With Al gone...What did we get for Kg?

[TrentTuckerForever]

The two colossal blunders this franchise made during the KG era was the Joe Smith fiasco that cost us all of those #1's. The ramifications of that are just now being resolved. The second was the Foye for Roy swap. KG would still be in 'Sota had that not occurred.

Maybe. Seeing Roy now is such a kick in the teeth.

I think the the PF logjam would be colossal blunder #3, just now fixed by Kahn. Actually caused by McHale by his draft night trade of Mayo. Now I like Love, but considering that neither Love nor Mayo was going to be a franchise player, it would have made more sense in retrospect to keep the better fit with Jefferson (Mayo), rather than trade for a man-crush in Love.

I know there were other cap considerations that went with the Love/Mayo deal, and I'm not discounting those. What I'm saying is that that deal is somewhat underrated as a front office mistake that's hamstrung this franchise.

[Klomp]

Now I like Love, but considering that neither Love nor Mayo was going to be a franchise player, it would have made more sense in retrospect to keep the better fit with Jefferson (Mayo), rather than trade for a man-crush in Love.

And yet, people wanted to trade the better fit in Johnson for the man-crush Cousins...or worse yet, Turner.

[TrentTuckerForever]

^To me that's different. Cousins has the potential to be a franchise player, which neither Love nor Jefferson or Johnson will be. Good players, sure, but not franchise guys.

You could say that the PF logjam influenced the Johnson over Cousins decision, though. Chad Ford quipped that if the Wolves had drafted Cousins he'd dub them the "MN no-lifts." And he'd be right... three undersized, relatively unathletic (for their position) frontcourt guys on the same team.

[Klomp]

^To me that's different. Cousins has the potential to be a franchise player, which neither Love nor Jefferson or Johnson will be. Good players, sure, but not franchise guys.

No, but coming out of the draft, Mayo did. Thats what I was saying.

[TrentTuckerForever]

Oh, I see. The thing that turned me off about Mayo was he always carried himself like a franchise guy, but didn't have the game to back it up.

All in all I'd rather have Love (not really the point of this thread), I'm just saying that adding Love to Jefferson was questioned at the time, has been a problem for two years, and is an underrated obstacle to the team's improvement. You want complementary groups of players (like Bynum/Gasol/Odom, or Hamilton/Billups) not guys who can only play to their potential if the other guy isn't on the court.