Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[CavsFan005]

I just don't understand what the front office is thinking. Clearly they want Love as part of the foundation going forward. Great Love is an awesome offensive minded PF, maybe the best. With that in mind, the Cavs now need a Ben Wallace type of Center.

Why sign AV for another year at 10 mill. Not like he was going to walk anyhow.

Why persue signing TT long term when he does nothing different from AV. Combine AV and TT and you still don't get a max type player.

Clearly TT needs to be moved for a Rim Protecting center, I see no other choice. Unless the Cavs are willing to pay a defensive minded center to start AND pay AV and TT to come off the bench.

Same thing could be said about Dirk. They didn't win it until they brought in Chandler. Although I do think Dirk > Love easily. We can't be paying 2 PFs 20 + million and make that type of move

 

[crowned1]

Same thing could be said about Dirk. They didn't win it until they brought in Chandler. Although I do think Dirk > Love easily. We can't be paying 2 PFs 20 + million and make that type of move

What?

 

[The Process God]

Same thing could be said about Dirk. They didn't win it until they brought in Chandler. Although I do think Dirk > Love easily. We can't be paying 2 PFs 20 + million and make that type of move

Here is Dirk and Love both in their age 25 seasons, which also happened to be their 6th season respectively.

Per game, 36 minutes, 100 possessions, and in advanced statistics, it's hard to argue that Dirk Nowitzki is the better player than Kevin Love at this point in their careers. Dirk never averaged the points, rebounds, or assists per game that Love did last season. The only things that Dirk really had over Love are turnovers, steals, blocks, and some efficiency stats. If Dirk was better, it wasn't by much, and I think that there's enough here to argue that Kevin Love is better than Dirk was at the same age.

I do agree, however, that we need a defensive center to pair with him.

 

[Kizzle]

Here is Dirk and Love both in their age 25 seasons, which also happened to be their 6th season respectively.

Per game, 36 minutes, 100 possessions, and in advanced statistics, it's hard to argue that Dirk Nowitzki is the better player than Kevin Love at this point in their careers. Dirk never averaged the points, rebounds, or assists per game that Love did last season. The only things that Dirk really had over Love are turnovers, steals, blocks, and some efficiency stats. If Dirk was better, it wasn't by much, and I think that there's enough here to argue that Kevin Love is better than Dirk was at the same age.

I do agree, however, that we need a defensive center to pair with him.

I can't even look at stats because the variables are so apart. Had Dirks team been together a couple seasons? We're their roles clearly defined? Was the leagues more physical than it is now? There are so many other variables that stats possibly don't mean anything to me. Only stats I'll look at are percentages from 3 and FT. And I don't take much stock into 3pt % because there's no way to compare shot quality and selection. Are most of Loves 3s open compared to Dirks in that season? Well never know

 

[CavsFan005]

Id rather have Pau Gasol, Dirk, Bosh, Aldridge, Duncan, Blake Griffin, Derrick Favors, Millsap, Ibaka and Anthony Davis over Love. Id prob take Zach Randolph over him too.

For 20 million dollars I'm not a fan of Love so far. He shoots far too many threes and plays terrible defense. If we give TT 10 million we don't have even a remote chance of winning a championship with 40 million tied into those bigs. Its kind of like paying Larry Hughes 20 million a year then you realize hes not capable of being a #2 option on a championship team.

 

[roozy]

Seems you haven't watched Love enough if you came to that decision. There is a reason the Wolves were one of the best teams when he was on the floor and one of the worst when he was on the bench.

 

[MoFlo]

Id rather have Pau Gasol, Dirk, Bosh, Aldridge, Duncan, Blake Griffin, Derrick Favors, Millsap, Ibaka and Anthony Davis over Love. Id prob take Zach Randolph over him too.

For 20 million dollars I'm not a fan of Love so far. He shoots far too many threes and plays terrible defense. If we give TT 10 million we don't have even a remote chance of winning a championship with 40 million tied into those bigs. Its kind of like paying Larry Hughes 20 million a year then you realize hes not capable of being a #2 option on a championship team.

The guy is averaging 17 & 11, shooting 37% from deep and he's not even close to playing to his talent level or meshing with the team yet. Let's give it more than 9 games before we say Love isn't worth the $.

Shooting far too many 3's is more of a system thing, at this point. Love has even spoken out about wanting & needing to get more touches in the post.

 

[wremy]

The guy is averaging 17 & 11, shooting 37% from deep and he's not even close to playing to his talent level or meshing with the team yet. Let's give it more than 9 games before we say Love isn't worth the $.

Shooting far too many 3's is more of a system thing, at this point. Love has even spoken out about wanting & needing to get more touches in the post.

right on MoFlo but you're wasting your breath on some of these people .. Love will be 20-12 and 40% from 3 by the end of the season and they will still be complaining,making bad comparisons, and saying they'd rather have players that are either half the player or 10 years older than Love is

 

[crowned1]

I wanna see Kyrie and Lebron without Love if he didn't come, they would have forced alot of shots.
The offense potential is so much higher with Love on the roster, you have no idea.
Unless you wanna be solely a run and g un team if you had Wiggins for example.
The set offensewith Love is 10x better than it would have been with Wiggins

 

[Kouki]

Well I don't know about his list of players who he'd take over Love, but he makes a point in the second paragraph. We will be tying up ~40 million in Love, AV, and TT. That's not exactly money well spent. Disregarding whether or they they are individually "worth" their contracts, that's 40 million spent on three frontcourt players, two of which are power forwards and one of which is a frail, aging C who relies on mobility, none of which are "rim protectors" (damn I hate that word) or who can really even defend the post 1-on-1 against better offensive post players.

