Kevin Love - Every team's best offer

[GopherIt!]

I understand things quite well. It was the bad turning point for your franchise.

That said, the fans don't run the team luckily, for even those fans.

Fans (or the lack of fans) make or break a franchise. This team was already in dire straits.
11 straight years of losing and years of prior misery make this situation precarious.
Losing Love may kill the team. The average wolves can't stomach the thought of another rebuild.
I and some of my die hard coherts are in the minority.
We will tolerate a partial rebuild if we get Parker or Wiggins out of this.
That probably means a top three pick will be the key piece in a love trade.
If we take another poo poo platter and delayed picks i will be done too.

Regardless, the Love decision will have a major impact on the future of the NBA in Minnesota.

[ILOVEIT]

Okay...pretend you are Kevin Love for a moment.

You grew up in Portland and went to school in LA. So West coast is your prefered local right? Make sense?
You want to play with the best team possible with the best chance of playing for a championship after a deal is made for you correct?
If you could play with a guy you knew as a kid and played with while growing up....wouldn't you want that?
If you could play for a team that has the best starting 5 statisically in the NBA and IMPROVE that starting 5....and play with one of the top 5 point guards in the league....with a legit defensive center....

AND ...the team trading you away can get reasonable value back....thus ensuring you can be signed to a max deal and THEN traded....

Which team fulfills ALL of those requirements? Feel free to fill in the answer.

Wolves only need to look at one requirement... whats the best package for Kevin Love, whatever Love does after that is none of their business.

That's simply not true. Love can simply declare he will not re-sign with any team he doesn't want to play for. Right?

So no....Wolves have to work with which teams Love wants to go to. No team unable to retain Love is going to offer a package.

Somehow people aren't seeing the logic and reality of Love having control over where he goes ...

[bs_and_cs]

Fans (or the lack of fans) make or break a franchise. This team was already in dire straits.
11 straight years of losing and years of prior misery make this situation precarious.
Losing Love may kill the team. Most fans can't stomach the thought of another rebuild.
I and some of my die hard realgm coherts are in the minority.
I may tolerate a partial rebuild if we get Parker or Wiggins out of this.
If we take another poo poo platter and delayed picks i will be done too.

Regardless, the Love decision will have a major impact on the future of the NBA in Minnesota.

I don't fault you for being upset with your franchise. I don't fault you for being upset with Kevin Love. I don't even fault you for being pissed at Boston and their fans.

However, none of that matters when it comes to GMing. If the best deal is offered by Boston and a GM went out of the way to not take that deal, then that is just plain being horrible at your job. If there were two offers on the same level say Boston and Chicago and Minnesota chose to trade with Chicago strictly to avoid more bad PR. That's fine. The idea that the Timberwolves should put themselves in a bad position as a franchise just to avoid trading with Boston again makes no sense.

[bs_and_cs]

Okay...pretend you are Kevin Love for a moment.

You grew up in Portland and went to school in LA. So West coast is your prefered local right? Make sense?
You want to play with the best team possible with the best chance of playing for a championship after a deal is made for you correct?
If you could play with a guy you knew as a kid and played with while growing up....wouldn't you want that?
If you could play for a team that has the best starting 5 statisically in the NBA and IMPROVE that starting 5....and play with one of the top 5 point guards in the league....with a legit defensive center....

AND ...the team trading you away can get reasonable value back....thus ensuring you can be signed to a max deal and THEN traded....

Which team fulfills ALL of those requirements? Feel free to fill in the answer.

Wolves only need to look at one requirement... whats the best package for Kevin Love, whatever Love does after that is none of their business.

That's simply not true. Love can simply declare he will not re-sign with any team he doesn't want to play for. Right?

So no....Wolves have to work with which teams Love wants to go to. No team unable to retain Love is going to offer a package.

Somehow people aren't seeing the logic and reality of Love having control over where he goes ...

Now that a GM has actually came out, on record and said in plain terms that he would trade for Kevin Love this offseason with or without an extension, well the "leverage" shifts. Minnesota can now play Boston against any team that wants to trade for Kevin Love. Period.

Not sure why you are banging your head either. Not every player wants to be like Dwight Howard or Carmelo Anthony. Some of these guys just want to get out of bad situations for better situations.

[cl2117]

Wolves only need to look at one requirement... whats the best package for Kevin Love, whatever Love does after that is none of their business.

This is true, BUT the packages they're offered are going to depend on how the team trading for Love feels about their chances of keeping him past next season, which means Love needs to be involved in the process if Minnesota wants to get the best package.

LA probably offers #7 no matter what, but a team like Boston might be willing to offer #6 plus additional picks if they get some form of assurance or indication from Love regarding his willingness to resign.

