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Cavs and Wolves Agree on Love for Wiggins/Bennett/1st

fishonjazz said:
For everyone who thinks that cleveland got screwed in this trade, please read this arcticle by Bill Simmons
https://grantland.com/features/kevin-love-lebron-james-trade-minnesota-timberwolves/

some highlights:

Love is one of the NBA’s 12 best players. It’s LeBron and Durant, then it’s Blake, Curry, CP3, Carmelo, Harden, Westbrook, Howard, Love, Aldridge and Anthony Davis in some order

Last season, Love averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Only Kareem, Wilt, Elgin and Billy Cunningham ever averaged 26, 12.5 and 4 in the same season. Nobody has achieved that feat in 38 years. Bird, Barkley, Baylor, Lucas and Malone never did it.


Love finished with a 26.9 PER in 2014 (same as Duncan’s 2003 MVP season, higher than Barkley’s MVP season, and higher than all three of Bird’s MVP seasons) and .245 win shares per 48 minutes (higher than Bird’s three MVP seasons, LeBron’s first Miami season and Barkley’s MVP season).


In 2014, Love averaged 6.6 3s per game (tied for fourth highest in the NBA, the same number as Klay Thompson and James Harden) and made 37.6 percent (better than Ray Allen, James Harden and Chandler Parsons). He also made 50.2 percent of his 2s and 82.1 percent of his free throws. Oh, and he finished third in the whole league in rebounding. Offensive power forwards like Love are basically created in Dork Elvis’s basketball lab.


Love grabbed 12.5 rebounds per game in 2014, but he also became one of the 41 NBA players who hoisted 500 3s in one season. Of that group, no other player averaged more than 9 rebounds in that same season. Think about THAT for a second.



Pretty staggering numbers. His stats are elite.
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His numbers are elite, and I'm really interested to see how he does playing with a star studded team in a weaker conference.

The weird thing for me is that I didn't expect Minny to get anything CLOSE to what they're getting in this deal. They had no leverage. Love was going to leave. Period. They had to trade him. Look at what Denver/Orlando got for Melo/Dwight in the same situation. This deal blows those out of the water. The Jazz got a good deal for D-Will, but we didn't get no friggin Wiggins. I don't feel like Cleveland should have had to give up this much to get Love given the situation Minny is in.
 
jjscap said:
Much balance? How about Kyrie and Love being poor defenders? This Cleveland team needs both Bruce Bowen and Ben Wallace or they'll get pounded by the team coming out of the West.
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This.

The Heat won two of the last four titles and lost two with great defense that Cleveland won't have imo. Cleveland also won't have elite clutch vet shooters in Allen and Battier (sorry but Allen was a shell of himself last year and Miller isn't what he used to be either), and other than AV, have little interior presence. Tristan Thompson? LOL. And none of this considers the fact that chemistry takes time.

Considering all this, I can't see Cleveland winning it all this year..or imo, likely next year either.
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
This.

The Heat won two of the last four titles and lost two with great defense that Cleveland won't have imo. Cleveland also won't have elite clutch vet shooters in Allen and Battier (sorry but Allen was a shell of himself last year and Miller isn't what he used to be either), and other than AV, have little interior presence. Tristan Thompson? LOL. And none of this considers the fact that chemistry takes time.

Considering all this, I can't see Cleveland winning it all this year..or imo, likely next year either.
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I think they will end up with Shawn Marion and Ray Allen and you have remember that LeBron is going to make EVERYONE on the team work harder and care about defense.

LeBron will be the leader of this team and as the cavs leader, I expect the team to take on his persona. (Unselfish, hard worker, defensive minded)

Also who knows if the cavs will make more moves...... maybe they trade waiters and Thompson for a proven vet or something.

Honestly though, I don't think they need to. LeBron will bring the best out of two star players (love, irving), a very good role player (verajou), some young potential talent (waiters, thompson) and the savvy vets (allen, miller, marion)

Add in the fact that LeBron is very very motivated and, once again, has a chip on his shoulder and from what I have heard recently is in amazing shape..... I don't see any way that they don't represent the east in the finals.

They still might lose to the west though
 
One thing that was mentioned on some podcast:

Kevin Love might be their best starting Center with Thompson playing PF and a slimmed down LeBron addressing their lack of depth on the perimeter.

