2021-22 Season/Offseason Speculation

[BobbieL]

People forget Kevin Love is under contract for over $60 million for 2 years and has played 103 games in 2 years. Really surprising people putting so much stock in Flex. Now if Love is willing to give up $10 million or something, maybe a buyout happens. Honestly I am not sure he'd be high on James Jones list anyway given how he likes to switch everyone. Millsap can switch better than him even at this point. Love is basically best as a small ball 5. I think being buddies impacting signings much is overrated.

RealGm News Wire up top of this screen had something about Millsap wanting more than the minimum. Have heard rumblings the Warriors want him. So if reports are true - Jones is holding that MLE like a lotto ticket.

As for Love - you are right - he would have to give up some decent cash for the Cavs to want to move on at this point

I still think the Suns will wait out the SPurs for February and target Young.

[Barkley6]

My betting money is on Kevin Love with that James Jones connection, plus his girlfriend would look damn good in Scottsdale or a Phoenix mansion.

But would he really choose Jones and us over his Buddy Lebron, and being on a more star studded team of HOFers' with Lebron/ Westbrook/ AD. Also all of the LA glitz , glamour and notoriety too? Great friend vs. a more stacked super team with his other good friend Lebron???

Worth noting that the Lakers have Davis, Melo, Howard and Gasol as their bigs right now. Gasol is obviously the likeliest to fall out of the rotation, but I don't really see a ton of time for Love there.

Davis Melo and Howard are going to play the majority of the 4/5 minutes.

[Ghost of Kleine]

My betting money is on Kevin Love with that James Jones connection, plus his girlfriend would look damn good in Scottsdale or a Phoenix mansion.

But would he really choose Jones and us over his Buddy Lebron, and being on a more star studded team of HOFers' with Lebron/ Westbrook/ AD. Also all of the LA glitz , glamour and notoriety too? Great friend vs. a more stacked super team with his other good friend Lebron???

Worth noting that the Lakers have Davis, Melo, Howard and Gasol as their bigs right now. Gasol is obviously the likeliest to fall out of the rotation, but I don't really see a ton of time for Love there.

Davis Melo and Howard are going to play the majority of the 4/5 minutes.

Of course you may be right. But as mentioned, Gasol is not likely to return per various reports.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/nba/news/marc-gasol-no-longer-a-lock-to-return-to-lakers-for-2021-22-season-per-report/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/amp/marc_gasol_might_not_return_to_lakers/s1_127_35668454

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nba.nbcsports.com/2021/08/20/report-marc-gasol-not-a-lock-to-return-to-lakers-this-season/amp/

And post Gasol, You don't think the Flakers might choose to at times go with a combination of Davis at the 4 and Love at the 5. Or vice versa. And have
Melo at the backup 4 ( or Love at times) with Howard at the backup 5?
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/LAL/los-angeles-lakers/depth-chart/

I mean when you look at their frontcourt depth, IF Gasol actually leaves, Then they really only have Davis/ Anthony and Ariza at the 4. But really only Davis and Howard at the 5 ( Only two centers really) post Gasol. What do they do IF Gasol is gone and then either Davis ( often injured) or even Howard gets injured. Adding Love gives them another 4/5 for necessary frontcourt depth and also for injury insurance as well as more frontcourt versatility. Also, Melo is what.........6'7 ? Definitely not big enough to play the 5, And barely likely to play the 4 for much time at all either, As they like to go big it seems! Melo would just be much better served by stating at the 3 to backup Le' Douche accordingly. With maybe spot minutes as a potential small ball 4 in rare / sporadic circumstances.

They'd be crazy not to be contemplating such things. Especially upon reflection of how Davis' injury derailed their playoff run just last season! Make no mistake, They'll absolutely be targeting him as soon as he becomes available through buyout.

[bwoolf2]

My betting money is on Kevin Love with that James Jones connection, plus his girlfriend would look damn good in Scottsdale or a Phoenix mansion.

But would he really choose Jones and us over his Buddy Lebron, and being on a more star studded team of HOFers' with Lebron/ Westbrook/ AD. Also all of the LA glitz , glamour and notoriety too? Great friend vs. a more stacked super team with his other good friend Lebron???

Worth noting that the Lakers have Davis, Melo,

Howard and Gasol as their bigs right now. Gasol is obviously the likeliest to fall out of the rotation, but I don't really see a ton of time for Love there.