[ILOVEIT]

Wolves only need to look at one requirement... whats the best package for Kevin Love, whatever Love does after that is none of their business.

That's simply not true. Love can simply declare he will not re-sign with any team he doesn't want to play for. Right?

So no....Wolves have to work with which teams Love wants to go to. No team unable to retain Love is going to offer a package.

Somehow people aren't seeing the logic and reality of Love having control over where he goes ...

Now that a GM has actually came out, on record and said in plain terms that he would trade for Kevin Love this offseason with or without an extension, well the "leverage" shifts. Minnesota can now play Boston against any team that wants to trade for Kevin Love. Period.

Not sure why you are banging your head either. Not every player wants to be like Dwight Howard or Carmelo Anthony. Some of these guys just want to get out of bad situations for better situations.

I agree that if DA has said he will trade for Love even if Love says he's not interested in resigning...then that helps the Wolves. How real that is and if Boston would actually trade assets for a player who declares he's not interested in resigning...is another story.

By the way...banging my head because I don't think posters are taking Love's leverage into consideration. Any player saying he won't play for another team has leverage. Think of Kobe being drafted back in the day...saying he wouldn't re-sign with anyone other than Lakers....

[MNRunLeft]

That's simply not true. Love can simply declare he will not re-sign with any team he doesn't want to play for. Right?

So no....Wolves have to work with which teams Love wants to go to. No team unable to retain Love is going to offer a package.

Somehow people aren't seeing the logic and reality of Love having control over where he goes ...

He can say that but if that team still offers the best package what does it matter to the Wolves?

If Boston is willing to give the best package even if Love doesn't fully commit why would the Wolves take a lesser package from GSW just because he wants to sign there? On top of that if Love says he wants to go to GSW the Wolves still have a great deal of leverage as he cannot walk there this offseason unless they clear the caproom to sign him which would not be a simple task.

[mysticbb]

Except it has been widely reported that most teams wouldn't agree to a Kevin Love trade unless Love agreed to an extension.

So, if the Timberwolves call and ask the other team: You can have Love for your expiring "whatever-role-player crap", the other GM would say: Well, no, because I get Love just for 1 yr. Seriously ... every team would take Love, they would just have a different view on how much they would give up for him.

Obviously teams would take Love for a bargain price even unextended, but Ainge's comments made it clear that he had no problem paying a premium for an unextended Love.

And for other teams, being good already, paying a "premium" for Love wouldn't be a problem either. Most bad teams would obviously be reluctant, because it should be really clear that Love would want to be on a team which has a better overall situation than the current Timberwolves. As of right now, I don't see that happening with the Celtics, in fact, the Timberwolves have the means to easily improve their team with a small tweaks (as I pointed out before, so did the Blazers last summer). I suggested last summer, that the best course of action for the Blazers would be keeping Aldridge and improve the team wisely. I will say the same thing about Love and the Timberwolves: best thing they can do is keep Love and improve the team wisely. Well, unless the Cavs are throwing their 1st pick on the table again ... that would be something to think hard about ... but Love's playing level just exceeds that of an average #1 pick EASILY!

[GopherIt!]

"However, none of that matters when it comes to GMing. If the best deal is offered by Boston and a GM went out of the way to not take that deal, then that is just plain being horrible at your job. If there were two offers on the same level say Boston and Chicago and Minnesota chose to trade with Chicago strictly to avoid more bad PR. That's fine. The idea that the Timberwolves should put themselves in a bad position as a franchise just to avoid trading with Boston again makes no sense."

As I mentioned this goes deeper than the "best deal" available. There were serious matters of corruption/collusion not just with the GM but the front office ownership which Flip and Taylor were both a part of. Taylor is tainted. Flip is tainted. McHale is tainted. None of them can be fully trusted. Houston has no shot at Love because of this and neither does Ainge in Boston.

Taylor just came out saying he wants to sell the team. Minnesota needs that to happen. New ownership with no ties to the old regime is the only way to regain fan trust. We need a dallas/Mark Cuban-like rescue.

[bs_and_cs]

"However, none of that matters when it comes to GMing. If the best deal is offered by Boston and a GM went out of the way to not take that deal, then that is just plain being horrible at your job. If there were two offers on the same level say Boston and Chicago and Minnesota chose to trade with Chicago strictly to avoid more bad PR. That's fine. The idea that the Timberwolves should put themselves in a bad position as a franchise just to avoid trading with Boston again makes no sense."

As I mentioned this goes deeper than the "best deal" available. There were serious matters of corruption/collusion not just with the GM but the front office ownership which Flip and Taylor were both a part of. Taylor is tainted. Flip is tainted. McHale is tainted. None of them can be fully trusted. Houston has no shot at Love because of this and neither does Ainge in Boston.

