Love playing hard ball

[Smash Williams]

Not to mention that his team is not void of any talent. They have Pekovic, Rubio, Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer, JJ Barea... Those are decent pieces to have around an elite guy.

Let's take a guy we know is elite, in his prime. Would this be a playoff team:

PG: Ricky Rubio
SG: Kevin Martin
SF: Corey Brewer
PF: Dirk Nowtizki
C: Nikola Pekovic

Regardless of stats, numbers, etc... With Dirk in his prime, as an elite player, could he win with that supporting cast?

Dirk in his prime was an MVP, so of course prime Dirk was elite, but that's a pretty damn high cutoff for "elite."

How many guys in their primes right now would have made Minnesota a playoff team if you swapped Love out for them? LeBron, KD...and that's probably it. Blake Griffin isn't winning 50 games with that team. Aldridge couldn't get back to the playoffs until Lillard blossomed into Portland's second star. If you want to look players at other positions, that's a bit harder, but I'm not buying someone like CP3 or Steph Curry transforming them into a 50-win team either.

If you want to define elite as "single-handedly carries any team to the playoffs in either conference," there are only two elite players in the league. Either way, Love is probably a Top 10 player, and Top 15 at bare minimum.

 

[bocabull]

One thing people have to understand is the drive and work the true elite players demand from their teammates. Kobe, Dirk, Lebron, KD, Duncan all raise the level of play of their teammates. Their leadership and work ethic is equal to their talent. Something I'm not sure you can say about Carmelo, Love, etc.

For example, JJ Barea was a valuable contributor when Dirk led the Mavericks to the title. The roster has turned over multiple times under Dirk but the result is virtually the same. He's the common denominator. The same can be said about Kobe. If he's healthy the Lakers are not going to be some 30-40 win team.

 

[bocabull]

My understanding is that teams can verbally agree upon a trade in that 30-day window, but it's not binding, nor can they make any public announcement. If it were a done deal already, I think it would have been leaked. I can't imagine everyone within both organizations sitting on that type of info for a month, especially given that seemingly every trade discussion of theirs has already been leaked.

Minnesota owner let the cat out of the bag. I look forward to following the T-Wolves. Wiggins has been touted as the best prospect since Lebron. I'm sure Love will do fine in Cleveland but my money says he regresses to the Bosh level immediately on offense with holes on defense and Cleveland regrets this move wholeheartedly.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

We will see. I see wiggins more like a paul pierce than a lebron. If he turns out as the second coming of lebron, the cavs will regret it. If he turns out like Pierce, while still a really great player, I think they can live with the decision