Kevin Love - OJ Mayo watch

[SSUBluesman]

LOL Mayo is outshooting Love by around 4 % and guys drafted outside of the lottery like McGee and Thompson are putting up comparable numbers to Love.

That's alright though, those "winning intangibles" Love has that doesn't show up in the box score are helping the Wolves to victories, right?

[Worm Guts]

Actually Mayo is outshooting Love by 7 percent. It still too early to judge though.

[collin_k41]

It's crazy to be judging Love vs. Mayo this early. I wanted Mayo and think he will be better but I'm not going to sit here and say that Love is going to be horrible. By no means do we think that Love is better than Mayo..if we did we would've simply drafted him #3. Another factor in love's play so far would have to be our coach. Wittman seriously is hampering the progress of every player on this team.

[Krapinsky]

It's crazy to be judging Love vs. Mayo this early. I wanted Mayo and think he will be better but I'm not going to sit here and say that Love is going to be horrible. By no means do we think that Love is better than Mayo..if we did we would've simply drafted him #3. Another factor in love's play so far would have to be our coach. Wittman seriously is hampering the progress of every player on this team.

It's deja vu all over again. I heard the same arguments for McCants, then Foye, then Brewer, and now for Love. First impressions go along way in the NBA.

Would Portland even do a Roy for McCants, Foye and Brewer trade, now? Obviously not. Yet how many argued that "it was too early" to judge the trade for a solid two years.

[Zeitgeister]

It's crazy to be judging Love vs. Mayo this early. I wanted Mayo and think he will be better but I'm not going to sit here and say that Love is going to be horrible. By no means do we think that Love is better than Mayo..if we did we would've simply drafted him #3. Another factor in love's play so far would have to be our coach. Wittman seriously is hampering the progress of every player on this team.

It's deja vu all over again. I heard the same arguments for McCants, then Foye, then Brewer, and now for Love. First impressions go along way in the NBA.

Would Portland even do a Roy for McCants, Foye and Brewer trade, now? Obviously not. Yet how many argued that "it was too early" to judge the trade for a solid two years.

Very true, people want to continue to give Foye, McCants etc. more time, and I can understand that it takes a few years to grow into your role but the players that were traded for them, or picked behind them in the draft have been better and you could tell who the winner of the trade was the night the trade was made.

I know that Kevin Love will improve, and I think he's a good player. I wanted OJ Mayo more then anything though, and I always believed he would be the greater player. Not to mention that Kevin Love makes zero sense for this team, when you consider the fact that he is a natural PF, and our best player plays the same position. In other words, we either have to roll with an undersized front court or move Love to the bench. Either way, that is a losing situation with a top 5 draft pick.

[_AIJ_]

LOL Mayo is outshooting Love by around 4 % and guys drafted outside of the lottery like McGee and Thompson are putting up comparable numbers to Love.

That's alright though, those "winning intangibles" Love has that doesn't show up in the box score are helping the Wolves to victories, right?

Thompson was a lottery pick.14th..

[Vega06]

Mayo now leading the Griz in scoring on very good %'s. Love needs to continue coming off the bench with Collins taking his place. He's hit his "rookie wall" early

[mandurugo]

Plus Love is making the wolves lose games:

Startribune: http://tiny.cc/woez7

Wittman lamented Kevin Love's succession of missed shots, including what he called "two point-blank layups" late in the third quarter.

"I'm just missing buckets," said Love, who made two of nine shots. "I give myself a couple chip shots, a layup. We let it get away a little bit at the end of the third quarter. Down the stretch, we've still got to get it done. We can't blame it all on the third quarter."

Wittman wasn't so sure.

"We have to close a quarter out," Wittman said. "It's those kind of little things that you have to take care of. Those two baskets, you've got to have. You don't make it and they do and now you go into the fourth quarter with a little bit of momentum taken away from you. If you hold that lead and now you come out in the fourth and push it, now it's 15, now it's 16 and now the pressure is on them instead of the other way around. That's my opinion."

Encouraging advice

Is Mayo's coach saying things like that about him in their paper? Of course, in Love's defense, who trusts Whittman?

[C.lupus]

Not to take anything away from Mayo or to defend Love but...Wittman is now blaming the loss (the 8th straight following a recurring pattern) on 2 missed shots from a rookie? WTF. Is he going to blame the ballboy next for not keeping the right air pressure in the balls? Maybe it's that guy who cut him off on the freeway and made him lose his concentration while prepping for the game. Wittman is a LOSER.

