Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[blommen]

Windhorst was wrong about Lebron coming back. He was wrong about Kyrie staying. He was adamant that Lebron & Kyrie didn't even like each other, and forget about any chance they'd want to play together, no chemistry there, etc.. If I recall he probably said something about a snowball's chance in hell that we'd end up with Love but I don't recall.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Windhorst is an E-spin drama queen, nothing more. He lost his access to Lebron and now he's scrambling to make a living by stirring up drama, just like the rest of the sports media.

On a sidenote, is it actually confirmed that Windy has lost his connections to LeBrons camp? It sure seems weird that he seems to get so much stuff wrong with the cavs organization and his generally salty attitude also seems to hint that he doesn't have the access he used to have.

 

[Cavatt]

Kevin loves numbers are, down but he is playing the best basketball of his career because he is actually defending and making an impact on a winning team. I'd be surprised if he didn't realize that. I thought most of the year that he was a loser. He seems to be turning a corner.

I'm more in the camp that thinks he was run down and injured. They are going to get close this year. He'd be a fool to leave. Best payday and best chance to win.

 

[kookoo]

Windhorst was wrong about Lebron coming back. He was wrong about Kyrie staying. He was adamant that Lebron & Kyrie didn't even like each other, and forget about any chance they'd want to play together, no chemistry there, etc.. If I recall he probably said something about a snowball's chance in hell that we'd end up with Love but I don't recall.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Windhorst is an E-spin drama queen, nothing more. He lost his access to Lebron and now he's scrambling to make a living by stirring up drama, just like the rest of the sports media.

I think Windy has been burned so much in Cleveland he just doesn't expect anything good to happen to this team.

 

[cavsfever]

He is overqualified for the role we need him to play. He's personally capable of more, but the team doesn't need "more". They need to keep going down the path that has been successful so far.

Come on now -- you don't think this team can use the full range of his offensive skills? I totally disagree, and I suspect the playoffs will make it clear we need them.

 

[LeBro]

...he made that one comment about wanting the ball more in the post, which, I might add, is the ONLY comment he has made that can be construed as negative this year. That one comment is what started this latest slew of stories. Measure that against the balance of dozens of comments where he expressly said he is staying in Cleveland for a long time. How many times does he have to say it?

Sure, but hypothetically, let's say you're Kevin Love and you're seriously considering free agency: what incentive could you possibly have by admitting this to the media? No good would come of it. It would generate controversy, it would bring criticism upon himself, it would stoke the fire, etc... regardless of how he feels, it seems like the professional thing to do is just to give the media canned answers.

I'm not saying that I think Love is going to leave. I really don't know what will happen. If I had to guess, I'd say he stays. But I could envision a scenario in which a departure would be mutually beneficial for both parties (i.e. Cavs feel their resources would be better-invested in retaining other players, Love feels he'd be a better fit somewhere else). Again, to be abundantly clear, I'm not saying I believe that -- just that I could see it a possibility.

I agree that the speculation of him leaving is for the most part unfounded. That said, I can see where people are coming from. At the same time, I don't really think his comments are particularly reliable. He's talking to the media, not a close friend. There's reason to be guarded and politically correct.

 

[RedBlackAttack]

On a sidenote, is it actually confirmed that Windy has lost his connections to LeBrons camp? It sure seems weird that he seems to get so much stuff wrong with the cavs organization and his generally salty attitude also seems to hint that he doesn't have the access he used to have.

I doubt it will ever be "confirmed," but we can read the tea leaves. I don't think it is a coincidence that Windhorst has gotten increasingly negative since Grant was canned and Griffin took over as GM.

Windy would pretty clearly get fed information on a regular basis from Grant's team just based on the number and accuracy of his Cavs stories, even in those years when he was covering LeBron down in Miami. He was always seemingly plugged into what was happening from a moves standpoint with Cleveland.

Almost as soon as Grant was fired and Griffin was hired, he began really reaching and almost seemed angry when it came to the Cavs. I won't soon forget last season when he publicly skewered the Cavs, said LeBron was unlikely to come back to Cleveland, said he and Kyrie no longer get along and, if LBJ ever did come back, it would have to mean KI would get sent packing and then he flat-out challenged Kyrie to sign the max... citing that his family had been pushing him out of Cleveland for years and all but coming out and saying that Kyrie wouldn't sign longterm here.

He dropped all of that stuff on the morning of the biggest game of the season. We were in the middle of still fighting for the 8th seed late in the season and had a game with Atlanta that night. After laying an egg later that night, Kyrie lashed out at Windy on Twitter, basically calling him liar.

At that point and in retrospect (what with his being wrong about ... everything), I think it is pretty obvious that he had an axe to grind with this organization. I suspected it was a loss of access with the Griffin front office. I know one thing... if I were Kyrie Irving, I'd never give Windhorst anything with the way he has gone out of his way to call KI out over the last year or so. And, considering how close this team seems to be, it wouldn't surprise me if Windy has been frozen out all together.

I frankly wouldn't trust anything he has to say at this stage. How many times can a guy be completely wrong before we start to question his sources?

