[Love] Love returning to Cleveland.

[celticsclay]

The East is theirs for the foreseeable future...

Love is starting to have the injury prone label, and Kyrie hasn't been a picture of health. Fully healthy they will be the best team on paper in the East. However, I don't really think they are better than the Heat Teams that had a younger Lebron, Wade, Bosh with Allen and others forming a solid bench. Plus nothing ever works out for Cleveland.

[Who]

Dumb decision. Left money on the table by taking a 5 year deal instead of a 1-2 year deal. Accepted being turned into a role player instead of an All-Star.

He could have competed for a Championship elsewhere. This is pathetic.

So now, in addition to vilifying guys for being all about the money and not prioritizing winning, we're going to vilify guys for prioritizing winning and not being all about the money?

I think it's fair to question a guy for being content to waste his talent as a role player on a stacked team.  Love apparently has no interest in being a top option again like he was in Minnesota, instead happy to just be a spot up shooter and occasional inside scorer next to LeBron and Kyrie.

He is 26 years old. He shouldn't be accepting a role player's job. The guy twice averaged 26ppg along with 12.5-13.3rpg. He is the 2nd most skilled big man in the league (for my money) behind Dirk Nowitzki.

And he is staying on this team ... to be demeaned and treated as if he is nothing more than a Ryan Anderson level role player.

What a waste of talent.

I want to see the best players in the league play.

Not waste their prime locked up in a straight jacket.

[Endless Paradise]

If by media driven, you mean the media observed that Love was obviously unhappy in Cleveland and with his role on the team, then yes.

No, I quite clearly meant what I actually said, not what you're choosing to interpret my words as.

Dumb decision. Left money on the table by taking a 5 year deal instead of a 1-2 year deal. Accepted being turned into a role player instead of an All-Star.

He could have competed for a Championship elsewhere. This is pathetic.

So now, in addition to vilifying guys for being all about the money and not prioritizing winning, we're going to vilify guys for prioritizing winning and not being all about the money?

I think it's fair to question a guy for being content to waste his talent as a role player on a stacked team.  Love apparently has no interest in being a top option again like he was in Minnesota, instead happy to just be a spot up shooter and occasional inside scorer next to LeBron and Kyrie.

So what happened to "winning takes sacrifice and players who aren't willing to do that are selfish and only focused on personal accolades"?

I don't see how you can have it both ways. We kill guys like Melo for taking the money and getting their numbers, but then we turn around and kill guys for Love for settling in the name of winning.

People complain for the sake of complaining.

[j804]

The East is theirs for the foreseeable future...

Yea this sucks

[MBunge]

Dumb decision. Left money on the table by taking a 5 year deal instead of a 1-2 year deal. Accepted being turned into a role player instead of an All-Star.

He could have competed for a Championship elsewhere. This is pathetic.

So now, in addition to vilifying guys for being all about the money and not prioritizing winning, we're going to vilify guys for prioritizing winning and not being all about the money?

If Kevin Love is happy winning titles and being Chris Bosh, I don't think too many people will criticize him for that.  If he starts whining about his role or about not getting attention or about not being considered one of the top players in the league, THAT'S when he'll get slammed.

Mike

[RJ87]

Dumb decision. Left money on the table by taking a 5 year deal instead of a 1-2 year deal. Accepted being turned into a role player instead of an All-Star.

He could have competed for a Championship elsewhere. This is pathetic.

So now, in addition to vilifying guys for being all about the money and not prioritizing winning, we're going to vilify guys for prioritizing winning and not being all about the money?

You only want to win if you want to sign with the Celtics, don't you know?

That Cleveland team is likely going right back to the finals next year. No, he won't be a top option but he'll likely get a ring or two. Though it's funny no one is complaining about Lamarcus Aldridge possibly going to San Antonio.

[Endless Paradise]

Dumb decision. Left money on the table by taking a 5 year deal instead of a 1-2 year deal. Accepted being turned into a role player instead of an All-Star.

He could have competed for a Championship elsewhere. This is pathetic.

