Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[gourimoko]

My only disagreement is with that piece. While Bosh was blasted for riding the success of his team, Love until his absence was seen by the national media & common fan as the #2 guy and a piece to a championship.

I don't think this is accurate though.

Kyrie Irving was clearly considered the second option, if not the primary option on many nights.

I don't recall anyone thinking Kevin Love was or even should be our second option after January.

Without him, we are not considered to win a championship like we were early on in the season. With our without Bosh, that duo of LBJ & Wade is considered the favorites. Hence why he was just there for the punch & pie.

I think LBJ/Kyrie > LBJ/Wade and I think that became apparent after Jan 15.

I also think most folks simply discounted Love as unnecessary. We had enough offensive punch with those two guys.

 

[JSS2306]

And frankly, there is nothing wrong with this. Folks expect him to make a Bosh-style sacrifice, but people forget that everyone at the time called Bosh a bitch and a coattail-rider for doing just that.

Now, none of that means he's leaving -- I wouldn't leave this season either, especially with a bum shoulder. But it does likely mean he will leverage his free agency this offseason and most assuredly next offseason to make changes to how this team is coached. I say this simply because it's exactly what I would do, whether I intended on leaving Cleveland or not.

There is everything wrong with it. He made promises or at least made it his intention to stay behind closed doors that allowed Griffin to prance around with "I'm confident he's here for the long haul" one liners. We didn't trade Wiggins for him to up and leave I guarantee you.

For him to pack up and leave is bitch-made and shows zero integrity and nobody should feel any different.

Let's just wait and see what happens.

 

[spydy13]

It could be true.....

I'd be saying basically the same thing; in essence, 'I'm not happy with my role on this team, and I'm not here to basically watch you guys win from the sidelines. I feel underutilized here.'

And frankly, there is nothing wrong with this. Folks expect him to make a Bosh-style sacrifice, but people forget that everyone at the time called Bosh a bitch and a coattail-rider for doing just that.

Now, none of that means he's leaving -- I wouldn't leave this season either, especially with a bum shoulder. But it does likely mean he will leverage his free agency this offseason and most assuredly next offseason to make changes to how this team is coached. I say this simply because it's exactly what I would do, whether I intended on leaving Cleveland or not.

I agree that one of the biggest things Blatt needs to do in the offseason is figure out how to utilize Love in the offseason more than just shoot threes, so I wouldn't be surprised if Love makes that known during this whole FA period.

And that is one of the biggest things I'm excited about for next year, because if we keep our core together we can move from doing the very least to be able to get everybody playing together to truly being able to maximize everyone's talents.

 

[gourimoko]

There is everything wrong with it.

Free agents have the right to choose where they play man. If a guy wants to leave, that's his prerogative. No I wouldn't support him in that decision, but I'm not going to go ape-shit like we did with LeBron either.

He made promises or at least made it his intention to say behind closed doors that allowed Griffin to prance around with "I'm confident he's here for the long haul" one liners.

We have no idea what was said behind closed doors. AFAIK, the only person who reported this "behind closed doors agreement" was Brian Windhorst.

IIRC, Windhorst claimed that Love agreed to a 5-year commitment with him likely opting-out at the end of this season and re-signing with a 5-year deal. This is highly unlikely, and he's backed off this position recently.

So again, we have no idea how firm this agreement is, what the terms are, what preconditions either party expects from the other.

I'm sure some handshake agreement exists, but it's obviously not binding, and might be far less restrictive than you might think.

We didn't trade Wiggins for him to up and leave I guarantee you.

Of course that was not our intention, and most likely not Love's either. But if that happens in either this offseason or the next, well, then that'd be exactly what we did.

It is possible. However unlikely we might want to believe.

For him to pack up and leave is bitch-made and shows zero integrity and nobody should feel any different.

Nah... we don't have enough information to say this with any degree of certainty. Love doesn't owe us anything.

Let's just wait and see what happens.

I agree... at this point it's just speculation from everyone, no matter how you see it.

But folks keep posting about it in the thread, because the media keeps spinning the story.