 

[buzzdog]

RBA,

Thanks for providing a nice account of Windy's more recent history regarding the Cavs. Personally I believe nothing he has to say unless it either makes sense based on other information, or if he has a named source.

He seems to have an ax to grind. It also shows in his constant Blatt attacks as well as his steady negativity in general. He treads carefully when he speaks about Lebron because he hopes that bridge hasn't been completely closed, but I think Lebron has moved on and Windhorst's sources are currently outside the circle. He can't have been so wrong about pretty much everything if he had any actual solid sources.

 

[castor777]

Agree about Windhorst. It's disappointing as I always loved his post game blogs and he really seemed to be the most connected writer at the time. I recall how he was in bad condition at the hospital, but within minutes of getting out he broke the news of the Mo Williams trade before any other reporter. And he definitely had the most inside information on LeBron and his group, while being a realist with the way he saw the Cavs and didn't feel like a complete homer. The inner dealings with LeBron seemed to disappear right after the Cavs lost to the Celtics; even though Windy had written in his post game blog that James seriously had to consider if he needs to part with the Cavs and suggested it might be best if he were to leave, he had zero information going forward and expected him to stay. He became a typical ESPN writer covering the Heat and seemed to lack the inside information he had before, yet he had the long article about the Cavs in the offseason where he was granted permission to spend it with Grant on draft day and covered all the decisions behind drafting Waiters and trading for Zeller. So I had expected him to return back to his roots with LeBron coming back, but the doors certainly appear shut across the board to him. And all we're left with is a very pessimistic version who's taking to Broussard's style and trying to create drama in any way, so he focuses on Kevin Love.

I think it'll only continue, and when ESPN does their playoff predictions I wouldn't be surprised to see him the most down on the Cavs than anyone else. I'm just glad we got Jason Lloyd doing such a terrific job replacing the post game blogs. And I just hope Kevin Love stays put and it's another debacle that causes Windhorst to lose even more merit.

 

[theSTEREO.]

Windy more or less clarified his comments today on his podcast.

He said he has been hearing for months and months from people around the league "All I keep hearing is that Kevin Love is outta there." So nobody with firm evidence or leaks from his camp.

He also said, that's just what he hears, and when he talks to the Cavs and Kevin himself, he hears the exact opposite. Kevin keep reiterating that he plans to stay and the Cavs are convinced they are keeping him.

So there's that.

 

[mhi]

IMO, Windy is one of the most unbiased reporters out there but people hear his own personal conclusions (which are usually based on loose source material) and confuse it for reporting. Don't personalize him and learn to separate the two.

For example, when he says Blatt and the players are often times "not on the same page". That's his own conclusion based on (according to him) the Kevin Love stuff and "Lebron rolling his eyes when you ask him about something Blatt said".

When he says "Griffin told me he takes into account how prospects perform in the tournament". That's reporting.

 

[Pavlovic3Ball]

I like Windhort's stories for the most part. But I put him in the same class as Woj when it comes to opinion pieces. Two guys that are best off breaking stories instead of giving their own thoughts. Windy is a talented guy in the business. But his opinions have been nothing short of misinformed and garbage for awhile now.

 

[supermario21]

I would expect us to make a move for David Lee if we lost Love this summer. Golden State will give him away.

 

[cavsfever]

Jalen Rose on Kevin Love -- (TRIGGER WARNING IRRESPONSIBLE SPECULATION ABOUT KEVIN LEAVING) -- his basic line is 'at this point Lebron is most effective as a power forward playing a PG-like distributor role, so the optimal lineup around him is a tall center/rim protector and three 3&D or effective scoring guards...where is the room for KLove? It just doesn't fit'.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/jalen-and-jacoby-talking-kevin-love-rajon-rondo-and-more/

Discussion of Kevin and the Cavs starts at about 8:30 and goes for a couple of minutes.

He also predicts the Cavs will sail to the finals but lose there to the West champ.

 

[T C]

Jalen Rose on Kevin Love -- (TRIGGER WARNING IRRESPONSIBLE SPECULATION ABOUT KEVIN LEAVING) -- his basic line is 'at this point Lebron is most effective as a power forward playing a PG-like distributor role, so the optimal lineup around him is a tall center/rim protector and three 3&D or effective scoring guards...where is the room for KLove? It just doesn't fit'.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/jalen-and-jacoby-talking-kevin-love-rajon-rondo-and-more/

Discussion of Kevin and the Cavs starts at about 8:30 and goes for a couple of minutes.

He also predicts the Cavs will sail to the finals but lose there to the West champ.

I agree with this. You know who would be perfect? His old team mate Chris Bosh. Just funny how things happen. Lebron leaves and they stumble into Whiteside and now Bosh can slide back into his natural position and when they want to play small ball, Bosh can go back to C.

 

[gratefuldead]

listening to grantland's nba after dark...those assholes were talking like love is 100% leaving, no questions asked. if love leaves after we gave up 2 number 1 picks for him, it would be the biggest piece of shit move in nba history