Kevin Love News and Rumors

[nighthob]

I'm not quite certain what LeBron the GM has done wrong, I mean he did convince an actual NBA star to go to Cleveland. Not really fair to blame him for the horrific job done by Paxson and Ferry in his first run there given that *all* the decisions that hamstrung that franchise happened while the Cavs had 100% control.

I mean he picked the wrong star (at the time I said they should have been trying to sell Golden State on Wiggins for Thompson), but it's not like Cleveland is a desirable location.

 

[Devizier]

The biggest problem the Cavaliers have is the fact that their depth is awful awful awful. The Heat had that problem in their first year, but at least Haslem could be counted on to play more than 1/3 season.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

The biggest problem the Cavaliers have is the fact that their depth is awful awful awful. The Heat had that problem in their first year, but at least Haslem could be counted on to play more than 1/3 season.

This is to be expected as it was in Miami that first year. This offseason should see a major improvement in parts #4-10 for the Cavs. Any playoff success this year, winning a round or two, should do wonders for Kyrie and Love in experiencing these changes in intensity level.

 

[Kliq]

Don't forget that GM Lebron decided to give his good buddy Anderson Varejao to a big money extension, even though he is made of glass and hadn't played in more than 31 games in 3 out of the last 4 seasons, and that he totally unsurprisingly is now out for the season.

 

[nighthob]

I mean, sure, because a blood clot totally means that someone's "made of glass". Part of the reason that James returned was that one of his closest friends in the league was a Cav. The Cavs chose to keep one of James' best friends around and that was part of the pitch that got him to return. This is sort of desperation here. Now the reason that James is "a horrible GM and coach" is that despite convincing an NBA all star to play in the armpit of North America and getting a handle on Kyrie Irving, is that the Cavs chose to sign a team friendly deal with his good friend.

 

[Blacken]

I agree with nighthob. Come on--if this board is going to be taken at all seriously relative to the hockey or football boards, there needs to be some serious cut-the-shit with the hot sports takes.

 

[CaptainLaddie]

No.  The Cavs should accept a trade of Jeff Green and Brandon Bass for one of the ten best players in the league because it works in the Trade Machine.

 

[Blacken]

I was referring more to the "hurr, GM LeBron" obsession Kliq has been Bricking about lately. Them takes are piping hot.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

No.  The Cavs should accept a trade of Jeff Green and Brandon Bass for one of the ten best players in the league because it works in the Trade Machine.

With Varejao going down and his career possibly in jeopardy things have changed for Cleveland (by the way, I think the Cavs are still ok with his contract given that it made LeBron happy). They also have a better, albeit small sample sized, feel for how their squad works. Its possible, albeit unlikely, they may feel that Love isn't a good fit for the team.

That said, I agree with you that if Love was on the block, the cost will be extremely high (i.e. not Bass and Green). My thought was that if the C's even had a shot, the cost would be prohibitive in terms of bodies and picks. There is no "buying low" of Kevin Love here, even if he has been somewhat exposed (and the jury is still out on that).

 

[Kliq]

I was referring more to the "hurr, GM LeBron" obsession Kliq has been Bricking about lately. Them takes are piping hot.

 
I think I have made two posts total concerning GM LeBron in the last few months. And that doesn't change the fact that it was dumb to give a guy who has missed so many games in the last few seasons an extension.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

 
I think I have made two posts total concerning GM LeBron in the last few months. And that doesn't change the fact that it was dumb to give a guy who has missed so many games in the last few seasons an extension.

It was not dumb when you consider that it was likely a big factor in the Cavs winning the LeBron sweepstakes.

 

[nighthob]

I think I have made two posts total concerning GM LeBron in the last few months. And that doesn't change the fact that it was dumb to give a guy who has missed so many games in the last few seasons an extension.

I mean we're discussing a 2 year $19 million extension that includes the gold standard non-guaranteed year making it an easy trade. I mean if that's "LeBron's fault" then he's doing a good job as GM.

