Who needs Love

[Scott K]

I guess I would much rather see the past 2 years best rookies grow, then watch Love just barely miss the playoffs, again, and again, and again....

Each year we knew we may be a little better then the last, but not quite good enough to make the post season. This year, we can assume we wont make it either, but we have promise to have a couple good studs on the team.

I think a team with

Rubio(23)

Young (26)

Pekavic (28)

Wiggins (19)

Bennit (21)

Dieng (24)

Hummel (25)

Bazz Muhammad (22)

Along with Martin, JJ, Brewer, Buddinger, etc.. For some veteran help. We will have an exciting inconsistent team next year.

[JBMasterAngler]

T-wolves once again on the losing end of a garbage trade!

Off the top of my head the only trade I can think of that was actually a win for the wolves was when they traded Donyell Marshall for Tom Gugliotta.

[fishersofmen]

I agree about being on the losing end as usual. Problem is we don't have much choice. Just like Garnet, Love should have a ring within the next couple of years. I don't blame those guys though I would want out too. They gave the T-Wolves a chance do get things done and the Wolves have failed miserably. Kevin has to be pumped big time I hope he has a good year. Meanwhile the Wolves will continue down the road of nothingness.

[Storm]

I think it's a great deal for the wolves. We get rid of love who we weren't going anywhere with. Is that the organizations fault? I don't think so. Without a top tier player who can lead the team instead of love I don't think he'd go anywhere anyways. He complains to much and only hustles for rebounds on defense. Rubio has came out and said that love isn't a team leader. The west is so good right now as well that I'd rather be building a team for 3-4 years in the future then have a slightly above average team right now.

[Snag]

If this goes through, better than Garnett for Al Jefferson by far. Couldn't make playoffs with Love. I'm sure he will win one with Cleveland, but his numbers will go down significantly unless he does more knuckle push ups.

[fishersofmen]

I think it's a great deal for the wolves. We get rid of love who we weren't going anywhere with. Is that the organizations fault? I don't think so. Without a top tier player who can lead the team instead of love I don't think he'd go anywhere anyways. He complains to much and only hustles for rebounds on defense. Rubio has came out and said that love isn't a team leader. The west is so good right now as well that I'd rather be building a team for 3-4 years in the future then have a slightly above average team right now.

Charles Barkley calls K Love the best power forward in the game. People may not like Barkley but he knows basketball better than all of us.

Yes it is the organizations fault. Even the best power forward in the game will not get you into the playoffs by himself, the T-Wolves have proved that.

Ricky should be the last one talking about leadership.

They have been talking about "building for the future" since the beginning and apparently fans are still buying into it.

[certified jumbo]

Its going to be interesting to see how love does in Cleveland. He is excellent offensively but sucks on defense, is a cry baby and whines to officials. With qualities like that I'll wonder how he does playing with 2 other stars.

[thatoneguy]

with those qualities he'll be a perfect fit with LeBaby.

[Scott K]

I would have preferred Love stayed and convinced other stars to come play here , but he couldn't do that. What is a fair trade value for a star pf? I would rather have the past 2 years best rookies with very high upsides, then a dozen mediocre players that won't make you anything better the mediocre. I think we got the best deal we could for him.

[CaptainMusky]

Its going to be interesting to see how love does in Cleveland. He is excellent offensively but sucks on defense, is a cry baby and whines to officials. With qualities like that I'll wonder how he does playing with 2 other stars.

I agree, but I think Lebron is better defensively than anyone that has been around Love to this point so I have a feeling that Love will do quite well.

I dont care who we get as long as he's gone. Im not a huge NBA fan to begin with, but I never liked this guy from day 1. Great on the stat sheet, but what a primadonna. "knuckle pushups"? yeah right!

[nofishfisherman]

The problem with these trades is that you rarely get fair value. As soon as the player demands a trade your leverage in negotiations immediately takes a hit. Other teams know you have to trade him so they can usually offer less in return.

To get what we did for Love is pretty impressive given the fact that they knew we had to trade him and that there really wasn't another viable contender in the trade talks. In the short term its not an even trade since we'll certainly get worse and the Cavs will get better. However, the real measure will be 2-3 years from now when we see what sort of players Wiggins and Bennet become. There is at least some hope that one of them becomes a star, then perhaps we can consider it a fair trade, time will tell.

