The Kevin Love Thread: Update PG. 67, 78

[WinCity]

Isn't Bucher connected with the Rose family... I really want to know what Rose is doing, and he needs to be recruiting Love.. NOW!!!! The more noise Love makes about only signing with the Bulls, the less we need to give up!!!

That's what I'm saying. The Love -> Rose connection is much stronger than the Noah -> Melo connection IMO. 2 guys have talked for a couple months and the others train together every summer. You have to believe Rose would LOVE to play with Love... (corny)

I am sure they talk, and Rose would be doing his persuading quietly. He is not the type to go to the media, or release a tweet to proclaim it.

[DanTown8587]

doesn't matter. if they're not worth their deals you can't properly build around them

Yes you can, provided you don't make bad personel moves like the Timberwolves and Knicks have historically.

the spurs don't have the best top end quality.

The Spurs have 3 future hall of famers on their team. They absolutely are one of the best top-end teams in the league from a talent standpoint. Those Pistons teams are from a different time and era and need not apply to a modern conversation about winning a championship.

yet both have had more success than the wolves and knicks

The Wolves and Knicks have basement front offices, the Bulls do not. That's the bigggest difference.

we played miami tough in the ecf with that nucleus! with rose playing poorly!

We lost in 5 games and each game we lost was because of the same reason: not enough top end talent to close out a game. Also, the 2011 version of the Heat is the worst version of their team in 4 years. They are a much better team since then and we are not.

Your hope is that middling talent will play above their heads for over 100 games. It's something that rarely happens, which is why it isn't a championship model.

I want to say three things in addition to this

1. The Spurs historically won with one of the best two players in the history of the game and a coach who absolutely maximizes every single player he got.
2. The Knicks and Timberwolves problems were not created by their star players rather that the franchises had historically bad asset management.
3. If you build a team dependent on Derrick Rose to be healthy + a superstar, you have no backup for him being just 85-90% the guy he used to be. It'a LOT easier to see the path were Rose is efficient and healthy as like a 16-9 guy second option behind Love/Melo than it is to see him at 23-6 and ask him to carry a team to the Finals. And that's been true his entire career.

[singal3]

Bucher is TERRIBLE....I used to like the guy but man has he lost it..... Taj and Butler doesn't work salary wise Bucher, sorry. Oh and Noah he most certainly won't be traded for Love so we even mention it. The guy is **** clueless.

Taj/Butler/Brewer/Amundson/James works trade wise. I'd expect the bulls would have to include picks as well.

[WIN]

Bucher as we all know if far from reliable, so I'll take everything he says with a grain of salt.

[Red Larrivee]

Bucher as we all know if far from reliable, so I'll take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Well, he nailed last year's Derrick Rose drama, so I wouldn't say he's unreliable at all. He clearly has some very close connections to Rose's camp and possibly even the Bulls.

[singal3]

Bucher as we all know if far from reliable, so I'll take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Well, he nailed last year's Derrick Rose drama, so I wouldn't say he's unreliable at all. He clearly has some very close connections to Rose's camp and possibly even the Bulls.

Agreed, in my eyes as long as he keeps saying Love to Bulls he is reliable.

[DanTown8587]

Bucher as we all know if far from reliable, so I'll take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Well, he nailed last year's Derrick Rose drama, so I wouldn't say he's unreliable at all. He clearly has some very close connections to Rose's camp and possibly even the Bulls.

It doesn't shock me that Bucher is well in touch with the Warriors (the team he covers) and the Bulls (History of Rose stories coming from him).

[WIN]

Bucher as we all know if far from reliable, so I'll take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Well, he nailed last year's Derrick Rose drama, so I wouldn't say he's unreliable at all. He clearly has some very close connections to Rose's camp and possibly even the Bulls.

Agreed, in my eyes as long as he keeps saying Love to Bulls he is reliable.

lol, all I know is that he's a total whhoree for attention like most of the espn "insiders" are; connecting ANY big name to Chicago will get hits.

Anyhow, I'd love to see him get this right.

[Pnjguy]

I agree that we can't wait on Melo, but i really want Melo. Hopefully the addition of Love makes this an opportunity he can't pass up.

[Mech Engineer]

All these things are so fluid that it really not fair to pin it on one reporter. Even the Boston being behind the Bulls might be with an agenda leaked by Ainge to the Boston reporter.

Sometimes you don't know the market value of the prize until somebody else(and when it is the conservative GarPax) go for it. Ainge might not want to give too many assets and might be waiting for the Timberwolves to say what they are getting from the Bulls and beat that offer.

The one thing which might be true though is there is a lot of pressure on GarPax. They might give up more than the trade value for Love because of their desperation to land a star.

[dice]

the spurs don't have the best top end quality.

The Spurs have 3 future hall of famers on their team. They absolutely are one of the best top-end teams in the league from a talent standpoint.

two of which are well past their primes, one of which will be in the HOF because he was on the spurs

Those Pistons teams are from a different time and era and need not apply to a modern conversation about winning a championship.

the last one certainly wasn't

we played miami tough in the ecf with that nucleus! with rose playing poorly!

