jpatrick wrote:I knew since McHale was let go there was whispers that Love might want out, but I didn't realize it was this bad. On the trade board, a Portland fan said Love's dad went on Portland radio and basically said that Love will be out of MN when he becomes a FA.
I'm not a fan of catering to players but I'd do a Rubio/#2 for Westbrook deal. I'm not sold on Rubio and we might be able to buy low on Westbrook after the criticsm he received in the playoffs. It would provide Love with a close friend on the team that he's wanted to play with. It's also not a bad deal for OKC as it gives Durant a pass first PG so he gets more (easier) shots and also gives them a low post scorer (Williams) which will help them down the stretch of games.
I'm not that concerned about Love leaving right now, but for me, it's something to keep in the back of my mind, in case the situation changes. That said, I wouldn't mind acquiring Westbrook, even at that steep price. He's terrific at what he can do already, and he is still just learning the PG position, so there is plenty of room for growth.
And to me, while Rubio + #2 is a very high price, it's still something the play-off Thunder would accept. What you'd need is a third team, that has a star but may need to rebuild. Perhaps Chris Paul? He may be likely to stay in OKC, not NOH .. and Westbrook may fall in love with MIN is he stays in MIN with Love (I don't think Paul would stick here). OKC throws in something else, since Paul > Westbrook.
Now granted, we have bigger problems to fix on the team than the PG position .. namely SG and C. However, I think those become more easy to fix if we can be a better option for free agents by winning some games.
