Part one of a two part series, starting with the Eastern Conference
The Kevin Love extravaganza/madness/sweepstakes is picking up steam and exploding, thanks to various reports suggesting his availability. Why not throw some more wood into the fire?
Let’s forget about the salary cap, trades, extensions and all that other boring nonsense and focus on something more fun: How would Kevin Loves’ game fit in with each NBA team? There are no rules, Kevin Love just get added to your team. What would your 2014-15 season look like?
Atlanta Hawks
If Love was in Atlanta they would have the best big man rotation in the entire league. People have forgotten how good Al Horford is, and pair him with Love and you’ll get something devastating. Mike Budenholzer would have a field day, and could go all out with his 5-out style of play with Love at center together with Paul Millsap. You could also get away with playing Millsap at the three. Atlanta doesn’t have any rim protection anyways, as they ranked ranked 18th in field goal defense on shots closer than 5 feet per NBA.com. Millsap and Horford are two way players, unlike Love, at least so far into his career, but the bonus on offense obviously would impact the Hawks more than that.
Verdict: Great chance of making the eastern finals.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics are in a desperate need for shooting, being the third worst in the entire league in three point percentage. Love would really help with the spacing and on pick and rolls with Rajon Rondo. The Celtics actually have a boat load of assets to throw at Minnesota, they have their own ones, including the number sixth pick in this loaded draft and three more Brooklyn picks. They don’t really have many desirable players, depending on what the Timberwolves think about Avery Bradley, Jared Sullinger and Jeff Green, to get this done. But who knows?
Verdict: Would make the playoffs. It’s the east.
Brooklyn Nets
The Love-Pekovic high-low action has been good for Minnesota, and the Nets could replicate that with Brook Lopez. Brooklyn was also one of the worst at passing and rebounding teams in the league, both of which are Loves’ specialties. They were ranked 28th in defending the rim, so Love would be right at home. With their cap situation and assets of course, this could only happen if he signed with the minimum and Prokhorov promised a billion dollar contract for one year in the Russian league. As I’m writing that I realized that the odds of that happening are probably larger than I would initially set them as.
Verdict: Fringe contender.
Charlotte Bob-Hornet-Cats
All teams are a great fit for Love. He’s a top player in the league and a stretch four, which almost guarantees you a great offense. Charlotte is secretly the one that’s actually cooler than it originally looks like. Charlotte is a great defensive team, ranking sixth in the regular season, but a poor offense that has literally no spacing at times. Clifford is a great coach who could get the best out of Love, and wouldn’t a front line of Al Jefferson and Love be something to be excited about? The Hornets(!) would have to make some moves but this would actually be possible in theory! And they have Detroit’s pick to trade!
Verdict: Fringe contender? Maybe a bit much but I really love this one.
Chicago Bulls
Let’s say that the Bulls amnestied Carlos Boozer during the summer, there would still be some positional overlap, but this would be a great team for Love. Whether or not Rose is healthy next year, Love would be just the release valve this offense needs, and you can bet that Thibs would push Love to do his very best on defense. The Bulls have really good pieces to make a trade work. Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and Jimmy Butler all have high value, and they own two first round draft picks this year(16 and 19). Other teams might have more glamorous picks, but if Minnesota wants to go for a combination of very good veteran players and young players with upside the Bulls might actually be the best trade partner.
Verdict: Heavyweight title contender.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland “the lottery king” Cavaliers were a so-so defensive team and a horrible offensive team. They already have a billion power forwards, but since Tristan Thompson is just OK and Anthony Bennett is horrible, Love would certainly be an improvement. In the very hypothetical case that Love was on the Cavs next year, they would have to let Spencer Hawes go, and there still wouldn’t be enough balls on the court for this team. Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack all need the ball to succeed, and none of them are even close to being as good as Love. The Kyrie-Love pick and roll would be awesome though. The Cavs are horrible at passing the ball, and Love is more likely to follow suit than to usher on a new era of team basketball.
Question: Do you trade the number one pic kin this draft for Kevin Love?
Verdict: Just sort of okay, the result might look better than the truth, considering the current level in the eastern conference.
Detroit Pistons
Let’s assume the Pistons part ways with Greg Monroe in a sign-and-trade scenario this summer and get some shooting in return: Yes, Josh Smith won’t be happy about his predicament, but this team could do some really exciting things. Stan Van Gundy is a great coach and did wonderful things with Dwight Howard back in Orlando. They use to run a lot of side pick and roll where the ball would swing to a shooter on top of the key while Howard rolled to the rim. If the shooter wasn’t open Howard had great position under the basket for dunks. Imagine running that with Love and Drummond(not so excitedly, also Brandon Jennings is in the equation). And when Drummond sits, you could play Love at center and still have a guy like Smith around to protect the rim. Now there’s no way this could obviously happen, I don’t know what sauce they would have to pour down the Timberwolves’ throat to make this happen in a sign-and-trade with Monroe, but the fit would be excellent.
Verdict: Almost a real contender. If the young players develop and a combination of fantastic chemistry and coaching takes over, why not?
Indiana Pacers
Roy Hibbert, David West and two first rounders for Love and Gorgui Dieng? Anyone? Minnesota fans fell in love with Dieng so I shouldn’t even be suggesting this. There’s no need to go further into detail about this would help the Pacers, sufficed to say it’s 99% likely over. That would be the title, even if they had to lose West and Hibbert.
