Love #5: P. 88, Bulls 'moving on' from Love

[Proven_Winner]

Sooooo.....what foul rumor can we leak about Wigggins to sabatoge this whole thing?

He likes to hang with Justin Bieber.

[mademan]

dunno how many people noticed, but anthony bennett actually played well in the second half of his season

Compared to what? He only saw the floor in less than half of their second-half games. He wasn't horrible, I suppose, but its hard to take much positive away from his pruduction due to how limited it is.

That said, they guy looks to me like he's got talent. I'm no Bennet hater. I think he can be a productive player.

A tweener PF who is neither athletically special or incredibly skilled and doesnt have great BBIQ...not saying it can't be done, but I don't see him as any more than a backup 4 in this league

[Mech Engineer]

dunno how many people noticed, but anthony bennett actually played well in the second half of his season

Compared to what? He only saw the floor in less than half of their second-half games. He wasn't horrible, I suppose, but its hard to take much positive away from his pruduction due to how limited it is.

That said, they guy looks to me like he's got talent. I'm no Bennet hater. I think he can be a productive player.

A tweener PF who is neither athletically special or incredibly skilled and doesnt have great BBIQ...not saying it can't be done, but I don't see him as any more than a backup 4 in this league

The reality is last year's draft was a complete crapshoot compared to a regular draft. Most guys from last year's draft seem to be projects and we don't know who is going to be a contributing member 2 or 3 years from now. Snell is in the same boat although he wasn't the 1st pick.

There are people who think Dieng is a good replacement for Taj on the Bulls. It's all a guess right now to assume it will work out after 1 year when most of these guys did not play in high intensity games.

[dice]

dunno how many people noticed, but anthony bennett actually played well in the second half of his season

Compared to what? He only saw the floor in less than half of their second-half games.

i should have been more specific. in the first half of the year here are his numbers:

10mpg 2.4p 2.2r 31.9%ts

he then was benched in 6 out of 7 games mid-season. when he returned to the lineup he had a stretch of 19 games averaging:

17mpg 7p 4r 52.8%ts

then he essentially missed the rest of the season

[WindyCityBorn]

Where are you coming up with this? The Cavs will be favorites for the title with him, not a crappy team.

They will be favorites, but certainly not the favorite. That team will be weak on defense, but potentially great on offense. Still weaker than Lebron's Miami teams.

They won't be weak defensively. Varejo and Bron alone will make that a good defense team. We will be better defensively but they will be a top 10 defensive team. Kyrie and Dion are there only bad defenders. And I think Kyrie will get better playing on a actual team.

We'll see. I seriously doubt it.

[TheStig]

They will be favorites, but certainly not the favorite. That team will be weak on defense, but potentially great on offense. Still weaker than Lebron's Miami teams.

They won't be weak defensively. Varejo and Bron alone will make that a good defense team. We will be better defensively but they will be a top 10 defensive team. Kyrie and Dion are there only bad defenders. And I think Kyrie will get better playing on a actual team.

We'll see. I seriously doubt it.

Show me the last Bron team that wasn't top half defensively?

[Kaled]

dunno how many people noticed, but anthony bennett actually played well in the second half of his season

Compared to what? He only saw the floor in less than half of their second-half games.

i should have been more specific. in the first half of the year here are his numbers:

10mpg 2.4p 2.2r 31.9%ts

he then was benched in 6 out of 7 games mid-season. when he returned to the lineup he had a stretch of 19 games averaging:

17mpg 7p 4r 52.8%ts

then he essentially missed the rest of the season

He certainly got better on the second half of the season, but those numbers are really poor for a No. 1 Pick.

[dice]

They won't be weak defensively. Varejo and Bron alone will make that a good defense team. We will be better defensively but they will be a top 10 defensive team. Kyrie and Dion are there only bad defenders. And I think Kyrie will get better playing on a actual team.

We'll see. I seriously doubt it.

Show me the last Bron team that wasn't top half defensively?

since i actually checked, i might as well say that it only happened his rookie year. though the heat were in reality a very average defensive team last year

[Shill]

dunno how many people noticed, but anthony bennett actually played well in the second half of his season

Compared to what? He only saw the floor in less than half of their second-half games.

i should have been more specific. in the first half of the year here are his numbers:

10mpg 2.4p 2.2r 31.9%ts

he then was benched in 6 out of 7 games mid-season. when he returned to the lineup he had a stretch of 19 games averaging:

17mpg 7p 4r 52.8%ts

then he essentially missed the rest of the season

And yet you rag on Tony Snell?

Bennett looks like a colossal bust to me.

[dice]

Compared to what? He only saw the floor in less than half of their second-half games.

i should have been more specific. in the first half of the year here are his numbers:

10mpg 2.4p 2.2r 31.9%ts

he then was benched in 6 out of 7 games mid-season. when he returned to the lineup he had a stretch of 19 games averaging:

17mpg 7p 4r 52.8%ts

then he essentially missed the rest of the season

He certainly got better on the second half of the season, but those numbers are really poor for a No. 1 Pick.

for a one and done rookie #1, the numbers in that 19 game sample are not bad. coming off the bench, granted

[dice]

Compared to what? He only saw the floor in less than half of their second-half games.

i should have been more specific. in the first half of the year here are his numbers:

10mpg 2.4p 2.2r 31.9%ts

he then was benched in 6 out of 7 games mid-season. when he returned to the lineup he had a stretch of 19 games averaging:

17mpg 7p 4r 52.8%ts

then he essentially missed the rest of the season

And yet you rag on Tony Snell?

Bennett looks like a colossal bust to me.

he did the first half of the season. and might yet be

snell had a better rookie year than anthony bennett. not a high hurdle. more like a curb

[mademan]

We'll see. I seriously doubt it.

