can kevin love play center?

[jcwkings]

Not a timber wolves fan but i was watching your game against okc, and your young guys looked very impressive. i just came here wondering if kevin love can play the center position, imagine your roster for next year.

pg- Ricky Rubio(possibly?)
sg- Wesley Johnson
sf- Michael Beasley
pf- Anthony Randolph(what a steal from the ny knicks)
c- kevin love

anyways you guys have a bright future

[AQuintus]

Not against Dwight or Bynum, but I think he'd be fine against most of the Centers in the league and I'd like to see the team try it out. Especially since he ends up guarding the more post oriented player (usually the Center), anyways.

[NewWolvesOrder]

If Chuck Hayes plays center, Love can too. He's a bruiser and is better suited banging in the post than gaurding athletic PFs out on the peremeter. The only problem would be big scoring centers but Darko could be a good situational role player if his ego allowed it or a guy like Kwame Brown.

[LordBaldric]

I think if you are going to play both Love and Randolph it would make a lot more sense to play Randolph/Love at PF/C respectively like you say or SF/PF. Randolph is way too weak to play center other than on a gimmick basis, and defending post guys is something Love is good at, and Randolph can always come in for a block from the weakside.

This also removes Darko from the equation, which is a huge plus in itself.

[Krapinsky]

I really thought Darko would have expanded his offensive game a little by now. Hasn't happened in the least bit.

[NewWolvesOrder]

I really thought Darko would have expanded his offensive game a little by now. Hasn't happened in the least bit.

Darko should have been used as Chandler/Pryz type role players from the start. Rambis was/is trying stupidly to turn him into another Pau.

[eyeteeth]

I really thought Darko would have expanded his offensive game a little by now. Hasn't happened in the least bit.

Darko should have been used as Chandler/Pryz type role players from the start. Rambis was/is trying stupidly to turn him into another Pau.

It's not really stupid. Darko has a lot of the basketball tools, he just needs to put them together consistently. That he seems unable to in what can only be described as ideal circumstances is pretty damning. I think he gets one more year to put it together and if not, he's benched, traded or sent home.

[AQuintus]

It's not really stupid. Darko has a lot of the basketball tools, he just needs to put them together consistently.

The problem is that he really doesn't.

He's got great mobility and length, which makes him a solid help defender, but he's insanely soft and gets pushed around easily which makes him a bad man defender.

On offense, in each individual possession, he can either pass or score. Once he decides to do one, the other will not happen on that possession which really negates his good court vision and passing skills. On top of that, he tends to go for the flashy pass over the easy, effective pass. As far as scoring, he can dunk but doesn't 99% of the time, and he only has one post move, his lefty hook, and has shown absolutely no indications of learning any other moves. He's also an absolutely terrible rebounder considering his athleticism, length, and height.

The reality is that he doesn't have very many basketball tools, and at this point there's just been too many years without him adding any to have any expectations that he suddenly will. So, even if he does suddenly become much more consistent (which we also shouldn't expect at this point), he'd only be going from hugely negative on the court to maybe neutral.

Edit:

I think he gets one more year to put it together and if not, he's benched, traded or sent home.

He's had 7 years, including this year where he has been babied and put in a position to succeed more than he's ever been before, and he's still the exact same player he's always been. What makes you think that another year will change anything for him?

[Krapinsky]

Hmm.... disagree that Darko is a bad man defender. That's probably his best quality right now.

He's also never been babied until he got here. He's acted like a baby, but we're the first team that's tried to handle him with kid gloves.

[AQuintus]

Hmm.... disagree that Darko is a bad man defender. That's probably his best quality right now.

My opinion of his man defense might be colored by one of the Portland games earlier this year where he got absolutely dominated by Lamarcus Aldridge. Aldridge isn't exactly Shaq-esque big and strong, but he was still consistently able to back down Darko without much effort at all.

He's also never been babied until he got here. He's acted like a baby, but we're the first team that's tried to handle him with kid gloves.

Yes, which is why I said he's been babied here more than anywhere else.

[Krapinsky]

Hmm.... disagree that Darko is a bad man defender. That's probably his best quality right now.

My opinion of his man defense might be colored by one of the Portland games earlier this year where he got absolutely dominated by Lamarcus Aldridge. Aldridge isn't exactly Shaq-esque big and strong, but he was still consistently able to back down Darko without much effort at all.

He's also never been babied until he got here. He's acted like a baby, but we're the first team that's tried to handle him with kid gloves.

Yes, which is why I said he's been babied here more than anywhere else.

I remember that game. The way the refs were calling it made Aldridge unguardable. He was able to drop his shoulder into Darko all day... really nothing he could do if they weren't going to call charges.

[Mcfale313]

I think K Love's can play his best at PF position, it'd be good if we can land a legit center via trade and draft a scoring wing, Darko is good at defense but he is so inconsistent....

[prefuse73]

Our primary focus this offseason should be the guard positions.

If we can not get a center as well. Love would be fine everyday at center except agains D12 and Bynum (like other suggested). Like many of our players, Love would be best playing PF on offense, and C on defense. If we can find somebody who the opposite is true, we would be golden. Lets see C on offense, but able to effecitvely defend the variety of pfs in the league. If Randolph was a tad more bulky, he may be able to pull it off, but that type of player is tough to find.