Which Eastern Conference Center will outplay Kevin Love?

Valanciunas lacks experience and Johnson doesn't play enough outside to nullify Thompson's hops to at least provide a little protection.

I don't know what to make with Brooklyn. Wild Card team. But I don't see Love being bad vs Lopez. No good driver mean no need for rim protection.

Chicago might be tough if Rose is back. But other than him I don't see Love being bad vs NOah individually. They added so much shooting around Rose, they shouldn't be particularly bad. If Rose is too good they have Varejao still for a different look. But Chicago is so deep, they would be problematic no matter what.

Washington has Gortat and strength wise Love should be okay. It should be better than having Love on Pierce for too long. If they play big with Nene you can alter the lineup still.

The only thing you don't want to face with Love as a primary Center is Oklahoma. Individually it wouldn't be a problem but open house for Westbrook, Durant while Ibaka is pulling Thompson into the corner and still using his insane athleticism to crash boards should be their nemesis. They'd have to play with a healthy Varejao here. And this wouldn't be ideal as well.

If there's a year to play small in the East, this is a good opportunity and it's only the Championship round that would be a challenge. Next year they'll prolly go shopping with their MLE for more depth somewhere. I think LeBron will try to play wing until he's into his mid 30s at least that's what I make out of him conditioning his body to look more like Jimmy Butler.

If Waiters has no interest in playing defense he'll be offered mid season for guys like Oladipo who would fit their team better(This would also address Orlando's long term needs).
 
fishonjazz said:
I think they will end up with Shawn Marion and Ray Allen and you have remember that LeBron is going to make EVERYONE on the team work harder and care about defense.

LeBron will be the leader of this team and as the cavs leader, I expect the team to take on his persona. (Unselfish, hard worker, defensive minded)

Also who knows if the cavs will make more moves...... maybe they trade waiters and Thompson for a proven vet or something.

Honestly though, I don't think they need to. LeBron will bring the best out of two star players (love, irving), a very good role player (verajou), some young potential talent (waiters, thompson) and the savvy vets (allen, miller, marion)

Add in the fact that LeBron is very very motivated and, once again, has a chip on his shoulder and from what I have heard recently is in amazing shape..... I don't see any way that they don't represent the east in the finals.

They still might lose to the west though
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They'll win the East, for sure.










And still win the lottery somehow.
 
they might struggle early in the season, but they will get better and end up winning the east. i bet media will go crazy if they lose 2~3 games in a row lol
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
This.

The Heat won two of the last four titles and lost two with great defense that Cleveland won't have imo. Cleveland also won't have elite clutch vet shooters in Allen and Battier (sorry but Allen was a shell of himself last year and Miller isn't what he used to be either), and other than AV, have little interior presence. Tristan Thompson? LOL. And none of this considers the fact that chemistry takes time.

Considering all this, I can't see Cleveland winning it all this year..or imo, likely next year either.
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....I concur with your assessment 100%! Although the Cav's have the athletic ability to go far and probably will advance to the Conference Finals.....the "chemistry" issue generally trumps athletic ability when you get deep into the playoffs! No matter how talented some guys are.....if they have ingrained bad habits, either defensively or offensively, it's tough to change that overnight, if ever!
 
Core4 said:
LOL. Kobe DEMANDED a trade. Charlotte didn't have a choice. What a *******!
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I had the same thought. And they aren't trading for Divac, they're getting Kevin Love.

Having said that, I could still see Wiggins turning into a better player than Love.
 
hope wiggins doesnt become good. he will be a threat to jazz and will be in ****ing western conference. I would've wished him luck if he plays for eastern conference.
 
I know I should like this trade but I get the feeling the cavs are making a huge mistake. I can see the chemistry being really bad for the cavs leading to a frustrating season. I'd rather pair Lbj with Wiggins D than Loves offense.(especially considering Wiggins will be on a rookie deal)
 
I'm honestly more scared of having Wiggins in the West than I ever was of Love.

But I'm looking forward to seeing how the Cavs trio works out.
 
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candrew said:
Unless of course if LeBron decides, for whatever reason, to leave Cleveland after 2 years.
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Unless they win even one championship in that time. Which, unless they **** up, they're kind of a lock for at least the ECF.
 
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