Davis Melo and Howard are going to play the majority of the 4/5 minutes.

I don't see a ton of time for Love here either if he isn't better than Melo then he certainly isn't better than Crowder or Cam Jo.

[Barkley6]

But would he really choose Jones and us over his Buddy Lebron, and being on a more star studded team of HOFers' with Lebron/ Westbrook/ AD. Also all of the LA glitz , glamour and notoriety too? Great friend vs. a more stacked super team with his other good friend Lebron???

Worth noting that the Lakers have Davis, Melo, Howard and Gasol as their bigs right now. Gasol is obviously the likeliest to fall out of the rotation, but I don't really see a ton of time for Love there.

Davis Melo and Howard are going to play the majority of the 4/5 minutes.

Of course you may be right. But as mentioned, Gasol is not likely to return per various reports. And you don't think the Flakers might choose to at times go with a combination of Davis at the 4 and Love at the 5. Or vice versa. And have
Melo at the backup 4 ( or Love at times) with Howard at the backup 5?
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/LAL/los-angeles-lakers/depth-chart/

I mean when you look at their frontcourt depth, IF Gasol actually leaves, Then they really only have Davis/ Anthony and Ariza at the 4. But really only Davis and Howard at the 5 ( Only two centers really) post Gasol. What do they do IF Gasol is gone and then either Davis ( often injured) or even Howard gets injured. Adding Love gives them another 4/5 for necessary frontcourt depth and also for injury insurance as well as more frontcourt versatility. Also, Melo is what.........6'7 ? Definitely not big enough to play the 5, And barely likely to play the 4 for much time at all either, As they like to go big it seems! Melo would just be much better served by stating at the 3 to backup Le' Douche accordingly. With maybe spot minutes as a potential small ball 4 in rare / sporadic circumstances.

They'd be crazy not to be contemplating such things. Especially upon reflection of how Davis' injury derailed their playoff run just last season! Make no mistake, They'll absolutely be targeting him as soon as he becomes available through buyout.

Forgot about Ariza. He's another one who is going to get minutes at the 4.

The problem is that Love isn't really a guy who is likely to be content to be a backup and only play in case of an injury. If you're thinking Dwight starts and plays 25 minutes at the 5, then you're having AD play the remaining 23 minutes at the 5, and 10 minutes at the 4 (likely to start the 1st and 2nd quarters). That's all your 5 minutes taken up. If Melo is your backup four, but AD is playing the majority of his minutes at the 5, you're playing Melo say, 25 minutes, then AD plays 10, which leaves 13 for Ariza.

Where does Love fit? Even if you played Howard and Melo 5 less minutes each, you're still only looking at 23 minutes for Love and Ariza to share between them. Unlikely either of them would be happy with that.

[Frank Lee]

Sloshing around in the spilled milk. Hehe

Don’t really care about slots 11 and on. We clearly are not in the acquire a rookie/youngster business. Stay healthy and it won’t matter. Pull up lame, then go shopping.

[bwgood77]

People forget Kevin Love is under contract for over $60 million for 2 years and has played 103 games in 2 years. Really surprising people putting so much stock in Flex. Now if Love is willing to give up $10 million or something, maybe a buyout happens. Honestly I am not sure he'd be high on James Jones list anyway given how he likes to switch everyone. Millsap can switch better than him even at this point. Love is basically best as a small ball 5. I think being buddies impacting signings much is overrated.

RealGm News Wire up top of this screen had something about Millsap wanting more than the minimum. Have heard rumblings the Warriors want him. So if reports are true - Jones is holding that MLE like a lotto ticket.

As for Love - you are right - he would have to give up some decent cash for the Cavs to want to move on at this point

I still think the Suns will wait out the SPurs for February and target Young.

Yeah, I think he wanted more than the taxpayer MLE which some may already have been offering, so probably out of our price range anyway.

[bwgood77]

Sloshing around in the spilled milk. Hehe

Don’t really care about slots 11 and on. We clearly are not in the acquire a rookie/youngster business. Stay healthy and it won’t matter. Pull up lame, then go shopping.

I was thinking earlier that our board must discuss who we better sign with the 15th roster spot more than any other board.

[bwgood77]

My betting money is on Kevin Love with that James Jones connection, plus his girlfriend would look damn good in Scottsdale or a Phoenix mansion.

