Looking back, are you happy OJ Mayo was traded for K. Love?

[dennis00]

Kevin Love has been doing quite good lately. If you see his averages per 36-minutes, that's quite impressive.

[Basti]

now with Miller also playing better after Al went down I guess the trade as a whole finally seems at least equal talent- and productionwise.

[Devilzsidewalk]

at the time I would've taken Love over Mayo straight up

now I'd trade Mayo and Miller for Love

[revprodeji]

I believe long term Love is the better player. Winning teams have players like love. The situation with contracts and Miller/Cardinal is icing on the cake, but I am impressed with love and believe he still has serious potential.

I still have concerns about Mayo's role on a winning team. He is not a pure pg, and he has too small a standing reach to ever be an elite sg. He will put up numbers, but does he improve teammates?

[dennis00]

People often say that 6"4 is too small for a Shooting Guard. I heard the same about JJ Redick (I beleive).

If Dwyane Wade can do it, they should be able to do it too, even though being not as good players. It's not that there are that much of great shooting guards.

[john2jer]

DWade can do it because he has freakishly long arms, no regard for his body, and is a phenomenal athlete with a bit of a distributor's mentality. Yeah he scores a lot, yeah he drives a lot, but he'll hit the open guy off penetration if it's there.

I'd have been happier if Mayo was traded for Kobe, LeBron, D12, and a bag of Funyuns, but KLove is a nice consolation prize.

[Krapinsky]

Very happy. I think Love has more unique ability. I think we could easily find a player in the next draft that would replicate what Mayo would have brought to the Wolves-- i.e. Harden, Evans-- but a player like Love? Not so much.

[Howler21]

I am starting to wish we would have grabbed Westbrook but I am happy with the deal now. What are Mayo's percentages looking like now?

[B Calrissian]

I was happy with it right away. Although Miller did his best to change my opinion with his lack of shooting and defense but now he is stepping up.

[john2jer]

I am starting to wish we would have grabbed Westbrook but I am happy with the deal now. What are Mayo's percentages looking like now?

43.8% on the season. Hasn't shot above 42.1% in 9 games. Averaging 4.1 turnovers a game over those 9 games. He consistently gets to the free throw line A LOT EVERY OTHER GAME. He'll go to the line 8 times one game, 1 the next, then 8, then 1, then 10, then 0, then 8. It's actually kinda cool.

He's actually averaging pretty much the same number of turn-overs as assists. That takes talent. He's pretty much got the green light to do whatever the hell he wants. Sounds like bad coaching to me. Maybe that's why Iavoroni got fired.

[Krapinsky]

In Mayo's defense, he's the #1 option on that team as a rookie. That's asking a lot.

[john2jer]

In Mayo's defense, he's the #1 option on that team as a rookie. That's asking a lot.

Seems to me he's turned himself into the ONLY option. They have a good amount of talent on that team, and they're not gelling. He can be a #1 option all he wants, but he won't be a star until he takes that next step as a team leader and pulls everyone together. Rookie or not, he's like 43 years old. MAN UP!

[deeney0]

No. I'm very impressed with Love, but I still think Mayo will be one of the elite players in this league in the not-too-distant future. If Wolves can do something with the 2010 cap space the trade created, I'll reassess, but until then I've seen nothing out of Mayo that makes me think otherwise.

[deeney0]

They have a good amount of talent on that team, and they're not gelling.

Same sentence could be used for the Wolves.

[Calinks]

I can't say that I am. Mayo has a better shot at being an elite player than Love right now. Mayo had done some very impressive things. At the same time, Mayo is 6'4" and it's really hard to be a great SG at that size unless you are an athletic freak and can break down a defense. We see that as talented as Foye is, he really struggles to be consistent. And on the defensive end a lot of guards will give him serious trouble. If Foye or Mayo were 6'6" then they would each probably be a lot better off.

I fear that Love and Al don't compliment eachother enough to guarantee that we will be a successful team starting the both of them in the future. I just don't see that tandem being where we will need them to be defensively to win playoff games.

[karch34]

Initially I hated it. Going into the draft I thought we needed backcourt help and a defensive center. Not ironically that's where we are this year too. I thought Love would be a solid role player at best and just duplicated the one position of strength we had in PF.

I actually like it now that I've had a chance to watch Love play a lot more. I think Dr.K hit it on the head with his unique ability being harder to find. Obviously the improvement in our financial situation and Miller has been a nice bonus as well. That said it's still an imcomplete grade overall until we fill out the rest of our roster. He's a great piece that will contribute heavily in our success for years to come, but when you still have the same needs going into the draft that you did the year before it's hard to definitively say I am totally happy with the trade.

[shrink]

Very happy.

Love has the chance to be historic as a rebounder. So far, he's the #2 rookie in TRB% .. of all time. He's #1 in the league in OREB/min. What's this kid going to be like when he has an nba body and he reaches the ripe old age of 22?

Mike Miller is under-rated around here, and his win-shares are in the same area as Kevin Love and Al Jefferson.

http://www.wagesofwins.com/TWolves510809.html

And the topper that everyone ignores is that we moved Jaric's 2010-11 salary up to 2009-10.

OJ Mayo will have to turn into more than a star, but a true superstar for this to be a bad deal. Love alone recoups most of the Mayo value.

[deeney0]

Mike Miller is under-rated around here, and his win-shares are in the same area as Kevin Love and Al Jefferson.

Comparing him to his teammates doesn't make much sense to me. So he's contributed as much to an awful win total as much as two other guys. He's supposed to be a second tier SG in this league (if first tier is All-Star), and he's not producing wins like THAT.

[TrentTuckerForever]

Comparing him to his teammates doesn't make much sense to me. So he's contributed as much to an awful win total as much as two other guys. He's supposed to be a second tier SG in this league (if first tier is All-Star), and he's not producing wins like THAT.

I could be wrong, but I think this stat is designed to show what share of the team's wins each player is responsible for, not how many wins a player generates. It's supposed to be an apples-to-apples kind of thing, making Miller less valuable than Ray Allen (10.8 wins produced) but more valuable than Matt Barnes (7.2)

Unless I'm off, the team's total wins don't matter... the stat accounts for how many wins each player is responsible for. Shrink?

And I like the Mayo for Love/Miller deal. I'm mildly disappointed by Miller, not because he's been terrible but because he wasn't what we expected. If he is a "world-class shooter" as McHale keeps saying, why the heck doesn't he shoot more? Especially when he's open?

But Miller is a far better player and contract than Jaric, and Love has been very good as well (although he duplicates Jefferson in a lot of ways.) I'm excited going forward, though. I'd rather have the very good big guy than the very good guard, and I for one don't think Mayo is going to be more than very good.

[TDWOLVESFAN]

I too believe Love has a unique talent for rebounding and long outlet passes. Although he has gotten better at his put backs, he has a ways to go with putting them back consistently. There are many Mayo's to be had in every draft - selfish talented undersized SG's.

Love does and will have a better impact on his team success.

Mayo is another Marbury waiting to happen.