Kevin Love?

writerman · Post #1 » by **writerman** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 6:48 pm

How great would it be to see him at PF alongside Danny and Roy? Say's he's considering being available...would we have any shot at him at all?

joew8302 · Post #2 » by **joew8302** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 6:51 pm

I doubt it. He is unhappy being on a loser in Minnesota, so why would be make a move to Indiana?

writerman · Post #3 » by **writerman** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 6:53 pm

joew8302 wrote:I doubt it. He is unhappy being on a loser in Minnesota, so why would be make a move to Indiana?

Because with him as a part of our core, we could change that drastically and quickly. IMO a team starting Hibbert, Granger, Love, Collison, and Rush as starters could become a contender very quickly.

Solid · Post #4 » by **Solid** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 7:04 pm

Dudes gonna be costly.
I will repeat what I've said many times.
Do NOT pay top dollar for a guy who doesn't play good D.
Offense makes the highlights Defense makes the finals.

joew8302 · Post #5 » by **joew8302** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 7:05 pm

I would like to think you are right, but I think you might be overrating our team. Hibbert is wildly inconsistant at best, and Love coming in would cut down on his touches. Granger is a good, not great player, Collison is an average starting PG in the NBA and Rush is a no better than average 2 guard.

On defense Love and Collison would kill us. If we added Love we might be a 45-48 win team, but still quite a ways away from being a contender.

colts2004 · Post #6 » by **colts2004** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 7:15 pm

You have to remember Rush, Collison and Hibbert are still young and with our crappy coach and inconstant playing time its hard for anyone to be good! Give them a couple more years and a legit coach and we will be a lot better

MNPacersfan · Post #7 » by **MNPacersfan** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 7:21 pm

I should probably jump in here since the T-Wolves are my hometown team and I gots the season tix and such...

Love's best offensive work is done two ways:
jump shooting from 15 feet to 3pt range - which compliments Roy's post up ability
offensive boards and stick backs - he gathers something in the neighborhood of 15% of Wolves misses when he's on the floor. It's incredible to watch him always be in the right place for the rebound.
His interior offense is... clumsy?... awkward?... Regardless, it's ain't pretty.

As far as defense:
His defensive rebounding ability should not be in question.
He's a decent (not great) face up defender as well.
He is not a helper though. He gets lost on pick and roll switches pretty regularly. Roy would be the sole helper out there, which may not be a bad thing considering Love's strength at getting rebounding position every trip.

I think that his extension or FA contract will probably pay him 20% to 25% of the cap though (whatever that will be next year or later). So roughly $12 mill of today's NBA dollars? Willing to fork over that kind of cash? I would be.

Post #8 » by **Miller4ever** » Wed Jan 5, 2011 8:03 pm

joew8302 wrote:I would like to think you are right, but I think you might be overrating our team. Hibbert is wildly inconsistant at best, and Love coming in would cut down on his touches. Granger is a good, not great player, Collison is an average starting PG in the NBA and Rush is a no better than average 2 guard.

On defense Love and Collison would kill us. If we added Love we might be a 45-48 win team, but still quite a ways away from being a contender.

Your flavor of hater-ade doesn't taste good.

writerman · Post #9 » by **writerman** » Thu Jan 6, 2011 4:33 am

joew8302 wrote:I would like to think you are right, but I think you might be overrating our team. Hibbert is wildly inconsistant at best, and Love coming in would cut down on his touches. Granger is a good, not great player, Collison is an average starting PG in the NBA and Rush is a no better than average 2 guard.

On defense Love and Collison would kill us. If we added Love we might be a 45-48 win team, but still quite a ways away from being a contender.

Even without being a Pollyanna wearing rose-colored homer glasses, I think you are wildly underrating the promise of this bunch.

jcodbf2 · Post #10 » by **jcodbf2** » Thu Jan 6, 2011 5:54 am

As long as JOB is the coach I dont think it would matter. Love would just be sitting at the 3pt line like Murphy did.

jowglenn · Post #11 » by **jowglenn** » Thu Jan 6, 2011 10:03 am

Well that sounds really really good to me. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Love already has Indiana as an option pencilled in on his list.

I mean, where would a guy like Love want to go?

1. A place where he gets top dollar. Teams need capspace to do that and still make the team competitive. There aren't a ton of teams with the space, but there are certainly enough that he'll get his cash.

2. A team that is still young enough that he could grow with their core guys, not a place where 3-4 years down the line, they are in rebuilding mode and are shopping him/everyone else on the team.

3. A competitive team. He obviously doesn't like losing, and that's why he wants to leave Minnesota.

And obviously a situation where he fits well on the team, is able to do his thing and not be forced into some role that he is not suited for.

So what decently young teams may have cap space next year? Looking at some of the salaries, and moves teams could make, here's what I see as the total list of possibilities for Love, ranked in order of what I think is best situation for him.

1. Oklahoma City. Already a young team on the rise, they should have the space to sign Love and then extend Westbrook. Gets to play with Kevin Durant, be the rebounder extreme to pick up Durant and Westbrook's misses (not that there are too many) and have an AWESOME outlet game running with Westbrook, Durant, and Harden. I mean, damn, Love with the rebound, quick outlet pass to Westbrook with Harden and Durant pushing the pace..... that could be unstoppable.

2. Indiana - Love gets to play next to a big, great passing center who should vastly help Love's offensive game, without getting in the way of his rebound/putback game at all. Gets a volume scorer in Granger, similar to Durant, where he just gets to position himself for the putbacks all day (Indy being a 3-point shooting team is great for Love, as he knows how to get those boards very well). Indy has loads of cap space, so would logically get another piece or two to fill out the roster. Good long-term situation for Love.