But would he really choose Jones and us over his Buddy Lebron, and being on a more star studded team of HOFers' with Lebron/ Westbrook/ AD. Also all of the LA glitz , glamour and notoriety too? Great friend vs. a more stacked super team with his other good friend Lebron???

Worth noting that the Lakers have Davis, Melo, Howard and Gasol as their bigs right now. Gasol is obviously the likeliest to fall out of the rotation, but I don't really see a ton of time for Love there.

Davis Melo and Howard are going to play the majority of the 4/5 minutes.

He may like to join that group. People more his age he can hang out with and he can continue not playing very much. Plus he likes Bron I think.

We sure do talk about signing a guy under contract for over $30 million with another team a lot though.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Worth noting that the Lakers have Davis, Melo, Howard and Gasol as their bigs right now. Gasol is obviously the likeliest to fall out of the rotation, but I don't really see a ton of time for Love there.

Davis Melo and Howard are going to play the majority of the 4/5 minutes.

Of course you may be right. But as mentioned, Gasol is not likely to return per various reports. And you don't think the Flakers might choose to at times go with a combination of Davis at the 4 and Love at the 5. Or vice versa. And have
Melo at the backup 4 ( or Love at times) with Howard at the backup 5?
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/LAL/los-angeles-lakers/depth-chart/

I mean when you look at their frontcourt depth, IF Gasol actually leaves, Then they really only have Davis/ Anthony and Ariza at the 4. But really only Davis and Howard at the 5 ( Only two centers really) post Gasol. What do they do IF Gasol is gone and then either Davis ( often injured) or even Howard gets injured. Adding Love gives them another 4/5 for necessary frontcourt depth and also for injury insurance as well as more frontcourt versatility. Also, Melo is what.........6'7 ? Definitely not big enough to play the 5, And barely likely to play the 4 for much time at all either, As they like to go big it seems! Melo would just be much better served by stating at the 3 to backup Le' Douche accordingly. With maybe spot minutes as a potential small ball 4 in rare / sporadic circumstances.

They'd be crazy not to be contemplating such things. Especially upon reflection of how Davis' injury derailed their playoff run just last season! Make no mistake, They'll absolutely be targeting him as soon as he becomes available through buyout.

Forgot about Ariza. He's another one who is going to get minutes at the 4.

The problem is that Love isn't really a guy who is likely to be content to be a backup and only play in case of an injury. If you're thinking Dwight starts and plays 25 minutes at the 5, then you're having AD play the remaining 23 minutes at the 5, and 10 minutes at the 4 (likely to start the 1st and 2nd quarters). That's all your 5 minutes taken up. If Melo is your backup four, but AD is playing the majority of his minutes at the 5, you're playing Melo say, 25 minutes, then AD plays 10, which leaves 13 for Ariza.

Where does Love fit? Even if you played Howard and Melo 5 less minutes each, you're still only looking at 23 minutes for Love and Ariza to share between them. Unlikely either of them would be happy with that.

I think Love would ( as mentioned start alongside of Davis interchangeably) depending upon matchups with Melo moving to a backup 4 role alongside of Howard ( as a backup 5) with Ariza staying at the 3 with Bazemore and THT at the 3. Also, Do those minutes really take into consideration the strong possibility of potential injuries? And as for the minutes, In Cleveland, He only played what.......... Around 30 minutes over the course of the last 3 seasons? You don't think he'd be willing to take a slight drop in minutes to actually have a chance at a championship? Or to play with his good friend Lebron James? When was the last time he was even on a competitive playoff team or a legitimate contender? I absolutely think he'll be willing to ring chase or concede less minutes in interest of potentially winning a championship!

[Ghost of Kleine]

As we speak!!............
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/263954/Kevin-Love-Cavaliers-Making-Progress-On-Buyout

[Barkley6]

Sloshing around in the spilled milk. Hehe

Don’t really care about slots 11 and on. We clearly are not in the acquire a rookie/youngster business. Stay healthy and it won’t matter. Pull up lame, then go shopping.

I was thinking earlier that our board must discuss who we better sign with the 15th roster spot more than any other board.

That's the beauty of winning basketball. Much better than a few years ago when we'd go back and forth about how much time Josh Jackson needed to look like an NBA player.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

[LukasBMW]

Kevin Love in an Aaron Baynes type role would be legit. He's also way better then Saric.

