Ivan's Kevin Love Fantasy

[Nick Kaufman]

Melo is a good comp for the purposes of the value discussion. Both are clearly max players and the real debate is, are they elite, can lead you to a championship, players or are they just really really good players who still deserve a max deal but probably can't be the best player on a championship team. In both cases, I side with the latter group.

 
I really disagree with that dilemma. Everyone can be part of a championship team under the right circumstances. You just need to build a good roster that gives you value for money and the whole is bigger than the sum.
 
Lebron or Durant are better than Anthony and Love because by being better and underpaid even at the max deal, it's easier to add players that make their team be a contender. You have to add more talent around Anthony and Love teams because they aren't as good, but all the same, they can be lucky by having Lebron and Durant not having good surrounding casts around them, so their teams end up being the best in the league. There are ton of parameters like that.
 
I feel that this is basic logic. Instead I feel draw on conventional wisdom which relies on the the past to to draw large lessons which return rely on miniscule and thus unreliable samples. Abstract logic and strategic principles can actually give you an advantage by not focusing on the beaten path.

 

[Silent Chief]

Melo is a good comp for the purposes of the value discussion. Both are clearly max players and the real debate is, are they elite, can lead you to a championship, players or are they just really really good players who still deserve a max deal but probably can't be the best player on a championship team. In both cases, I side with the latter group.

 
uhm.  He is 25 and putting up 26/13/4.  He is 6'10".  This isn't some fungible two gaurd.  He's a max player.  He's a max player that has the potential to lead a championship team.  Seriously over thinking this I think guys.

 

[mauf]

Melo is a good comp for the purposes of the value discussion. Both are clearly max players and the real debate is, are they elite, can lead you to a championship, players or are they just really really good players who still deserve a max deal but probably can't be the best player on a championship team. In both cases, I side with the latter group.

I think Love is bizarro Melo. Melo has proven he can make an awful team respectable overnight, but adding him to a respectable team that doesn't struggle to score adds surprisingly little value. Inversely, Love has proven he can't lift an awful team singlehandedly, but I think he would mesh well with other talented players -- the Olympics are a tough place to judge talent, but Love's rebounding made him arguably the team's most indispensable player after LBJ and Durant during the medal games.

I would absolutely roll the dice on Love and Rondo as a core, preferably with a defense-minded C as the third centerpiece. Getting wings who can shoot the rock in a run and gun offense is surprisingly easy.