We lost in 5 games and each game we lost was because of the same reason: not enough top end talent to close out a game.

no, it was because chris bosh went nuts on us and derrick was bad. yes, we had issues closing out games, but that was due in part to inexperience under that degree of pressure. which, frankly, is why derrick should have tried to play the last two postseasons

Also, the 2011 version of the Heat is the worst version of their team in 4 years. They are a much better team since then and we are not.

the heat is not significantly better than they were in 2011 (wade's health, primarily). and it's downhill from here

Your hope is that middling talent will play above their heads for over 100 games. It's something that rarely happens, which is why it isn't a championship model.

i dunno about this 100 games stuff. they just have to play well when it counts

overpaying for free agents (clearing cap room for melo) isn't a championship model either. not sure gutting the roster in a trade for a big name is either. but if you've got examples of either i'm all ears

[Chi]

I'd have to imagine us being in the eastern conference has to give us at least a slight advantage in terms of Minnesota wanting to pull a deal with us over Golden State.

The Warriors would probably have to pull off a substantially better offer than we could IMO.

[HomoSapien]

Bucher as we all know if far from reliable, so I'll take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Well, he nailed last year's Derrick Rose drama, so I wouldn't say he's unreliable at all. He clearly has some very close connections to Rose's camp and possibly even the Bulls.

Agreed. People are still holding on to the Kobe thing, but that was never his fault. He was clearly repeating what Kobe told him. It's not his fault that Kobe had a change of heart.

[MAQ]

Bucher is TERRIBLE....I used to like the guy but man has he lost it..... Taj and Butler doesn't work salary wise Bucher, sorry. Oh and Noah he most certainly won't be traded for Love so we even mention it. The guy is **** clueless.

To be fair to Bucher, but it wont matter cuz you guys are savagaes to reporters, he flat out admitted that he has no idea what the Bulls are offering for Love...No clue.

Bucher was dragged into Jackie Mac's mess...ESPN 1000 should have had her on because she is the one with knowledge to offers apparently. Bucher is aware of the GSW offer and situation because he is their sideline reporter...Before he even got on the radio, it was mentioned by Silvy that Bucher was reporting the front runners for Loveto be GSW and Houston.

[MAQ]

What Bucher said on the radio really wasn't an update at all. It was the radio filling time.

[dice]

1. The Spurs historically won with one of the best two players in the history of the game and a coach who absolutely maximizes every single player he got.

which is irrelevant to the conversation. they don't have that all-time great player on the roster presently. they have great coaching and a slew of value contracts from vets down to rookies. but the bigger picture moral of the story with the spurs was that they drafted exceptionally well

2. The Knicks and Timberwolves problems were not created by their star players rather that the franchises had historically bad asset management.

part of the bad asset management on the knicks' part was trading for melo in the first place

It'a LOT easier to see the path were Rose is efficient and healthy as like a 16-9 guy second option behind Love/Melo

relegating rose as a second option behind melo is a recipe for disaster. neither would be worth close to what they would be paid

it took chauncey billups leading the way to get melo to the WCF, for god's sake

[Red Larrivee]

two of which are well past their primes, one of which will be in the HOF because he was on the spurs

The Spurs have arguably the best power forward to ever step on a basketball court, along with one of the best point guards of this generation and a legendary international talent in Ginobili. They have a big time championship nucleus.

the last one certainly wasn't

The 04 Pistons aren't a championship model.

no, it was because chris bosh went nuts on us and derrick was bad. yes, we had issues closing out games, but that was due in part to inexperience under that degree of pressure. which, frankly, is why derrick should have tried to play the last two postseasons

Miami was flat out better than us and they beat us with three superstars outplaying one superstar. Rose played poorly because he had no other player to take the scoring pressure off him. Derrick Rose can not win a championship by himself. Even Michael **** Jordan couldn't do that.

the heat is not significantly better than they were in 2011 (wade's health, primarily). and it's downhill from here

How aren't they? LeBron is a better player and they basically exchanged Bibby, Ilgauskas, Anthony, and House for Cole, Allen, Birdman, and Battier.

i dunno about this 100 games stuff. they just have to play well when it counts

They aren't talented enough to do so.

overpaying for free agents (clearing cap room for melo) isn't a championship model either. not sure gutting the roster in a trade for a big name is either. but if you've got examples of either i'm all ears

Boston gut their team for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. How did that end? Basketball is always going to be about quality over quantity. We don't have enough quality.

[MAQ]

Bucher as we all know if far from reliable, so I'll take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Well, he nailed last year's Derrick Rose drama, so I wouldn't say he's unreliable at all. He clearly has some very close connections to Rose's camp and possibly even the Bulls.

It doesn't shock me that Bucher is well in touch with the Warriors (the team he covers) and the Bulls (History of Rose stories coming from him).

He's not well in touch with the Bulls though...Admits just as much.

[Chitownbulls]

I really want this team...

Rose
FA or Butler
Melo
Mirotic or Taj
Noah

I feel like were not going to get good value for Mirotic. He could be a really good player for us while only making 3-4mil for 3-4 years. I think Mirotic could be a 14-16ppg scorer.

[Chi town]

IMO GSW trumps our offer with Klay, Lee, Barnes and taking back Martin and maybe another bad salary. The W's get their replacement for Klay and the TWolves make the playoffs next year along with future assets in Dieng and their pick this year.


As I've said since the Love rumor broke.... HE WILL BE TRADED BY DRAFT DAY. No way Flip holds onto him and loses even more value. Love has stated he doesn't want to go to training camp as a Twolve.