 

[Clears Cleaver]

1. clevelands defense is horrific. Love, Kyrie and their C are all amongst the worst defenders at their respective positions
2. Cleveland has no bench/depth as has been stated before
3. Lebron is about 85% of his peak powers
 
Love might be a lousy player who only excels when he has a huge usage rate. and yet when that happened his teams always lost.

 

[luckiestman]

Kevin Love should pay Danny for the right the wear the Green and White

http://youtu.be/E0LAs7X5ybE

 

[radsoxfan]

Love certainly isn't looking like a great fit in Cleveland, but I highly doubt the Cavs bail on him this quickly. For the sake of this thread, assuming it's possible they do want to move on, I can still see Danny being interested.  Love isn't going to change the franchise on his own, but you have to start somewhere, and on the right team I still think he is probably a max guy and worth trading assets for (if he will re-sign). A guy like Love is the reason Danny has been stockpiling assets. 
 
Obviously the Celtics have very little that will interest the Cavs, who are going to prioritize the present over the future since their window with Lebron is right now (Green/Bass/Wright don't count).  The only way the Celtics have a prayer is a 3 team trade with another team that has a valuable veteran piece that interests the Cavs. Then that team would also need to have interest in rebuilding with some combo of Smart,Young, Olynyk, Sullinger, and picks.  Pretty doubtful that intermediary team exists unfortunately. 

 

[Blacken]

Kevin Love should pay Danny for the right the wear the Green and White

What did this post accomplish? What are you bringing to the table?

Why did you post this post?

 

[Sprowl]

What did this post accomplish? What are you bringing to the table?

Why did you post this post?

I dunno, but I laughed.

 

[Kliq]

It was not dumb when you consider that it was likely a big factor in the Cavs winning the LeBron sweepstakes.

 
Maybe I'm just a hater, but the goal should be to put the best players around LeBron, not his friends. Then maybe you wouldn't have such a shallow team and relying on Mike Miller to play crunchtime minutes for you, even though he has the lateral quickness of a baby seal.
 
 

GM LeBron didn't pick the coach. If there's any changes that happen in Cleveland, I assume it's Blatt that is shown the door.

 
I was listening to the Lowe Post yesterday and Zach said that if you watched Blatt's teams in Europe, it is very obvious that the Cavaleirs were NOT playing his offense. One of the rumblings about LeBron in Miami during the offseason was that LeBron wasn't particularly happy with the way the offense was working for the Heat. He wanted to return to his old Cleveland offense, were he had the ball most of the time and could make most of the decisions on the team, because in Miami, while he was still the best and most impactful player on the team, he didn't have that same freedom with all of their possesions (because there were better players on his team, and he had a coach that wanted to implement more spacing and ball movement). I imagine one of the caveats of LeBron coming back to Cleveland was that he would have a greater influence on the offense they would run.

 

[nighthob]

And yet, somehow, despite returning to Cleveland to "dominate the ball" his usage rate is lower this year than last (though completely in line with his career long norms). Regardless of Blatt's Euroleague offenses, he wasn't known for his offensive chops in Europe. He was hired because of his abilities as a defensive coach (think of him as the Euroleague Tom Thibodeau). I mean the Cavs have the fourth best offense in the NBA. So if "Coach LeBron" is responsible for the Cavs' offense, then he's doing a good job.

The Cavs' struggles are entirely on the other end of the court where Love's defense is as bad as it's ever been (as has Irving's for that matter). So if James has a failing it may be that he overestimated his ability to get Love and Irving to buy into playing defense.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

What did this post accomplish? What are you bringing to the table?Why did you post this post?

Levity?

 

[Bernie Carbohydrate]

Levity?

 
There is no levity here.  

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

The Deuce mentioned in the Brandan Wright thread that Wiggins seems to have taken at least a step forward lately. Recently saw this update on Wiggins - http://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-wiggins-blowing-away-expectations-2015-1 - and he looks to be maturing more rapidly than people thought.

While it's true that playing for a bad team can sometimes help players grow (they get more shot attempts for example), I wonder if LBJ the GM has seller's remorse yet.