 

[godfather]

Agree, if Love leaves I won't like it, but he has a right to do so. I won't hate him for doing that. Free agency is the right to choose your team, this is a business. There's no undying loyalty from teams, so why do players have to be the same way?

Teams will cut you, and wash their hands of you the minute they don't find you useful. So players aren't allowed to look out for their own interests. I have no problem with that.

There are no guarantees in life. If the Cavs are completely sold on one's word, then well, they clearly didn't learn very well.

I think they knew all along there was always a risk he could leave. But they decided to bet on that risk.

I think it was the right move, I don't think he's leaving either by the way. But, I don't think anyone in the organization would say there was never a 100% no-risk it doesn't happen.

There's always a risk, things change, stuff happens, but sometimes you got to roll the dice a bit too.

The Cavs still have best offer to lure him back, if that's not good enough for Kevin, then well, what can ya do?

I think it would suck if he left, but not cripple us either.

 

[JSS2306]

Nah... we don't have enough information to say this with any degree of certainty. Love doesn't owe us anything.

There's a difference between playing on a team that drafted you and a team that traded a future all-star for you with the notion that you'd commit for maybe a period of time. You're right, we don't know the exact details but we sure as hell know that David Griffin wouldn't have made that trade without a wink and a shake.


Kevin Love in his own words:

but like I told (David) Griffin in our meetings and Dan Gilbert as well and the powers that be in the front office and all the way down, I'm committed to this team, committed long‑term to the end goal and that is to win championships and to win a championship here in Ohio.

Since I was traded to Cleveland this summer, I've said since Day 1 that I'm a Cleveland Cavalier long term and I plan for it to be that way. I want to grow with this team. There's a lot of guys with a lot of unique talent, one-through-fifteen, on our roster who are going to be here for a long time.

If you want to downplay it that's fine but I can assure you the organization and a lot of fans would be very unhappy if he didn't follow through with his original obligation to the organization and they have every right to feel that way. This is just an entirely different and unique situation.

 

[gourimoko]

There's a difference between playing on a team that drafted you and a team that traded you with the notion that you'd commit for maybe a period of time. You're right, we don't know the exact details but we sure as hell know that David Griffin wouldn't have made that trade without a wink and a shake.

I agree with all of this.

Kevin Love in his own words:

Yes I'm aware he said this. He has adamantly stated he is not going anywhere.

If you want to downplay it that's fine

Why would I downplay anything?

but I can assure you the organization and a lot of fans would be very unhappy if he didn't follow through with his original obligation to the organization and they have every right to feel that way. This is just an entirely different and unique situation.

No doubt there would be fans upset, and no doubt the franchise would be very disturbed if Kevin Love left.

But to say he can't leave, or won't leave, or shouldn't or can't leverage his twice impending free agency misses the mark entirely.

Love might not want to leave, but he may feel he has no choice.

As many others have already said, a lot of things can happen over the course of a season. Not many people here predicted Love would have the season he did; and I'm sure that goes for Kevin too.

My only point here, and I think I'm inline with @godfather on this as well, is that we shouldn't create this false narrative that Love can't leave, because he has some obligation to fulfill with Cleveland; and that, if he were to leave, he'd be "bitch-made" and fucking us over in the same way Boozer did.

He can leave, and I tend to believe the reports/commentary that he will use the very real possibility that he can leave to enact changes to our system. I think that's common sense, and smart on his part.

 

[godfather]

Exactly Gour, not the same at all with Boozer. Boozer flat out lied to a blind man, then went right behind his back and signed a contract with another team. That's flat out shady.

Kevin, if he did, said he's going to re-sign with us, said that what, nearly a year ago? You can't fault a guy for having a changed opinion nearly a year later.

I don't know about you, but I don't have my mind dead set on something a year ago.

If the Cavs are going to take his word on that all the way back then, well, they are silly.

 

[LeBro]

There is everything wrong with it. He made promises or at least made it his intention to stay behind closed doors that allowed Griffin to prance around with "I'm confident he's here for the long haul" one liners. We didn't trade Wiggins for him to up and leave I guarantee you.

