shrink wrote:I am not going to engage in this. I do not believe you are trying to troll me, but you are very locked into your way of thinking, and I disagree with the majority of it, for the reasons I’ve already mentioned.
A. Getting commensurate production for the price of a contract is a good thing. I do not believe Love is likely to be worth that contract, for CLE or anyone.
B. Getting off contracts that are bad values, even if the assets arise in a few years when Love is even less likely to be worth his deal, is a good thing.
C. Sexton, like most any rookie, may have done better later in the season, whether Love was there or not.
A. What players and what amount of production would we have gotten? Most options for PF the market don't fit the type of player the Cavs are looking for and even then, their production, and therefore value is limited by not fulfilling an actual need so becomes just another hindrance. Would I prefer Love to be healthy and play all 82 games every year, most definitely, but if he can play 60-65, he averaged about 65 games throughout his career he will be worth his contract based on what he brings compared to others at his position. There are less than 10 PF/Cs in the NBA that average 17/9 with over a 35.0 3pt% on over 3 attempts/game over multiple years. Everyone one of them that do are either maxed out already, ie Anthony Davis, on a rookie contract ie John Collins, or were free agents with massive injury and character issues, ie DeMarcus Cousins. I expect Love to play 60-65 games as his career averages suggest, and it be worth if for the Cavs.
B. It's only a bad contract if he can't get back to playing around 65 regular season games a year, which is his career average. Also Love's game isn't predicated on athleticism or even having a lot of energy, it's based on good shooting and being crafty/technique in rebounding. His game ages very well for what he expected to produce. If he keeps getting random injuries, it has very rarely been the same injury that's limited his games, then yes it's not going to work, but the Cavs also have nothing else to spend the money until his contract is about to expire and guys like Sexton start becoming eligible for extensions.
C. Sure but what we do know is that Sexton's improved play really started after the All-Star break when Love returned. He made some progress before Love returned, but once he did his play improved dramatically once Love returned, as did everyone else on the team as well. Osman for example improved by 1.6 ppg, from 32.7% to 38.8% on 3pters, and .8 apg more as well. Love improved the play of everyone on the team period, and it's been documented. I wish I could fine the article so I could get the exact numbers, but the Cavs were like 8 points better offensively with Love and even like 4 points better defensively surprisingly.