Taylor just came out saying he wants to sell the team. Minnesota needs that to happen. New ownership with no ties to the old regime is the only way to regain fan trust. We need a dallas/Mark Cuban-like rescue.

Good lord, you're a mess here.

Do yourself a favor and become less emotionally attached here. Enjoy things more. Sports are fun.

[GopherIt!]

Losing Kevin Love is a square kick to the balls. There's no positive way to spin it.

[likashing]

Many of the "deals" are meaningless because Love doesn't want to join a crappy team. Also, Love won't approve a trade that depletes his new team too much, because he is much smarter than Melo. Sorry Wolves fans, but it won't be a "fair" trade. Of course, the Wolves don't have to trade, as letting him walk for nothing in 2015 is always an option.

[mysticbb]

Of course, the Wolves don't have to trade, as letting him walk for nothing in 2015 is always an option.

Trading him at the deadline? If the season doesn't go well, I bet there will still be teams out there making offers for Love. and if the season goes well? I see Love staying with the Timberwolves, if they offer the 5yr max.

[AQuintus]

That's simply not true. Love can simply declare he will not re-sign with any team he doesn't want to play for. Right?

It is true. If Love not wanting to go to a team drops that teams offer, then "Wolves [still] only need to look at one requirement... whats the best package for Kevin Love, whatever Love does after that is none of their business."

The value of the package may be less, but Minnesota still takes the best one.

[mandurugo]

Losing Kevin Love is a square kick to the balls. There's no positive way to spin it.

Nah, losing him is not a big deal to many fans if the trade is right. He's not Kevin Garnett or Kirby Puckett, a guy who enjoyed success while the franchise did. If the wolves can get a number one pick in trade and a good young coach plenty of people will be excited for next year. Even if that's not the trade, there's plenty that will work just as well. That's just the way sports works for most people.

[MNRunLeft]

Many of the "deals" are meaningless because Love doesn't want to join a crappy team. Also, Love won't approve a trade that depletes his new team too much, because he is much smarter than Melo. Sorry Wolves fans, but it won't be a "fair" trade. Of course, the Wolves don't have to trade, as letting him walk for nothing in 2015 is always an option.

He doesn't have a no trade clause if a GM is willing to make the deal to get him they can figure it out after the fact, a team like Boston would still have valuable assets to continue improving post Love trade.

[likashing]

Trading him at the deadline? If the season doesn't go well, I bet there will still be teams out there making offers for Love. and if the season goes well? I see Love staying with the Timberwolves, if they offer the 5yr max.

True. But if the season doesn't go well, and they need to trade him by the deadline, his value will be much lower because 1) Love only wants to extend with a contender and 2) a contender, by that time, will be less willing to offer too much as they don't want to disrupt their team chemistry.

Of course, the season could go well and Love changes his mind and extends. However, they will be counting on Love to be like Dwight who changed his mind by the minute. Love already said he wouldn't extend. Also, with Rubio already sounded off that Love is not a great leader, how likely will that team succeed?

Bottom line is, Love's trade value diminishes as it gets closer to the trade deadline. Trading him early to the highest bidder approved by Love is the best route to extract maximum value out of him. But, of course, the Wolves can roll the dice by keeping him and see how things go.

[likashing]

Many of the "deals" are meaningless because Love doesn't want to join a crappy team. Also, Love won't approve a trade that depletes his new team too much, because he is much smarter than Melo. Sorry Wolves fans, but it won't be a "fair" trade. Of course, the Wolves don't have to trade, as letting him walk for nothing in 2015 is always an option.

He doesn't have a no trade clause if a GM is willing to make the deal to get him they can figure it out after the fact, a team like Boston would still have valuable assets to continue improving post Love trade.

Love not committing to an extension to a Celtics trade is essentially a no trade clause. If Love doesn't commit, will Celtics still offer as much to the Wolves?

[MNRunLeft]

Love not committing to an extension to a Celtics trade is essentially a no trade clause. If Love doesn't commit, will Celtics still offer as much to the Wolves?

In Ainge's comments today he didn't seem too worried about a commitment. If a team feels confident they can build a winning team around Love they'll likely feel confident they can extend him, especially if they are a large market with a strong reputation like Boston.

[likashing]

Love not committing to an extension to a Celtics trade is essentially a no trade clause. If Love doesn't commit, will Celtics still offer as much to the Wolves?

In Ainge's comments today he didn't seem too worried about a commitment. If a team feels confident they can build a winning team around Love they'll likely feel confident they can extend him, especially if they are a large market with a strong reputation like Boston.

Yes, they all say that. But Aigne won't offer top dollars if he doesn't get a commitment. It's just simple logic.

If Ainge's "non-top-dollar" offer is already the best offer the Wolves can get. It's kind of a sad outcome for the Wolves.