[jpatrick]

I'm scared. Not only in my mind did the front office screw up the Mayo/Love swap (and of course many previous draft picks), but they came out publicly and questioned Rose while praising Beasley. Now that could have been just double talk to try and drop Rose's stock, I don't know. But Rose is clearly going to be the better player of that duo, not saying Beasley won't be good, he just won't be a superstar like Rose.

Now, we have a chance to have FOUR first round picks this year. Do we really want our current front office making those picks? Come on Glen Taylor, hire a real GM who has the power to hire a decent coach! Please.

[Basti]

Plus Love is making the wolves lose games:

Startribune: http://tiny.cc/woez7

Wittman lamented Kevin Love's succession of missed shots, including what he called "two point-blank layups" late in the third quarter.

"I'm just missing buckets," said Love, who made two of nine shots. "I give myself a couple chip shots, a layup. We let it get away a little bit at the end of the third quarter. Down the stretch, we've still got to get it done. We can't blame it all on the third quarter."

Wittman wasn't so sure.

"We have to close a quarter out," Wittman said. "It's those kind of little things that you have to take care of. Those two baskets, you've got to have. You don't make it and they do and now you go into the fourth quarter with a little bit of momentum taken away from you. If you hold that lead and now you come out in the fourth and push it, now it's 15, now it's 16 and now the pressure is on them instead of the other way around. That's my opinion."

Encouraging advice

Is Mayo's coach saying things like that about him in their paper? Of course, in Love's defense, who trusts Whittman?

wow... Wittman is just unbelievable... if you think he already set the bar so low that it can't get any worse he still finds ways to lower it. great job RSW...

[Mayoistooslow]

Plus Love is making the wolves lose games:

Startribune: http://tiny.cc/woez7

Wittman lamented Kevin Love's succession of missed shots, including what he called "two point-blank layups" late in the third quarter.

"I'm just missing buckets," said Love, who made two of nine shots. "I give myself a couple chip shots, a layup. We let it get away a little bit at the end of the third quarter. Down the stretch, we've still got to get it done. We can't blame it all on the third quarter."

Wittman wasn't so sure.

"We have to close a quarter out," Wittman said. "It's those kind of little things that you have to take care of. Those two baskets, you've got to have. You don't make it and they do and now you go into the fourth quarter with a little bit of momentum taken away from you. If you hold that lead and now you come out in the fourth and push it, now it's 15, now it's 16 and now the pressure is on them instead of the other way around. That's my opinion."

Encouraging advice

Is Mayo's coach saying things like that about him in their paper? Of course, in Love's defense, who trusts Whittman?

Actually, yes. Mayo's coach just said that he wants Mayo to shoot less. Too many contested jumpers.

[Basti]

Plus Love is making the wolves lose games:

Startribune: http://tiny.cc/woez7

Wittman lamented Kevin Love's succession of missed shots, including what he called "two point-blank layups" late in the third quarter.

"I'm just missing buckets," said Love, who made two of nine shots. "I give myself a couple chip shots, a layup. We let it get away a little bit at the end of the third quarter. Down the stretch, we've still got to get it done. We can't blame it all on the third quarter."

Wittman wasn't so sure.

"We have to close a quarter out," Wittman said. "It's those kind of little things that you have to take care of. Those two baskets, you've got to have. You don't make it and they do and now you go into the fourth quarter with a little bit of momentum taken away from you. If you hold that lead and now you come out in the fourth and push it, now it's 15, now it's 16 and now the pressure is on them instead of the other way around. That's my opinion."

Encouraging advice

Is Mayo's coach saying things like that about him in their paper? Of course, in Love's defense, who trusts Whittman?

Actually, yes. Mayo's coach just said that he wants Mayo to shoot less. Too many contested jumpers.

is that comparable? I mean how often do you see/read/hear from coaches calling out some rookies to shoot less? quite often actually because it is understandable. on the other hand how often do you see coaches calling out rookies that they cost a game (while there were certainly other and bigger factors leading to our loss)? very rarely. why? because it is quite understandable for rookies to make errors that might cost you a game.

[horaceworthy]

I still like the trade. I think Mayo is benfitting from being a year older and more NBA ready from a physical standpoint, and is also in a role that doesn't ask him to check his ego at the door and defer to others. I think Love's got a chance to be a very good player, he just has to regain his confidence in his shot and continue working himself into better shape. Those things aren't guaranteed to happen, but given Love's reputation as a hard worker/winner, and how much he's reshaped his body just in the year since entering UCLA, I think there's a good chance they will.

[revprodeji]

Love==smart+winner

Two traits that Wittman does not stand for.

Simple as that.