Kevin Love's Only Question In Extension Talks Was Whether Cavs Planned To Tank

[RealGM Wiretap]

When Kevin Love negotiated his contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was only interested in knowing which direction Koby Altman and Dan Gilbert planned on taking the franchise.

"The only thing I didn't want was I didn't want to be a team that was going to tank or be not competitive," Love said. "I've been a part of that for a couple of years (in Minnesota) and then we started to build something. I wanted this to be a building year and still be competitive. That was my only holdup about the whole thing. They had told me they didn't want to take a huge step back.

"I mean, obviously losing LeBron (James) you know what is going to happen with that, but I wanted to be part of something where we could continue to strive for all these banners up here and build something for the next several years."

The Cavaliers were prepared for the departure of LeBron James in 2018 in ways they weren't in 2010 and one of their objectives was not to tank.

"It got done relatively fast," Love said of the negotiations. "I don't know the number of days, but between my agent, Koby and Dan and me just having constant conversations with my agent it didn't seem to be that long."

Love signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension.

"They knew I wanted to be back and think they obviously wanted me back," Love said. "So I don't think it ever came to a point where I said, 'That's just not going to work.'"

Via Chris Fedor/Cleveland Plain Dealer

[ChokeFasncists]

The pick tho......

[Stillwater]

The pick tho......

Yeah sorry to ATL but it's better for the Cavs to lose the pick in 19 than try to retain it and forfeit it in the better 2020 draft.
There is little chance the Cavs roster right now misses the playoffs or at minimum comes up just short no matter how low expectations from the wake of Lebron leaving are right now. To many solid vets and decent young players.

[ChokeFasncists]

The pick tho......

Yeah sorry to ATL but it's better for the Cavs to lose the pick in 19 than try to retain it and forfeit it in the better 2020 draft.
There is little chance the Cavs roster right now misses the playoffs or at minimum comes up just short no matter how low expectations from the wake of Lebron leaving are right now. To many solid vets and decent young players.

From the Hawks' perspective, way better than you guys tanking for two years and then become SRPs.

[Stillwater]

The pick tho......

Yeah sorry to ATL but it's better for the Cavs to lose the pick in 19 than try to retain it and forfeit it in the better 2020 draft.
There is little chance the Cavs roster right now misses the playoffs or at minimum comes up just short no matter how low expectations from the wake of Lebron leaving are right now. To many solid vets and decent young players.

From the Hawks' perspective, way better than you guys tanking for two years and then become SRPs.

thats true I guess...but tbh I might rather have non guaranteed 2nds to use on cheap bench players down the road than waste the $ on a meh player in the first round in 2019... I mean if the pick falls between 12-16 you could get lucky, but it's more likely 17-21

[dice]

pretty sure that re-signing you is a strong indication that they aren't tanking, kev

[Lalouie]

pretty sure that re-signing you is a strong indication that they aren't tanking, kev

the resigning was AFTER love was assured they would not tank, therefore the contract was a commitment to keep their word

[SixStringAxis]

The pick tho......

Yeah sorry to ATL but it's better for the Cavs to lose the pick in 19 than try to retain it and forfeit it in the better 2020 draft.
There is little chance the Cavs roster right now misses the playoffs or at minimum comes up just short no matter how low expectations from the wake of Lebron leaving are right now. To many solid vets and decent young players.

There is ZERO chance we come even close to making the playoffs. Everyone is going find how good Lebron really is if they think we will.

Kevin Love is being optimistic because thats just the type of guy he is, but he knows. Unless Sexton is a all-star from day one we are going to be bottom 3 in the league. Sure we have vets but they all suck at this point, they all need someone to create for them, we dont have that at ALL.

[Stillwater]

The pick tho......

Yeah sorry to ATL but it's better for the Cavs to lose the pick in 19 than try to retain it and forfeit it in the better 2020 draft.
There is little chance the Cavs roster right now misses the playoffs or at minimum comes up just short no matter how low expectations from the wake of Lebron leaving are right now. To many solid vets and decent young players.

There is ZERO chance we come even close to making the playoffs. Everyone is going find how good Lebron really is if they think we will.