 

[clevelandrox23]

Id rather have Pau Gasol, Dirk, Bosh, Aldridge, Duncan, Blake Griffin, Derrick Favors, Millsap, Ibaka and Anthony Davis over Love. Id prob take Zach Randolph over him too.

For 20 million dollars I'm not a fan of Love so far. He shoots far too many threes and plays terrible defense. If we give TT 10 million we don't have even a remote chance of winning a championship with 40 million tied into those bigs. Its kind of like paying Larry Hughes 20 million a year then you realize hes not capable of being a #2 option on a championship team.

This has got to be a joke post

I don't understand all of the hate on this post assuming he is taking into account differences in salaries which I think he is. I'd also rather have Pau Gasol for 3 years 22 million (which he is making with Bulls) and have kept Wiggins, Bennett, 1st round draft pick, and what will eventually be a 13+ million a year in salary cap room then Kevin Love who will eventually be making the max at 20+ million. Obviously everyone on this board would rather have Anthony Davis over Kevin Love if somehow that was even possible so there's nothing blasphemous about that. Duncan for 10 million a year, Dirk 3 years 24 million, nice. Obviously we didn't have a shot at many of these players he mentioned but the theoretical cap flexibility and potential retention of assets makes his opinion valid.

Didn't the Cavs reportedly offer TT a 4 year 48+ million contract? So potentially 10-13 million for Tristan, 10 million for Varejao, and 20+ million for Kevin Love. 40+ million will be invested into our bigs and we still will need to spend more for defensive purposes, that is pretty pathetic so I do see where he is coming from.

 

[I'mWithDan]

I think a lot of fringe fans just don't understand usage. To expect Love to simply produce identical numbers to what he was doing in Minnesota, where he was top 10 in the NBA in usage is unrealistic.

That doesn't mean he's not worth 20 million, it just means he needs to become more efficient with his touches. One thing just dragging down his efficiency right now is how poorly he's shooting the ball in the paint. Through 9 games his 2PT FG % is more than 6% below his career average and almost 9% below last season. The biggest drop has been at the rim, which you'd think would be the easiest to normalize. He shot 66.9% at the rim last season and has a career percentage of 59.5%. This season he's shooting just 52.2% at the rim. I say "just" but that is a gigantic drop off from last year and pretty sub par for a big as good as him.

I think it would be more alarming if he weren't jump shooting as well but by in large, he is. He just needs to finish better around the hoop. Part of that is on Kevin and part of that is on his teammates to get him better touches on the block and during dribble drives.

 

[Dr. Gymbo]

I don't know if I'd say that there's an "elitist" attitude around, but there are expectations of posters to step their games up. I can admit frustrations myself at bandwagon fans that latched on in the summer after a significant portion of us that were here years before had to languish and toil through the likes of Ryan Hollins and Alonzo Gee in mid-December.

We've all been new on this forum at one point or another, I'm sure some of my initial posts were doozies as well. But, like anything else where you're new, take the time to understand your environment. Most posters on here will get along fine with you if you display common forum etiquette, have decent spelling, and a working knowledge of basketball, especially our team. I sometimes wonder if there are knowledgeable members of our forum that lurk and will not post due to perceived fear that they will not be taken seriously.

This is supposed to be something we all enjoy. As long as we can do it together respectfully, does it really matter when someone signed up on this site? Just learn the ropes, respect other posters, and contribute to RCF in positive ways - this place really is great.

OT: Love has looked better as the season has gone on, especially from the 1-3 start. But, I think he has the farthest to go on the team of playing any semblance of defense. He's making his men look like All-Stars on a nightly basis. I hope things improve, because if he's not scoring, he's a bit of a detriment right now.

 

[Splitz]

I deleted a few posts as I don't want the Kevin Love thread to become a discussion on the state of this forum. It's a discussion that can be had elsewhere. Let's get back to Kevin Love.

 

[CavsFan005]

I don't get it. Clearly most of you people are either massive homers or don't know basketball. If you look at my lists of players and considering their contract situation all of them can be argued that they are better all around players then love.

Gasol - currently making HALF of Love's contract this season. Has been one of the better rim protectors in the league this season. Also proven in the playoffs

Bosh - Makes 5 million more then Love, but Id take that. At least he gives effort on D and has played in 4 NBA finals series. Love has yet to play in a playoff game

Dirk & Duncan - Both make less then Love and both are better. Resumes speak for themselves

Anthony Davis & Blake Griffin - Don't know the contract situations, but both are unquestionably better then Love on both sides of the ball.

Aldridge - Similar to Love with more playoff experience. Had multiple 30 point games in last years playoffs. Plays better D then Love

Ibaka - Makes 3 mill less then Love. Best shot blocker in the league for years. His offense would fit in better then Love's on this team.

I'm not going to go down the entire list. But my point is its kind of hard to justify spending that much on a player who isn't even top 5 at his position. Maybe not even top 10.

If u look at all my posts I was never in favor of the Love deal. It was a quick move by Griffin in order the please Lebron. Somehow we are going to have to find a way to find a 10 million + shot blocking beast to cover for Love's pathetic defense. We have other holes in the roster too and are running out of cash and assets. We will see what happens