3. Memphis - They might let Randolph walk and get Love. You'd finally have a team with Gay Love Mayo, which is pretty awesome. Gay is in that similar mold to Durant/Granger, Gasol is a solid Center, Conley is coming into his own, etc. Could be a good place to grow with a team.

4. New Jersey. Young team that hasn't had a lot of success, but they are aggressively looking to get better. They've got the new Russian owener, they've got Avery Johnson as coach, and judging by the recent obsession with getting Melo, they clearly want to win now. Only issue - if they still have Favors, Love would probalby not want to go to New Jersey because of the likely minutes issues. If they trade Favors, they're probably taking on too much salary (Melo!) to be able to sign Love. But if they think Love is better than Favors, then sign Love and trade Favors. Also, Murphy (the older, homeless man's Kevin Love) has fallen off a CLIFF there, so you'd imagine that maybe they don't want a similar (though far better) guy doing the same type of thing Murphy does. Certainly not Love's best option.

5. Washington - You never know. They could make a few good moves, free up the cap space, and boom, Wall/Love/McGee is a pretty nice young group. Though I doubt he wants to be on a completely rebuilding team. He needs to be the final piece on a team like OKC and Indiana.

6. Sacramento - Yikes, does anybody want to go there? Probably the worst place to have cap space in the upcoming season, cuz only money-grubbers are gonna go to that team, what with their disfunction and ****. They also have a glut of forwards/young bigs so I don't see if it is good. They are a few years off from competitiveness, and I don't think Love wants to deal with all the ****.

7. Toronto - They will likely have the space, but Bargnani/Love is probably one of the most ridiculous frontcourt combinations in league history, and besides, they've got Amir Johnson and Ed Davis developing there.

8. NYK - They have the space and could use the rebounding, I guess. But I'm pretty sure they're going after bigger fish, and this would kind of be a problem, what with their star player being a PF.

9. Milwaukee - OH WAIT THEY BLEW ALL THEIR CAP SPACE ON COREY MAGGETTE, DREW GOODEN AND JOHN SALMONS.

peno360 · Post #12 » by **peno360** » Thu Jan 6, 2011 12:24 pm

K Love and Roy would be a frontcourt made in heaven. lol. So, yeah, sounds like a great idea to me.

Starkiller · Post #13 » by **Starkiller** » Thu Jan 6, 2011 1:20 pm

Sign me the F up.

Post #14 » by **mizzoupacers** » Thu Jan 6, 2011 6:43 pm

I've been a big fan of Kevin Love since his UCLA days. I just really like his game. Great passer, excellent rebounder, very good shooter...he'd be a perfect complement to Hibbert on offense, and on defense I think he would be able to hold his own.

Not sure the Pacers could win the bidding war it would take to get him, but I'd love to have him on our side.

joew8302 · Post #15 » by **joew8302** » Thu Jan 6, 2011 7:42 pm

Even without being a Pollyanna wearing rose-colored homer glasses, I think you are wildly underrating the promise of this bunch.[/quote]

Clearly! I mean Granger has steadily regressed over the past two seasons, the only thing consistent about Roy is his inconsistency, Rush is now at his peak years and nowhere near a top shelf two guard and this squad has been unable to beat the likes of Memphis and Houston at home.

If you think we are a player or two away from being a contender (save for a Lebron James) I think you are wildly overrating this team

Post #16 » by **Miller4ever** » Fri Jan 7, 2011 12:26 am

I think we're a player or two as well as a year or two. I think Hibbert and Collison will develop to become the main 1-2 punch over the next few years. We definitely won't be an instant contender with Love, but we'll be young and dangerous, with hard workers as our stars who will only want to get better.

Post #17 » by **Scoot McGroot** » Fri Jan 7, 2011 1:36 pm

Miller4ever wrote:I think we're a player or two as well as a year or two. I think Hibbert and Collison will develop to become the main 1-2 punch over the next few years. We definitely won't be an instant contender with Love, but we'll be young and dangerous, with hard workers as our stars who will only want to get better.

I think this is the rebuilding argument that I would be looking at. I wouldn't focus too much on who's the best defensive forces right now, but rather, I'd look at some of the best young guys who are also some of the hardest workers. Look at the work Hibbert has put in in his years in the league so far. Do you doubt that he'll work hard enough to be a great contributor to this team in all facets? Same for Collison and Love. Look at what Love has done just since last season. Any doubt the kid will work hard in this league?

I'd prefer the guys who just didn't have the talent, but got everything out of it, rather than the guys who are just wastes of talent.

TyKixx · Post #18 » by **TyKixx** » Fri Jan 7, 2011 10:24 pm

writerman wrote:
joew8302 wrote:I doubt it. He is unhappy being on a loser in Minnesota, so why would be make a move to Indiana?

Because with him as a part of our core, we could change that drastically and quickly. IMO a team starting Hibbert, Granger, Love, Collison, and Rush as starters could become a contender very quickly.

How do you intend on landing Love without moving Granger, Hibbert, Rush, or Collison?

Post #19 » by **Miller4ever** » Fri Jan 7, 2011 10:59 pm

Expirings, Paul George, draft picks for the next 4 years, and Love complaining super-super loud and all the time.

TyKixx · Post #20 » by **TyKixx** » Sat Jan 8, 2011 2:04 am

The Wolves are further under the cap than any team in the league and already have had too many draft picks the last couple years including this year in which they currently have 3 more 1st rd picks. How many Corey Brewers, Martell Websters, Lazar Haywards, Paul Georges, and Wayne Ellingtons of the world can they possibly fit on their bench?