Call me crazy and I know it’s not my money, but I’m far too logical to understand paying a guy to sit and not do anything. If the end goal is to trade Love and extract some value, holding onto a depreciating asset does nothing for his value. We recently saw, with the Paul-Westbrook trade, what the market is for players that are on the plus side of 30 and who are signed a long-term contracts. News flash- it ain’t good.
Teams value cap flexibility and there just isn’t a big demand for plus-30 players signed to long-term contracts. The Cavs may have thought they were doing a good thing for the franchise in signing Kevin Love to that long-term contract, but the moment he signed it, his value went down.
The market for Westbrook, a guy who averaged a triple double the last three seasons, was so depressed that OKC traded him for a a couple of draft picks and a guy that has perhaps the worst contract in the NBA. Ironically, the Thunder will now have to attach draft picks to Chris Paul to have any hope of trading him.
All I’m saying is whether we hold onto Love for another week, another month, or another year, his value is only likely to go down further. That’s until he’s an expiring contract, when his value will go back up, but that’s still a three years away. So, if the end goal is to trade him, I just don’t see the point in holding onto a depreciating asset that you don’t really want to play anyways? The Cavs may not like the offers they are getting for Kevin Love, but you can’t turn chicken sh!t into chicken salad...and that contract is the former.
Love just missed an entire season.
If he comes back and looks good the first half of the season, his value will definitely rise. It simply will. That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact.
Also, Love’s game has never been predicated on athleticism like Westbrook’s. He’s a shooter, a good rebounder, and a guy who you can work offense through. He’s a 5-time All-Star for a reason.
Furthermore, he’s 30 and his contract is roughly $30 million/year for the next 4 years. It’s balanced, even dipping below $30 million in the final year as the cap rises. He’ll be off the contract by the time he’s really declined significantly. It’s really not that hard to swallow.
Westbrook, on the other hand, is due $47 million in his final year. That’s an entirely different animal.
Chris Paul is making $40 million/year and he’s already older than Love will be when his contract is up.
It’s moveable. Very moveable. Especially with the cap around $116 million next year.
Did you see what Al Horford just received from Philly at 33 years of age? Tobias Harris? Khris Middleton?
That Love contract looks better by the day.
I’m all for moving Love. I’ve been an advocate of moving him for two years.
However, it’s just plain stupid to set a deadline on it and make yourself take the best offer by that point. We have plenty of time and cap (after this season) to wait for the right offer.
In the meantime, you keep him healthy and rest him on back-to-backs. You rest him situationally after he’s played 4-5 in a row. At most, he plays about 60 games if he isn’t moved by the deadline.