Kevin Love is being optimistic because thats just the type of guy he is, but he knows. Unless Sexton is a all-star from day one we are going to be bottom 3 in the league. Sure we have vets but they all suck at this point, they all need someone to create for them, we dont have that at ALL.

Sounds like somebody doesn't recognize the skill of the Cavs roster. This team of misfits actually were worse players by numbers and certainly becasue the style of play was choking their games with Lebron than they were before they came here.Why? Because Lebron ball is every other teammate sans Irving type creators pushed into demoted roles for the betterment of a single star player system.
Sure there are seemingly exceptions like Korver , but I would argue he will be even better with more ball movement.
The Cavs as is are at minimum a playoff team in the 7-8 range. If they improve as the season goes as they should they could easily be a better team than whomever ends up with the 3-5 seeds even though the Cavs won less regular season games getting there.

[likashing]

but I wanted to be part of something where we could continue to strive for all these banners up here

Where?

[Hoopzilla]

but I wanted to be part of something where we could continue to strive for all these banners up here

Where?

Striving for something does not mean there is a realistic expectation of achieving it. Just do the best you can with what you got.

Love gets to go back to putting up all star numbers and perhaps get a nod to a few more all star teams to add to his resume. Then he is in a good position to sail off in the sunset to the HOF with a ring and some nice career numbers. I am sure it will be comparable to life in Minny, but fans will love him more because he helped bring them a ring and never turned his back on them, like others have. Could be worse...

[Stillwater]

but I wanted to be part of something where we could continue to strive for all these banners up here

Where?

TD Garden

[dice]

pretty sure that re-signing you is a strong indication that they aren't tanking, kev

the resigning was AFTER love was assured they would not tank, therefore the contract was a commitment to keep their word

"so uh, you guys planning on tanking?"
"we're discussing an extension with you, so obviously not. maybe if you don't re-sign, though..."

[dice]

Yeah sorry to ATL but it's better for the Cavs to lose the pick in 19 than try to retain it and forfeit it in the better 2020 draft.
There is little chance the Cavs roster right now misses the playoffs or at minimum comes up just short no matter how low expectations from the wake of Lebron leaving are right now. To many solid vets and decent young players.

There is ZERO chance we come even close to making the playoffs. Everyone is going find how good Lebron really is if they think we will.

Kevin Love is being optimistic because thats just the type of guy he is, but he knows. Unless Sexton is a all-star from day one we are going to be bottom 3 in the league. Sure we have vets but they all suck at this point, they all need someone to create for them, we dont have that at ALL.

Sounds like somebody doesn't recognize the skill of the Cavs roster. This team of misfits actually were worse players by numbers and certainly becasue the style of play was choking their games with Lebron than they were before they came here.Why? Because Lebron ball is every other teammate sans Irving type creators pushed into demoted roles for the betterment of a single star player system.
Sure there are seemingly exceptions like Korver , but I would argue he will be even better with more ball movement.
The Cavs as is are at minimum a playoff team in the 7-8 range. If they improve as the season goes as they should they could easily be a better team than whomever ends up with the 3-5 seeds even though the Cavs won less regular season games getting there.

i guess that the pros in vegas don't realize the skill of the cavs roster either. their current over/under is 30-31 wins, which is smack dab in-between the projected 8 seed pistons and the projected 15 seed hawks

i don't know if you were born yesterday in terms of your basketball fandom, but if you had been paying attention in the long term every team that lebron joins becomes miles better and every team he leaves implodes

[ChokeFasncists]

Yeah sorry to ATL but it's better for the Cavs to lose the pick in 19 than try to retain it and forfeit it in the better 2020 draft.
There is little chance the Cavs roster right now misses the playoffs or at minimum comes up just short no matter how low expectations from the wake of Lebron leaving are right now. To many solid vets and decent young players.

From the Hawks' perspective, way better than you guys tanking for two years and then become SRPs.

thats true I guess...but tbh I might rather have non guaranteed 2nds to use on cheap bench players down the road than waste the $ on a meh player in the first round in 2019... I mean if the pick falls between 12-16 you could get lucky, but it's more likely 17-21

Highly doubt it's gonna be 17-21. After Love signed, I thought the Cavs would be 8th to 10th seed. But now all the bad teams have improved, not so sure.