Verdict: Let the parade begin!
Miami Heat
Let’s go home ladies and gentlemen. The neat thing about Love on the Heat is that the could play 5-out and still be big. Basically an unbeatable team.
Verdict: Unfair.
Milwaukee Bucks
Yes, the Bucks were hilariously bad, but in a way that couldn’t be predicted before the season. They were supposed to be a weak, middle-of-the-pack team in the east but had horrible luck with injury, O.J. Mayo fatness and Larry Sanders… stuff. They have the second pick in the draft and if they (extremely ridiculously hypothetically) paired up a rim protecting young center like Joel Embiid with Kevin Love, they would have a really cool big man mix (at least theoretically). How much of Milwaukee’s misfortunes is reversible it’s hard to say, who know is Mayo comes to another NBA camp again in shape, or if Sanders turns out to be one of those cautionary tales, but even Kevin Love would not be the answer(not that he is coming).
Verdict: Don’t want to think about it.
New York Knicks
Love would be a wonderful fit alongside Tyson Chandler, a-la Dirk Nowitzki circa 2011. Together with Melo this could be a really high powered offense with some creativity. If you small balled you couldn’t stop anyone but you’re not getting stopped either, and playing them together might make for some of the most exciting basketball in the entire league, albeit there aren’t enough balls in the gym once J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr decide to check into the game. The Knicks actually have enough cap for one more max slot after next season when Bargnani, Stoudemire and Chandler are off the books. If Kevin Love wants to play under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, he could actually make that happen. Doesn’t give a great shot for a title though.
Verdict: Awesome high-powered offense that is just a perimeter stopper or two away from a title. Helps if you don’t have the worst starting point guard in the league. In 2015-16, second round road kill.
Orlando Magic
The Magic were the second worst offense in the league, and even though they don’t have the material to be a great offense, they compounded the problem with horrific shot selection, taking the most long two’s in the entire league(22.6 percent). Kyle O’Quinn did an admirable job at the power forward/center positions, but they really need a big and Love would be a great fit. Orlando was a pretty putrid three point shooting team, and they really lack consistency in that area. Reportedly, they are targeting a point guard in the draft and with Kevin Love they would have a really interesting young core to build on. They can play small and play stretch-y fours alongside Love in Tobias Harris and Andrew Nicholson. Kevin Love is not going to Orlando, but if he were there, this would be the most interesting up-and-coming team in the league.
Verdict: Fun and young make-it-to-the-first-round-of-the-playoffs-in-the-first-year-and-be-happy-team.
Philadelphia 76ers
Philly already has what they consider two blue chip prospects with Michael-Carter Williams and Nerlens Noel, and a number three and number ten pick in this year’s loaded draft.
Do you flip both those picks and Thaddeus Young, a nice but expendable piece for Love? Probably. If you’re Minnesota do you say yes? Maybe, there might not be better offers on the table and you can’t let Love leave for absolutely nothing. The Sixers obviously have a ton of cap space, and could accelerate the rebuilding process by signing free agents immediately to help the team. There’s no need to mention that the Sixers sucked at everything that relates to NBA basketball this year, and Love is really good and would help them in everything.
Love with four lottery picks won’t happen, but just Love with MCW and Noel already is quite the exciting prospect.
Verdict: Surprisingly cool to watch.
Toronto Raptors
Who wouldn’t want to have a starting line up of Lowry, DeRozan, Ross, Love and Valanciunas? Add to that hard nosed screening and effort from Amir Johnson and Tyler Hansbrough, one of the best back up point guards in Greivis Vasquez and some shooting from Patrick Patterson and Steve Novak and you really have something special. What a great young nucleus that would be but we can only dream. Love would create more driving lanes and space for DeRozan and Lowry, Valanciunas would have a high-low buddy, this would be too good to be true and unfortunately it is. The Raptors don’t really even have an enticing packet to throw at the Timberwolves, without gutting the roster and Love isn’t staying in Toronto if that happened(not to suggest the remote possibility that he is going to the Raptors)
Verdict: *singing* You’re just too good to be truuuuue. Awesome on paper though.
Washington Wizards
All season these Wizards this was between average and a bit better than average. They do turn into a lot scarier team when Nene is on the floor, but there’s always some injury nagging him and limiting his minutes. With Love, the Wizards could rest Nene and Love would be sure to find a great chemistry with Gortat. They haven’t had great coaching, but run a solid if a tad uncreative system and Love would be a great fit. Put Love with Nene and you’ll have wonderful passing, and Wall could have anything he wanted in the lane. This team would be a great fit and could grow together for years to come. The Wizards offense and defense ranked 17th and 9th respectively. Love would instantly vault the offense into the top ten and with a bit of internal growth they could be able to keep the defense at a high level. A top 10 mark in both offense and defense is a sort of mark of title contention, or at least a preemptive sign of a good playoff run, and they Wizards could be exactly that, a fringe contender. In reality they don’t have the pieces to pull this off without parting with Beal, and straight up you would trade Beal for Love a hundred times out of a hundred, but anything like that is very unlikely to occur.
Verdict: Fringe contender just a few years away.