As for Love playing with Lebron. I think he'll do ok. Its clearly Lebrons team so I think Love will walk the line and do whatever he needs to do to fit in and make Lebron happy. Maybe Lebron can even get Love to put some effort into defense.

[Craigums]

Quote:

A source informed the Daily News that the Sixers will be sending veteran forward Thaddeus Young to Minnesota for a package that will include Bennett

I know Bennett didn't live up to his expectations in his rookie year but I would think he has more upside than T. Young

[mrklean]

If he only has a year left and no guarantee to sign longer term very risky I would take my chances with Bennett if he agrees so a longer deal I would roll with it.

[PierBridge]

Love is only 25 so he'll mature.

He wont have to play much defense.

The Cavs will be in the conference finals 5 of the next 6 years. Id assume a couple rings too.

Its a great trade for both teams all things considered.

Im glad hes gone we wernt going anywhere with him.

The NBA is pretty much a joke now anyways so I cant get to worked up over it either way.

Go Wolves. . :-)

[pikestabber]

Maybe Lebron can even get Love to put some effort into defense.

So now Lebron is a miracle worker?

[Getanet]

Was reading a pretty interesting statistical breakdown of how the Cavs will looks with James, Love and Irving on the floor. Gist was the James/Love pick-and-roll will be nearly impossible for teams to defend against. Do you keep a guy on Love and let James just manhandle his defender on the way to the rim, or double James and give Love wide-open 3s? And if you're lucky enough to stop both of those options, they'll be able to swing it to Iriving, another All-Star and good shooter.

At this point in their careers, the I would take the Cav's Big 3 over the Heat's original Big 3. There's no guarantee they will get a championship, but barring injury it looks like they have a pretty easy road to the Finals in the East for the foreseeable future.

I don't like how Love handled the situation, but I don't blame him for wanting to get out of here either. And I would rather have him be upfront with the front office like he was, so we could get as much as possible for him now, instead of stringing us along and leaving as a free agent.

[Scott K]

While Young is a better player then Bennet, I think I would like to keep Bennet, and see what he becomes. We know Youngs cieling, we dont know Bennets.

[nofishfisherman]

While Young is a better player then Bennet, I think I would like to keep Bennet, and see what he becomes. We know Youngs cieling, we dont know Bennets.

I agree. Besides I don't have any faith in the wolves ability to judge young talent. Its better for us to keep as many of them as possible and hope one develops instead of trading one away. Based on wolves history Bennet is going to blow up and be an all star and Wiggins is going to bust who is traded in 3 years.

[Scott K]

That was my thoughts exactly!

[PierBridge]

Was reading a pretty interesting statistical breakdown of how the Cavs will looks with James, Love and Irving on the floor. Gist was the James/Love pick-and-roll will be nearly impossible for teams to defend against. Do you keep a guy on Love and let James just manhandle his defender on the way to the rim, or double James and give Love wide-open 3s? And if you're lucky enough to stop both of those options, they'll be able to swing it to Iriving, another All-Star and good shooter.

At this point in their careers, the I would take the Cav's Big 3 over the Heat's original Big 3. There's no guarantee they will get a championship, but barring injury it looks like they have a pretty easy road to the Finals in the East for the foreseeable future.

I don't like how Love handled the situation, but I don't blame him for wanting to get out of here either. And I would rather have him be upfront with the front office like he was, so we could get as much as possible for him now, instead of stringing us along and leaving as a free agent.

Exactly my take on the situation.

[hnd]

Its going to be interesting to see how love does in Cleveland. He is excellent offensively but sucks on defense, is a cry baby and whines to officials. With qualities like that I'll wonder how he does playing with 2 other stars.

tim duncan has seemingly survived with similar qualities.

[hnd]

At this point in their careers, the I would take the Cav's Big 3 over the Heat's original Big 3. There's no guarantee they will get a championship, but barring injury it looks like they have a pretty easy road to the Finals in the East for the foreseeable future.

in hindsight, i'd agree. wade was just broken and bosh turned into a perimeter 4.

[Scott K]

Quote:

MINNEAPOLIS —

The Minnesota Timberwolves have secured the final piece they were looking for in a blockbuster Kevin Love trade.

A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that the Timberwolves will receive Philadelphia 76ers power forward Thaddeus Young as part of the deal that will send Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The person requested anonymity because an official announcement has not been made.

Yahoo! Sports/FOX Sports 1 NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune also reported the structure of the deal.