[Stillwater]

There is ZERO chance we come even close to making the playoffs. Everyone is going find how good Lebron really is if they think we will.

Kevin Love is being optimistic because thats just the type of guy he is, but he knows. Unless Sexton is a all-star from day one we are going to be bottom 3 in the league. Sure we have vets but they all suck at this point, they all need someone to create for them, we dont have that at ALL.

Sounds like somebody doesn't recognize the skill of the Cavs roster. This team of misfits actually were worse players by numbers and certainly becasue the style of play was choking their games with Lebron than they were before they came here.Why? Because Lebron ball is every other teammate sans Irving type creators pushed into demoted roles for the betterment of a single star player system.
Sure there are seemingly exceptions like Korver , but I would argue he will be even better with more ball movement.
The Cavs as is are at minimum a playoff team in the 7-8 range. If they improve as the season goes as they should they could easily be a better team than whomever ends up with the 3-5 seeds even though the Cavs won less regular season games getting there.

i guess that the pros in vegas don't realize the skill of the cavs roster either. their current over/under is 30-31 wins, which is smack dab in-between the projected 8 seed pistons and the projected 15 seed hawks

i don't know if you were born yesterday in terms of your basketball fandom, but if you had been paying attention in the long term every team that lebron joins becomes miles better and every team he leaves implodes

The Pros in vegas are fools if they think the Cavs are that bad... mark my words you and they are dead wrong and historically Lebron has required roster moves to play around him... remember what the Cavs had before the dl last year and what they had after and now are totally different players without him, they are better without him because they knew they wouldn't be having nothing but tools in Lebrons bag of tricks like in 2010.
If you look at the facts not some generalized historical data , it's clear the Cavs are a playoff team.

[dice]

Sounds like somebody doesn't recognize the skill of the Cavs roster. This team of misfits actually were worse players by numbers and certainly becasue the style of play was choking their games with Lebron than they were before they came here.Why? Because Lebron ball is every other teammate sans Irving type creators pushed into demoted roles for the betterment of a single star player system.
Sure there are seemingly exceptions like Korver , but I would argue he will be even better with more ball movement.
The Cavs as is are at minimum a playoff team in the 7-8 range. If they improve as the season goes as they should they could easily be a better team than whomever ends up with the 3-5 seeds even though the Cavs won less regular season games getting there.

i guess that the pros in vegas don't realize the skill of the cavs roster either. their current over/under is 30-31 wins, which is smack dab in-between the projected 8 seed pistons and the projected 15 seed hawks

i don't know if you were born yesterday in terms of your basketball fandom, but if you had been paying attention in the long term every team that lebron joins becomes miles better and every team he leaves implodes

The Pros in vegas are fools if they think the Cavs are that bad... mark my words you and they are dead wrong and historically Lebron has required roster moves to play around him... remember what the Cavs had before the dl last year and what they had after and now are totally different players without him, they are better without him because they knew they wouldn't be having nothing but tools in Lebrons bag of tricks like in 2010.
If you look at the facts not some generalized historical data , it's clear the Cavs are a playoff team.

i don't think you know what a fact is. no facts exist that would suggest that the remaining cavs players have been held back by the presence of lebron james to any significant degree. and those "fools" in vegas build large expensive buildings by making money off of people who think they know better than they do. few do. they're never EVER off by as much as you're suggesting they are. which is not to say that the cavs CAN'T make the playoffs. it's just pretty unlikely

and your suggestion that the moves made at the trade deadline were more for some grand post-lebron plan rather than to better compliment lebron last season is laughable

[SixStringAxis]

Sounds like somebody doesn't recognize the skill of the Cavs roster. This team of misfits actually were worse players by numbers and certainly becasue the style of play was choking their games with Lebron than they were before they came here.Why? Because Lebron ball is every other teammate sans Irving type creators pushed into demoted roles for the betterment of a single star player system.
Sure there are seemingly exceptions like Korver , but I would argue he will be even better with more ball movement.
The Cavs as is are at minimum a playoff team in the 7-8 range. If they improve as the season goes as they should they could easily be a better team than whomever ends up with the 3-5 seeds even though the Cavs won less regular season games getting there.

