Blatt: Kevin Love Isn't A Max Player

[Johnny Firpo]

There are things you think and there are things you say... Pop wouldn't say that about his players to some reporter...

He wouldn't? What about the Belinelli quote?

[DaddyCool19]

I think Blatt knows that a team where 2/3 stars don't play defense and the other one is coasting can't go on a deep run. Why not get fired, let the Cavs pay him his money and go back to Europe and train a team there. In Europe he doesn't have to babysit the stars and call his team out whenever he wants and no one is going to cry and ask the GM/team owner to fire him.

[83SixersRocked]

Looks like Love to the Lakers just got booked.

[The Rebel]

I just think it was about time Blatt actually called out one of his players and showed he is the coach of the team... I don't think bringing up a contract was the best of moves (but this is Cleveland/LeBron so the quote is going to be blown out of proportion). But Love hasn't won games either. I'd be intrigued to see how this Cleveland team would be with a full roster minus Love.

Blatt was put into a pretty **** situation to begin with, all things considered, he was expected to have Irving/Wiggins/Bennett, etc.

I don't know, it's one thing to test a player behind closed doors, but it's another to basically call out a player through the media. Not many coaches can get away with calling out his players through the media, not even from some of the greatest coaches.

And lets be honest, Blatt hasn't proved jack all as an NBA coach yet to be making comments about whether a player deserves a max contract or not. As experienced as he may have been in his previous coaching jobs, he is still a rookie NBA coach.

I agree. But with all this Love FA drama situation going on for a while now , not surprising Blatt or somebody in the Cleveland FO spoke about it.

Honestly this whole Kevin Love situation seems to be a major distraction to this team. One of your supposed "big 3" pieces and everyone's unsure if he's staying or not. Nor does his play suggest he should stay at times.

They need to bring in someone like George Karl.

George Karl has long had a habit of calling players out in the media, goes back decades.

[ChosunX]

I like Blatt. He doesn't sugar coat his comments. Probably why he's having issues with the ego driven players like Love and Lebron.

I would rather have him go back to Europe or coach an another more manageable NBA team than be Bron's biach.

[Run DLC]

How come Love is always the target of criticism? What about the equally overrated, Kyrie Irving? Both of them are stats stars who don't have the impact to win games. They don't know how to win, it's that simple. Kyrie is so inept at running an offense. He's fun to watch, but his style of playing is not fit to win basketball. He doesn't have the same natural leadership and awareness that other elite PG's have. He doesn't read plays, he just runs in and do his usual fancy/flashy dribble while completely negating his own team offense and ball movement. He's the most overrated all-star guard in the league. A one-dimensional volume scorer who doesn't understand how to bring the best impact out of his teammates.

[Kilo]

I just think Blatt was stating a fact - Love isn't getting paid max money right now so isn't a max player. Basically arguing semantics with the reporter, not making a statement against Love in any way. the "Yet" I think means he will be next season when his contract is re-done...

[leolozon]

I just think Blatt was stating a fact - Love isn't getting paid max money right now so isn't a max player. Basically arguing semantics with the reporter, not making a statement against Love in any way. the "Yet" I think means he will be next season when his contract is re-done...

Exactly, people always want to create something out of nothing.

And by the way, I know Game6 is getting a lot of attention right now, but misleading thread titles are very cheap and should be considered worthy of a warning. There's a HUGE difference between "not a max player" and "not a max player yet". Blatt obviously meant $ wise.

[Golabki]

The fact that the 76ers have a better record than the Wolves, suggests Love was actually doing a lot to make that team semi-competitive last year.

[QUIZ]

The fact that the 76ers have a better record than the Wolves, suggests Love was actually doing a lot to make that team semi-competitive last year.

Rubio is also out though...

[DrCoach]

The fact that the 76ers have a better record than the Wolves, suggests Love was actually doing a lot to make that team semi-competitive last year.

Rubio is also out though...

and Pekovic and Martin

[Golabki]

The fact that the 76ers have a better record than the Wolves, suggests Love was actually doing a lot to make that team semi-competitive last year.

