had a questionable effort towards the game, they were able to trade former first rounder Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Wizards effectively conning them out of the 6th pick. This provided them a great opportunity to really re-tool the team. Unfortunately, Kahn ended up pulling a Vancouver Grizzlies move by drafting 2 point guards with those picks! I can forgive Rubio since many thought he'd be really special although he has so far missed a bit on expectations(jump-shot). Plus Curry pretty much wasn't coming to Minnesota in the end, but the fact that they took on Flynn when he wasn't going to be the guy in the long-run was dumb especially with Derozan available. Sure DeMar was seen as a project who was a slasher and had the potential to grow into something bigger and he has while Flynn is no longer in the league, but to totally drop the ball like that was absolutely mind-boggling. He was the perfect slasher who could thrive in Minnesota with Love and Rubio setting things up. the rest of those picks well Lawson was pre-arranged with Denver so you can't do much about that and the late picks are a crap shoot.

You'd figure he'd learn his lesson. Sadly he just got worse and worse. Drafting Johnson over Cousins was just bad. Then 2011 was a true nightmare as he drafted Derrick Williams when he wasn't going to work here since Love was already at the 4 and then trading #23(Mirotic) and #38(Parsons) for cash considerations that were never used. This was just dumb on so many levels. I wonder if Kahn ever heard of the term "stashing prospects".
He could have been the perfect trade chip for an established star or the perfect guy to replace Love should things fail, but they found a new way to screw up.

2). Free agency. I get that being small market, it's difficult to attract free agents, but I would have rather just build through the draft and stash talent or make smart trades for disgruntled star players. Sadly, they went after guys like Milicic who didn't even last 2 years and got amnestied in the end. They kept on making treadmill moves that sadly got them nowhere and their bench was pathetic and you could start to see frustration on Love's face at having to carry a roster that outside of Rubio and Pekovic was laughably bad.

3.) Coaching. I'd figure that when they got Adelman that things would change. Boy I'm eating my words right now. Adelman just looked disinterested and had off-court issues to worry about(understandable). The fact that he'd be playing the same guys over and over again without any regard for playing the young guys and giving them some burn to see what they have(Williams, Muhammad, Dieng) was horrible for player development. His refusal to adjust when things weren't working was just awful and they should have canned him and the rest of the staff.

4.) Culture. I think the losing culture on the T-Wolves has enveloped a dark cloud hanging over this team for years even during the Garnett era. The fact that KG still bears a grudge towards Taylor with little to show was really sad. I thought they should have done a complete shakeup with bringing in a new coach and letting Flip handle the executive spots as he seems ok at that. I think the fact the team has little to show during their history really makes players weary of coming here even though the weather and small market does a good job of that but most importantly the losing culture. Hopefully they turn a new corner and don't blow it with Wiggins and hopefully make smart decisions that will benefit the team in the long run.

Overall, I think it was time to move in a different direction as the team was going nowhere and Love gave them the warning fire to deal him while they could get value. The above reasons were more than enough to wear down anybody. At least he didn't pull a Dwight Howard and corner the team with his antics and considering past deals for stars, this is about as good as you could have gotten.

Sorry for the long post.

[Worm Guts]

It makes sense though. The entire paradigm of competitive by evolution is everything. Look at the trends, and it's very true. Unfortunately, I don't agree with all of it, I think Love was a great player who really doesn't define the power forward at all. He does hurt our guards though, and that can't be denied at all.

How so?

PER's, and the eye test. When you have a four poaching the arc, it forces the other guards and swings into unfavorable positions. I'm not blaming Love, I was a huge fan of him. It's just there in the stats, or do you think that's all smoke and I'm wrong?

I think it's beneficial for the 4 to force a big to guard him on the perimeter, it opens the floor for everyone else. It also makes sense that other players PER are dropping since Love is taking their shots, but he should take more shots since he's more efficient.

[alexlgnd]

How so?

PER's, and the eye test. When you have a four poaching the arc, it forces the other guards and swings into unfavorable positions. I'm not blaming Love, I was a huge fan of him. It's just there in the stats, or do you think that's all smoke and I'm wrong?

I think it's beneficial for the 4 to force a big to guard him on the perimeter, it opens the floor for everyone else. It also makes sense that other players PER are dropping since Love is taking their shots, but he should take more shots since he's more efficient.

Love’s 3-point shot is impressive, but it’s also fair to ask whether the addition of a mostly average (at this point) long-range game to his shooting repertoire is a smart addition for his team’s overall offensive portfolio. It’s also important to note that on a Minnesota team lacking strong perimeter shooting from its guards and wings, Love naturally assumed a greater perimeter role than he might alongside different teammates, guys like Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Mike Miller.

This is a case where our simplified obsession with field goal percentage (or points per shot) as a proxy for shooting effectiveness is itself defective. Not all field goal attempts are created equal, and you cannot judge a shot’s worth based solely on its probable point yield. Even when Love misses from short, good things happen. Love made 59 percent of his shots inside of 8 feet last year, and when he missed, the Wolves grabbed an offensive rebound a whopping 44 percent of the time. (The league’s offensive rebounding rate in this area is 38 percent.) For every 100 close-range shots that Kevin Love attempted in the 2013-14 season, 77 resulted in either a made basket or a fresh chance for his team. His missed shots were like blood transfusions for the Wolves offense.

Flipping it on its head, only 23 percent of his close-range attempts resulted in a failed possession. Oh, and don’t forget that he gets fouled a lot, and a vast majority of the league’s fouls occur close to the basket. Conversely, Love induces a lot more failed possessions when he takes jumpers. Outside of 8 feet, his team recovered his misses only 23 percent of the time. This figure is identical for both midrange and 3-point misses. In the midrange, for every 100 shots that Love attempted last season, 47 resulted in failed possessions. Although Love rebounded 112 of his team’s missed jumpers last season, only three of those came off of his own misses. But he rebounded 37 of his own missed close-range shots. It’s no wonder that when Love misses a close-range attempt, his team is generally in great shape to grab the board; Love is necessarily and conveniently already placed in the rebounding area.

This is an enlightening essay.

[Worm Guts]

That's interesting but I don't think it tells the whole story. Shots within 8 feet are going to include fast breaks, offensive rebounds, and broken defenses. It's a lot tougher to get close shots from the half court offense. If we could get Love close shots more often, I'm sure we would have done it.
I guess the question would be, do we benefit enough from Love's offensive rebounding that we're better off having a less efficient shooter take the shots.

[alexlgnd]

That's interesting but I don't think it tells the whole story. Shots within 8 feet are going to include fast breaks, offensive rebounds, and broken defenses. It's a lot tougher to get close shots from the half court offense. If we could get Love close shots more often, I'm sure we would have done it.
I guess the question would be, do we benefit enough from Love's offensive rebounding that we're better off having a less efficient shooter take the shots.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/a-mov ... evin-love/

[funkatron101]

Love in Cleveland should be more like the Love we had during Beasley's first year with the Wolves.