I understand where you're coming from, but I do think you're being a little bit unreasonable.

Let me make a dramatic analogy: every day, thousands of couples around the world commit to each other for the rest of their lives by saying "I do" to marriage. Every day, thousands of couples rescind that vow, decide that they've made a mistake, and opt to separate/get a divorce.

Is getting divorced "breaking a promise"? Maybe technically, but I think we all can acknowledge that sometimes we commit to something that isn't right for us, and that sometimes going our separate ways is the right thing to do. Perhaps the Cavs decide their money would be invested somewhere else. Perhaps Love isn't nearly as happy as he thought he'd be, and he decides that being a first or second-option somewhere else would be better for him.

At the end of the day, I think Love will stay. I feel a bit naive taking what he says without a grain of salt, because for all we know it's just lip service (what possible incentive could there be for him to say, "uh, honestly, I'm going to bolt to LA"? ... talk about stoking the fire!), but I do think he likes playing with LeBron and knows we'll be consistently competitive here.

Anyway, if he does decide to leave, so be it. He's a human being, and he's allowed to change his mind if the situation isn't right for him. If a person can change their mind over marriage, then I think they should be granted that same luxury for what job they decide to work at. Deciding that Cleveland isn't right for him doesn't make him dishonorable or a nefarious antagonist. Yes, it would suck losing Wiggins for only a year-or-two of Love, but come on...

 

[LuNcHBoX]

I'll deal with the emotion of whatever decision happens at the correct time but all I'll say about it right now is everyone said Kyrie was out of here last year and he signed a 5 year extension so the media doesn't always know everything.

 

[JSS2306]

Exactly Gour, not the same at all with Boozer. Boozer flat out lied to a blind man, then went right behind his back and signed a contract with another team. That's flat out shady.

Kevin, if he did, said he's going to re-sign with us, said that what, nearly a year ago? You can't fault a guy for having a changed opinion nearly a year later.

I don't know about you, but I don't have my mind dead set on something a year ago.

If the Cavs are going to take his word on that all way back then, well, they are silly.

What?

They potentially gave away a superstar in return for Kevin Love. This would make Carlos Boozer look like Ghandi in comparison. The ripple effect of such a loss would be felt hard. We might still be successful but that doesn't mean we didn't lose out big on a trade.

I wish I could go to the bank, take out a loan, then just wait a year and all debt is forgiven but that isn't how it works. Your word is your word no matter when it was said. If he never said those things publicly it's one thing but he did not only to the organization but also its fans.

Anyways, I think he stays so until further notice I'll just enjoy the great run we have going on right now.

 

[godfather]

The media wants Love to leave so bad....it's hilarious.

Well, at least the "LeBron leaving crap" has been put to bed.

I don't really put much stock in what the media says, never have, never will.


I just find it funny they always know best, even better than the person himself on what he'll do.

 

[Snarly]

As much as Love makes us a much better offensive team. If he leaves we are practically getting L.A who I think would make our team better over all. However Love is my mind is going no where.

 

[Snarly]

View: https://twitter.com/ESPNCleveland/status/603279361647644674


oh if Stephen A. said it then its true. Its ridiculous and i just laugh

Until Woj or even Windy breaks this I call BS.

 

[gourimoko]

What?

They potentially gave away a superstar in return for Kevin Love. This would make Carlos Boozer look like Ghandi in comparison. The ripple effect of such a loss would be felt hard. We might still be successful but that doesn't mean we didn't just lose out big on a trade.

I wish I could go to the bank, take out a loan, then just wait a year and all debt is forgiven but that isn't how it works. Your word is your word no matter when it was said. If he never said those things publicly it's one thing but he did not only to the organization but also its fans.

Anyways, I think he stays so until further notice I'll just enjoy the great run we have going on right now.

I think you're confusing speculation and hearsay with hard facts; i.e., comparing some backroom 'agreement' which would violate the CBA mind you, with someone signing a bank loan contract.

We can't hold Kevin Love to some agreement that isn't even allowed to exist in the first place.