Rubio is also out though...

and Pekovic and Martin

Fair... but I still think Love is by far the biggest loss.

Pek might not even be the best center on the roster and did anyone ever consider Rubio/Martin to be more than an OK starting backcourt?

[Illmatic12]

How come Love is always the target of criticism? What about the equally overrated, Kyrie Irving? Both of them are stats stars who don't have the impact to win games. They don't know how to win, it's that simple. Kyrie is so inept at running an offense. He's fun to watch, but his style of playing is not fit to win basketball. He doesn't have the same natural leadership and awareness that other elite PG's have. He doesn't read plays, he just runs in and do his usual fancy/flashy dribble while completely negating his own team offense and ball movement. He's the most overrated all-star guard in the league. A one-dimensional volume scorer who doesn't understand how to bring the best impact out of his teammates.

I think a lot of people already knew that about Irving. It's Love who's getting exposed the most in all of this.

Personally I'm one of the people who is surprised, I actually didn't realize how bad his defense and statpadding was until watching him at length this season. I thought it was one of those things where he was just not trying because he was on a losing team, but Love simply does not have any of the necessary traits (size, length, athleticism, motor, effort, awareness, etc) to be a good defender at the NBA level.. nor has he shown the intangibles required to be a good 2nd/3rd option on a championship 'big three'.

[eagereyez]

lol this is out of context

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/video

I looked at the video and it goes like this

reporter : from the outside people would look at this team and say lebron is out but kyrie irving and kevin love, I mean they're two max players, they're here

blatt : (he's smirking) Kev's not a max player yet...is he?

can't tell what the reporter says after

blatt : what does that mean?
reporter : it means that they are amongst the top players in the league
blatt : ok

LOL WE GOT TWITTER SWINDLED, I would think... I knew something was a lil fishy about this. I mean he doesn't say anything about Love after but... as much as I'd like this to be fun, doesnt seem like anything.

It's called click-bait.. and everyone here fell for it.

[Pan Jia Yuan]

So easy to manipulate people...

[oikosnomos]

Wow. I was actually very upset about all this this morning. I was shocked that Blatt would say this and disparage his players...then I watched the video and the context. What is the point of this? Some of you are deceptive ****, but stupidly so because what was presented by Game6 and a bunch tweets from random people obviously was not what was meant if you watch the video. He, not 5 seconds later, admits Kevin is one of the top players in the league and the whole exchange is nothing but semantics. Stop stirring up **** for no reason. **** you guys.

[EntropyPR]

lol this is out of context

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/video

I looked at the video and it goes like this

reporter : from the outside people would look at this team and say lebron is out but kyrie irving and kevin love, I mean they're two max players, they're here

blatt : (he's smirking) Kev's not a max player yet...is he?

can't tell what the reporter says after

blatt : what does that mean?
reporter : it means that they are amongst the top players in the league
blatt : ok

LOL WE GOT TWITTER SWINDLED, I would think... I knew something was a lil fishy about this. I mean he doesn't say anything about Love after but... as much as I'd like this to be fun, doesnt seem like anything.

It's called click-bait.. and everyone here fell for it.

Yup, Game 6 is getting a lot of praise (even his own praise thread by a mod no less) but his thread titles are very click baity.

[The_Brecht]

It's so funny to see so many people freak out over this.
Even if Blatt wasn't talking about the contract, but about Love's playing ability, it shouldn't be such a big deal.

Sometimes you've got to say the truth, even if it hurts somebody's feelings.
Tough love should be considered normal in professional sports, even sports in general.

[Altered_Beast]

Misleading title aside if love doesn't resign it will be one of the biggest blunders in sports history cause Wiggins is gonna be a star

[DrCoach]

Fair... but I still think Love is by far the biggest loss.

Pek might not even be the best center on the roster and did anyone ever consider Rubio/Martin to be more than an OK starting backcourt?

the point is they are missing 4 or 5 starters from last years team