The Wolves agreed weeks ago to send Love to Cleveland, where he will team up with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to make the Cavaliers an instant favorite in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs agreed to send No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins, former No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett and a 2015 No. 1 draft choice they obtained from Miami to Minnesota to land Love, but Wolves President Flip Saunders and GM Milt Newton immediately went to work to try to get the 76ers involved in the deal as well.

The Wolves have wanted the 26-year-old Young to help them replace Love in the starting lineup, and the two teams came to agreement on Thursday to make that happen. Young averaged a career-high 17.9 points per game last season and gives the Wolves another athletic player to put around point guard Ricky Rubio. He also gives the young team another veteran presence in the locker room.

Young had two years and more than $19 million left on his contract, but he can become a free agent after next season if he chooses.

The rebuilding Sixers will get guard Alexey Shved and forward Luc Mbah a Moute from the Timberwolves and Miami's No. 1 pick next year from the Cavaliers in the deal, which will not be officially announced until Saturday when Wiggins becomes eligible to be traded.

A seldom-used NBA rule prevents any rookie from being traded for 30 days after he signs his rookie contract.

Shved and Mbah a Moute are entering the final year of their contracts, which gives the 76ers sought after financial flexibility going forward as GM Sam Hinkie continues to gut the roster in an effort to build a long-term winner over the next five years. Mbah a Moute also has a close relationship with Sixers rookie Joel Embiid and could provide a nice mentor for the young big man while he sits out the season because of a foot injury.

The Timberwolves were expected to introduce Young, Wiggins and Bennett on Tuesday at the Minnesota State Fair.

[Storm]

I personally think we are coming way out on top with this trade. Will it take a couple years for it to play out and see how everyone develops and plays together, yes but I have a lot more confidence in our new lineup than the old. The wiggins/bennett trade has been known for awhile but the addition of young while only really giving up shved and mbah a moute I think is a steal. Even if we only rent him a season and he decides to leave the other two players weren't making an impact with us either. A lineup of rubio, martin/brewer, wiggins, young, and pekovich looks pretty interesting. The post defense will be lacking but we can throw in deng or turiaf when needed. I'd really like to see the organization get rid of barea somehow now and add a different point guard but I don't see that happening before the season.

[BartmanMN]

Don't forget about Zach Lavine and that other kid we drafted. We have a pretty exciting group for the Wolves.

[Scott K]

We are also giving up the 1st round pick that we are getting from Cleavland, to get Young. But we are recieving a 4 million dollar trade exception. If this deal goes through, the Wolves got a steal for Love!

[mrklean]

Sure hope he doesn't bolt after 1 year

[Scott K]

Quote:

While it can't be made official until 12:01 ET Saturday morning, the long-anticipated three-team trade between the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers has been agreed upon in principle by all sides, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.

While the swapping of Kevin Love and Andrew Wiggins has been all but etched in stone for some time, the inclusion of the 76ers and small forward Thaddeus Young was a more recent development.

Until recently, it was widely reported that the Timberwolves would be flipping one of the returns from the Cavaliers, last year's first overall pick Anthony Bennett, to Philadelphia in exchange for Young. Now it seems they'll be holding onto him, instead tossing the Sixers the first-round draft pick Cleveland will be sending over in the deal, expected to be the Miami Heat's 2015 first-rounder.

Here's a breakdown of the moving pieces in the trade, as presently constructed:

Cavaliers receive: F Kevin Love (from Minnesota)

76ers receive: F Luc Mbah A Moute, G Alexey Shved (from Minnesota), 2015 first-round pick (from Miami, via Cleveland)

Timberwolves receive: G Andrew Wiggins, F Anthony Bennett (from Cleveland), F Thaddeus Young (from Philadelphia).

Unable to get the throw-in they wanted in Bennett, the 76ers seem to have opted for more long-term cap relief (if that's even possible), by picking up two expiring contracts in Mbah A Moute and Shved, not to mention another draft pick (they had seven of them in this year's draft).

And in picking up the last two No. 1 overall picks in Wiggins and Bennett, and a very capable starting wing in Young, the Timberwolves are making out pretty well here.

The Cavs? They'll be alright too.

Feature photo courtesy of USA Today Sports/Howard Smith

[Scott K]

Nice haul by the Wolves. Including a $6.4 million trade exception.

[fishersofmen]

Love it that we got Young in this deal.