So now, in addition to vilifying guys for being all about the money and not prioritizing winning, we're going to vilify guys for prioritizing winning and not being all about the money?

If Kevin Love is happy winning titles and being Chris Bosh, I don't think too many people will criticize him for that.  If he starts whining about his role or about not getting attention or about not being considered one of the top players in the league, THAT'S when he'll get slammed.

Mike

I agree. The issue is that, outside of the time he said that he's not a stretch 4, ALL of these reports were of the "sources say..." variety. That is, Love himself wasn't going public with any acrimony towards Cleveland -- but the media sure wanted us to believe that was the case.

[PhoSita]

So what happened to "winning takes sacrifice and players who aren't willing to do that are selfish and only focused on personal accolades"?

I don't see how you can have it both ways. We kill guys like Melo for taking the money, but then we turn around and kill guys for Love for settling in the name of winning.

People complain for the sake of complaining.

I think we can find a balance, right?

I mean, would we applaud if all of the All-Stars in the East hit free agency at the same time and signed for the minimum to play with LeBron?

Somewhere there's a line where we want to see guys look for an opportunity that will allow them to win while also making the most of their talents.

[SparzWizard]

The East is theirs for the foreseeable future...

Hold up! We still got the Atlanta Hawks too!

Wait a sec...they got swept in the playoffs by a true championship-caliber team in the east, nevermind 

[fairweatherfan]

Dumb decision. Left money on the table by taking a 5 year deal instead of a 1-2 year deal. Accepted being turned into a role player instead of an All-Star.

He could have competed for a Championship elsewhere. This is pathetic.

So now, in addition to vilifying guys for being all about the money and not prioritizing winning, we're going to vilify guys for prioritizing winning and not being all about the money?

I think it's fair to question a guy for being content to waste his talent as a role player on a stacked team.  Love apparently has no interest in being a top option again like he was in Minnesota, instead happy to just be a spot up shooter and occasional inside scorer next to LeBron and Kyrie.

So what happened to "winning takes sacrifice and players who aren't willing to do that are selfish and only focused on personal accolades"?

I don't see how you can have it both ways. We kill guys like Melo for taking the money and getting their numbers, but then we turn around and kill guys for Love for settling in the name of winning.

People complain for the sake of complaining.

I don't want to speak for Who but for me there's a difference between criticizing a player personally - like calling him a loser or selfish or whatever - and being unhappy as a fan that a player chose to take a role far beneath his potential. 

I didn't care for Love much even when he was putting up monster #s in Minny but I can respect someone who appreciates his game more wanting to see his prime spent in as big a role as possible. 

It's also worth noting that just because some people criticize each kind of choice doesn't mean it's the same people criticizing both.

[saltlover]

The question I have is will LeBron now sign a long deal, or just another one year deal.  Love's in it for the long haul -- is the King in it too?

If LeBron signs another 1-year deal, he'll be eligible for a $30 mil salary next year.  Love will be over $20 mil, and Thompson and Irving will be around $17 mil.  That's a whopping $84 million for four players.  The meme has been that next year every team will have cap room, but I know one that won't...

[LarBrd33]

With cavs giving thompson 80 mil and re-signing Love.... do they intend to start both?   Crazy situation... Maybe they'll trade Love eventually.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Love is signing for five years, $110 million. He's not leaving Cleveland anytime soon.

Hopefully this ends all Love speculation for quite some time. I don't know if this means he's learned to be happy not being "the man," but hopefully we also go a long time without hearing anything more about him being unhappy in Cleveland.

Also, I'm glad the Lakers won't be getting him (or Aldridge). 

[jpotter33]

Have fun being a glorified role player in the hell-hole that is Cleveland, KLove!

What a waste...

[zubi.anaba]

With cavs giving thompson 80 mil and re-signing Love.... do they intend to start both?   Crazy situation... Maybe they'll trade Love eventually.

Cavs have 3 legit allstars and adequate role players in Mozgov, Delly, TT, Jr, SHump,Andy. All they could use is another back up 1 and 3. They have ZERO reason to trade Klove