I do like the idea of getting Randolph in a starting role over Darko.

[GSForever]

I think Beasley should be the 6th man. To me it seems like all he wants to do is score and not much of anything else....I've think Darko, Love and AR is the way to go. Love and AR won't have to use much of their fouls since one is undersized and the other is a bit thinner. It would open up more scoring opportunities for Wes, AR and Love with Beasley being sent to the bench.

[eyeteeth]

Edit:

I think he gets one more year to put it together and if not, he's benched, traded or sent home.

He's had 7 years, including this year where he has been babied and put in a position to succeed more than he's ever been before, and he's still the exact same player he's always been. What makes you think that another year will change anything for him?

I think, and more to the point, I think Kahmbis think that this year has been 100% about building Darko's confidence. I believe the Wolves will continue to work with him in the offseason to develop his game some more. Seeing that the team continues to invest and believe in him beyond just one year of giving him minutes could be very helpful. I think, furthermore, that the experiment can only work if you continue to invest in him one more offseason and the following season. Hopefully he can learn new skills or redevelop some old ones. Hopefully he comes back with some more dynamic decision making. Hopefully over the course of next season he starts to really believe in himself as a player. We know he can score 15 a game if he's engaged, and with Love around, he hardly needs to be a great rebounder.

I maintain that down the road Randolph will add some muscle (and thus might be able to be the yin to Love's yang, playing C on offense and PF on defense). Darko is on a time limit because of this no matter what, because Randolph clearly wants to play. When I said Darko has pretty good basketball tools I was talking about length, athleticism and court vision, all of which you mention. I think he has pretty good footwork, too. The question is what he can do with those tools. After this season, I think he knows (and I think that Khambis will gently, positively tell him) that he can do more with the tools he has.

What I was saying is that it happens next season or we hopefully stop trying. But I think there's enough chance of success that it's worth giving him another year, or if absolutely no progress is made, til the trade deadline anyway.

[Gadbwah]

Darko's betwixt-the-legs-drive-to-dunk from 15 feet out. When his head is in the game, he's also pretty good at putbacks on O (and sometimes D imho.

He gets rattled easily right now, which translates into tunnel vision on the court... sometimes it seems he has no idea where people are around him, much less what they are doing.

But, I think the skills are there; even though he's had 7 years, he is still a young guy in a 'foreign' country. I'm still hopeful he'll mature and put it together. He really shouldn't be out there more than 20 mpg until something obviously clicks, though.

[LordBaldric]

Edit:

I think he gets one more year to put it together and if not, he's benched, traded or sent home.

He's had 7 years, including this year where he has been babied and put in a position to succeed more than he's ever been before, and he's still the exact same player he's always been. What makes you think that another year will change anything for him?

I think, and more to the point, I think Kahmbis think that this year has been 100% about building Darko's confidence. I believe the Wolves will continue to work with him in the offseason to develop his game some more. Seeing that the team continues to invest and believe in him beyond just one year of giving him minutes could be very helpful. I think, furthermore, that the experiment can only work if you continue to invest in him one more offseason and the following season. Hopefully he can learn new skills or redevelop some old ones. Hopefully he comes back with some more dynamic decision making. Hopefully over the course of next season he starts to really believe in himself as a player. We know he can score 15 a game if he's engaged, and with Love around, he hardly needs to be a great rebounder.

I maintain that down the road Randolph will add some muscle (and thus might be able to be the yin to Love's yang, playing C on offense and PF on defense). Darko is on a time limit because of this no matter what, because Randolph clearly wants to play. When I said Darko has pretty good basketball tools I was talking about length, athleticism and court vision, all of which you mention. I think he has pretty good footwork, too. The question is what he can do with those tools. After this season, I think he knows (and I think that Khambis will gently, positively tell him) that he can do more with the tools he has.

What I was saying is that it happens next season or we hopefully stop trying. But I think there's enough chance of success that it's worth giving him another year, or if absolutely no progress is made, til the trade deadline anyway.

This is insane. **** Darko and his confidence.

[pumunga]

How long has DMC been playing pf? Pretty much any big can learn to play either position, every team uses them differentily.

[prefuse73]

meh.. we can't base our basketball decisions around darko's confidence. What I was hoping for was a Gortat type of explosion (searches for random post where I stated my desire to acquire Gortat), and what we got was an inconsistent player, who is often injured and has to be handled with gloves. I am willing to give it one more year since I think our options will be severly limited as we SHOULD focus more on guard play. If Randolph can bulk up a tad over the offseason, I would start him at C and Darko to the bench.

Then pull off a stunner and move Beasley/Ellington/ Pek to OKC for Harden/Aldrich. Aldrich is Darko insurance. Stunner meaning OKC accepting it...

Randolph (24) - Darko (24) - Aldrich
Love (36) - Randolph (6) - Tolliver
Johnson - (Jones III - Draft)
Harden- Webster
Rubio - Ridnour

Something like that.

[mandurugo]

The idea of a center who doesn't factor into team defense is pretty unappealing. Of course the same is true of a PF, but it doesn't seem to bother some people.