We're thin at the 5 and we could use a court stretcher. Love fits the bill

CP3/Payne/Elf
Booker/Shamet
Bridges/Cam
Crowder/Frank
Ayton/Love/McGee

I love it.

[Fo-Real]

Love and Crowder would compete to start at Pf and Cam would be the backup Sf in a scenario of us getting Love.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Kevin Love in an Aaron Baynes type role would be legit. He's also way better then Saric.

We're thin at the 5 and we could use a court stretcher. Love fits the bill

CP3/Payne/Elf
Booker/Shamet
Bridges/Cam
Crowder/Frank
Ayton/Love/McGee

I love it.

Interesting! And IF it were to happen, I agree with you that he'd definitely be an upgrade to Saric ( and Kaminsky) Although I don't think he'd replace Mcgee as our backup 5. I'm also thinking that it wouldn't be too good to have him as our backup 5, As his defense and rim protection is so poor. He's honestly much better playing alongside a legitimate rim protector. So with respect to that, I actually see our lineup with Love theoretically being:

- Paul / Payne/Payton.
- Booker/ Shamet/ FA ( vet minimum).
- Bridges/ Johnson/Nader.
- Crowder/Love/Smith.
- Ayton / Mcgee/Kaminsky.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I dunno guys... all the media talking about Love to the Lakers. Of course the media is always talking about the Lakers.

[sunskerr]

I think Love makes us favorites. Would be happy with him or Young but Love is probably better. I don't think he's done yet. At 32-33 years old after saving himself for a year he's probably got quite a bit still left in the tank, particularly because his playstyle isn't demanding in terms of athleticism. He'd not have to worry about being asked to do too much on offense either, but he could still potentially have some big games because of his skill.

Fingers crossed. But LA may also promise him a crazy amount of minutes (starter or near-starter minutes), whereas here he is battling Crowder (and occasionally Johnson) at the 4 and then at the 5 we already have Ayton. In LA he probably gets a bunch of center minutes as well as backup PF minutes even if he isn't particularly great at the 5.

Fingers crossed but I'm not getting my hopes up. I do think we are a better team with Love than the Lakers would be.

I have also somewhat coveted Love since he went to Cavs in the 2014 offseason so I may be biased when I say he's better than Thad Young. But you have to remember Love was a huge all star talent at one point and clearly hasn't had anything to play for in Cleveland since LeBron's departure. Aside from injuries, every year in Cleveland he was great right up until last year. I like his odds on a contender to get back to producing well. Dare I say I'd almost expect him to beat out Crowder as a starter if he came here.

[Jdiddy701]

I would love for Kevin Love to choose Phoenix if he’s bought out but I really can’t see him passing up the chance to play with the Lakers - back with Lebron and Russ (from his college days at UCLA). Honestly, put yourself in his shoe, LA is the move for him and it’s an easy one.


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[Bogyo]

Sloshing around in the spilled milk. Hehe

Don’t really care about slots 11 and on. We clearly are not in the acquire a rookie/youngster business. Stay healthy and it won’t matter. Pull up lame, then go shopping.

I was thinking earlier that our board must discuss who we better sign with the 15th roster spot more than any other board.

Yeah, a bit exessive about Ty-Shan and the such. However, in my opinion it's not that much about the actual player or the 15th spot, but the direction overall. Not a good message. No youngsters at all, while not going all in during our 2 year window. If we don't have the two ways then why are we not using BAE or the rest of the MLE or get the DPE with Saric's injury? Why not get a full MLE type guy and get a "McGee" with one of these contract types? We are waiting for the buyout market which might or might not happen or rut-of-the-litter Millsap who was let go by Denver while they signed Green from Brooklyn (!!!) - who is actually a good sub, not a done-stuck-a-fork-in-it type "token vet" like Millsap. What gives?

For the casual fan it's more than enough that we are a good playoff team with HCA in the first round. The spin doctors can sell it how we have a REAL chance to win it all, while we are the 5th-6th best team in the league.

Don't get me wrong, I loved last year, and I'll love this year, especially after a decade of suckitude, but I'd love to see us win a chip in my lifetime, which could have been achieved last year had Jones made the move (sign McGee) that most of this board was screaming for and was actually doable. This offseason he made the move, but I have a feeling that we are getting ready for the 2021 playoffs in the 2021 offseason, which might not be the best way to go about the 2022 playoffs.