i guess that the pros in vegas don't realize the skill of the cavs roster either. their current over/under is 30-31 wins, which is smack dab in-between the projected 8 seed pistons and the projected 15 seed hawks

i don't know if you were born yesterday in terms of your basketball fandom, but if you had been paying attention in the long term every team that lebron joins becomes miles better and every team he leaves implodes

The Pros in vegas are fools if they think the Cavs are that bad... mark my words you and they are dead wrong and historically Lebron has required roster moves to play around him... remember what the Cavs had before the dl last year and what they had after and now are totally different players without him, they are better without him because they knew they wouldn't be having nothing but tools in Lebrons bag of tricks like in 2010.
If you look at the facts not some generalized historical data , it's clear the Cavs are a playoff team.

Who exactly on the cavs roster do you think is so great? Kevin Love hasnt looked like Minny Love in.. well, 5 years. Sure he will get more touches now, so im sure his post game will improve, but still.

Please dont say Jordan Clarkson because when you actually watch the guy consistently, hes terrible. He cant shoot and im surprised when he finishes in the lay up line. Rodney Hood is injured every other day and is mentally incapable of handling any pressure.

Sexton is arguably the most skilled player on the team and hes a rookie. Im sure Cedi will get better but its not going to be enough. We just do NOT have the star power to beat many teams consistently. Dont get me wrong I like our team and think we have some nice pieces but honestly the NBA is fairly deep right now, even the worst teams have some nice talent. You do know we only won 50 games last year? We only won in the playoffs because thats when Lebron turns on god mode. When he coasted in the regular season, we lost, because the team sucked and no one ever stepped up.

Sorry bud that youre 15 years behind on realizing just how good Lebron is. You sound like a hater from his early years, when everyone was saying "he wasnt clutch", meanwhile Cavs fans were actually watching games, while he flat out dominated in the last two minutes just about every night.

[Stillwater]

i guess that the pros in vegas don't realize the skill of the cavs roster either. their current over/under is 30-31 wins, which is smack dab in-between the projected 8 seed pistons and the projected 15 seed hawks

i don't know if you were born yesterday in terms of your basketball fandom, but if you had been paying attention in the long term every team that lebron joins becomes miles better and every team he leaves implodes

The Pros in vegas are fools if they think the Cavs are that bad... mark my words you and they are dead wrong and historically Lebron has required roster moves to play around him... remember what the Cavs had before the dl last year and what they had after and now are totally different players without him, they are better without him because they knew they wouldn't be having nothing but tools in Lebrons bag of tricks like in 2010.
If you look at the facts not some generalized historical data , it's clear the Cavs are a playoff team.

Who exactly on the cavs roster do you think is so great? Kevin Love hasnt looked like Minny Love in.. well, 5 years. Sure he will get more touches now, so im sure his post game will improve, but still.

Please dont say Jordan Clarkson because when you actually watch the guy consistently, hes terrible. He cant shoot and im surprised when he finishes in the lay up line. Rodney Hood is injured every other day and is mentally incapable of handling any pressure.

Sexton is arguably the most skilled player on the team and hes a rookie. Im sure Cedi will get better but its not going to be enough. We just do NOT have the star power to beat many teams consistently. Dont get me wrong I like our team and think we have some nice pieces but honestly the NBA is fairly deep right now, even the worst teams have some nice talent. You do know we only won 50 games last year? We only won in the playoffs because thats when Lebron turns on god mode. When he coasted in the regular season, we lost, because the team sucked and no one ever stepped up.

Sorry bud that youre 15 years behind on realizing just how good Lebron is. You sound like a hater from his early years, when everyone was saying "he wasnt clutch", meanwhile Cavs fans were actually watching games, while he flat out dominated in the last two minutes just about every night.

LeBron is the goat and all his teammates loved learning from him and playing off of him but every one of them is glad he is gone .. why? 2 reasons 1 we have no superstars which allows the coaches the freedom to actually coach a basketball TEAM that thrives off of ball movement and plays fast paced... and every player top to bottom on this roster has more to their game than what they have shown in a LeBron ball system.. 2 Love is still an underappreciated all star given his unusual willingness to follow in the LeBron years.
People who value superstars over a great system don't play basketball and don't understand the beauty of it

[ChokeFasncists]

^
Not sure Luv and Loe are known for fast pace and great system.