Show me the last Bron team that wasn't top half defensively?

since i actually checked, i might as well say that it only happened his rookie year. though the heat were in reality a very average defensive team last year

Ya they were pretty bad, but I think their rebounding was one of the biggest issues. DRTG drops hard when youre giving teams multiple attempts per possession. They were bottom of the league in rebounding last year, which won't happen in CLE where they'll be one of the best.

[rtblues]

Sooooo.....what foul rumor can we leak about Wigggins to sabatoge this whole thing?

Bust, Harold Miner 2.0

[Shill]

he did the first half of the season. and might yet be

snell had a better rookie year than anthony bennett. not a high hurdle. more like a curb

He didn't look good to me in the Summer League, either. Shot under 43%. He's supposed to be a stretch 4 and he shot 25% from deep. Didn't record a single block in four games. Doesn't have great height or wingspan. Has some athleticism, but not overwhelming. I just don't see it at all with this guy.

[Jordan45822]

@NBASportsLegion: Updated Cavs/T-Wolves trade offer: Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett & a first round pick to Minnesota for Kevin Love & Corey Brewer. (Herald

@NBASportsLegion: The Herald reports that the T-Wolves would also like to somehow get rid of JJ Barea and his $4.5 million contract.

[WindyCityBorn]

They won't be weak defensively. Varejo and Bron alone will make that a good defense team. We will be better defensively but they will be a top 10 defensive team. Kyrie and Dion are there only bad defenders. And I think Kyrie will get better playing on a actual team.

We'll see. I seriously doubt it.

Show me the last Bron team that wasn't top half defensively?

That sure belped when the Spurs were lightning them up. LeBron can't guard every one. Top half isn't good enough and Varejo is past his prime so if he is your anchor you already have problems. We already know Love and Irving are bad defenders so that 5th starter needs to be a good one.

[Tetlak]

Compared to what? He only saw the floor in less than half of their second-half games.

i should have been more specific. in the first half of the year here are his numbers:

10mpg 2.4p 2.2r 31.9%ts

he then was benched in 6 out of 7 games mid-season. when he returned to the lineup he had a stretch of 19 games averaging:

17mpg 7p 4r 52.8%ts

then he essentially missed the rest of the season

He certainly got better on the second half of the season, but those numbers are really poor for a No. 1 Pick.

Im willing to bet Wiggins fails to put up a 52.8% TS this season if he plays in Minnesota

[TheStig]

We'll see. I seriously doubt it.

Show me the last Bron team that wasn't top half defensively?

That sure belped when the Spurs were lightning them up. LeBron can't guard every one. Top half isn't good enough and Varejo is past his prime so if he is your anchor you already have problems. We already know Love and Irving are bad defenders so that 5th starter needs to be a good one.

Yeah, Varejo at 31 is long gone but Pau Gasol at 34 is just coming into his own. Why can't Varejo at 31 anchor the defense but Noah at 29 can? Varejo has at least a couple more high level years.

And Miami had no rim protector, no rebounder and was playing people who were ancient or injured. The Cavs will be one of the best rebounding teams in the league. The Heat were one of the worst.

[WinCity]

I've always felt we were better suited as the 3rd team. I think Minnesota would love to get Wiggins and Gibson. The problem is I don't see them getting what would interest the Bulls.

Ralph - is this deal going to down without any involvement from Chicago?

No clue, how does anyone really know right now. I do think they need a 3rd team to complete the deal bit that could be Philly. If Minnesota only gets Wiggins and doesn't send out salary, other than Wiggins becoming a star player, it would be a bad deal imo. I know Wiggins is suppose to be good but Beasley was considered a can't miss as well.

Also by not surrounding Wiggins with talent, he'll bolt as well. Minny needs to get the young guy but also needs veterans to establish a winning environment. So what they get out of Love is huge.

There are basically 2 things I think people are overlooking in putting forward the notion that Wiggins is really the best catch fr Minny.

1. Just as you noted Ralph he could very well be a bust. He is certainly no sure thing like James or Duncan when they were drafted. He needs a lot of development especially his shot and handle.

2. Even if he pans out who s to say they can keep him? As you noted he could want out. How crazy would it be if he left for TOR (he has spoken about wanting to play for them already)

IMO when you look at Minny's situation, there not a very desirable location for stars to play in, there is a good argument that they could be better of building a Skiles era Bulls team with good talent and depth without star players. They would stand a very good chance of keeping such a team together and building a team with continuity that can compete in the playoffs without worrying about losing a franchise player and it all falling apart.

[MrFortune3]

Show me the last Bron team that wasn't top half defensively?

That sure belped when the Spurs were lightning them up. LeBron can't guard every one. Top half isn't good enough and Varejo is past his prime so if he is your anchor you already have problems. We already know Love and Irving are bad defenders so that 5th starter needs to be a good one.

Yeah, Varejo at 31 is long gone but Pau Gasol at 34 is just coming into his own. Why can't Varejo at 31 anchor the defense but Noah at 29 can? Varejo has at least a couple more high level years.

And Miami had no rim protector, no rebounder and was playing people who were ancient or injured. The Cavs will be one of the best rebounding teams in the league. The Heat were one of the worst.

You do realize that in the past 3 seasons that Varejao has suffered from some ailment that has ended his season?
A torn tendon, a broken wrist and a blood clot.
Do you really want to ask as to why most think he isn't able to anchor the D? Because he can't stay healthy and there is a reason why the Cavs wanted to move a future 1st for a C.
He has played 146 games out of a possible 328 regular season games in the past 4 seasons.