Kevin Love's Stats:
last year with Minny: 26.1 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 4.4 apg
this year with CLE: 17.0 ppg 10.2 rpg, 2.3 apg
KG Stats
Final year with Minny: 22.4 ppg, 12.8 rpg, 4.1 apg
First year with Boston: 18.8 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 3.4 apg
Very similar situations. Not many people said KG's value was diminishing when he came here. Look at the big picture!
I think it is more about the drop in points and rebounds and assists for Love. I think the area he was most exposed this year was his defense. The Cavaliers, and everyone else, knew he was not a great defensive player at the time of the trade. However, I think they thought pairing him with an elite defender like Lebron and a solid guy like Varejo he would at least be able to deter a few people inside on defense. The fact was, his defense was much worse than advertised and, after the expected Andy V injury, their frontline defense became such a problem they were just an average team. They traded away two firsts for Mosgov after seeing how bad it got for them (which at least to me seems like a desperation overpay even though it has helped immensely).
Now you enter this offseason how perceive Love is a bit different, at least for me. Last season I was thinking he automatically made a team competitive and was a superstar. Now I see a lot more credence to the concept that he was putting up stats on a bad team. He can still get points and rebounds but he has a lot of limitations. He can't really create his own shot that well, he needs to be paired with a defensive minded center and he has also shown slight signs of being a bit of a diva. I wouldn't want to build my team around a star or pay him 20 million dollars with those exposed shortcomings.
Also for the poster saying he was a top 15 player....this is for the current season not taking into account contracts or age. The contract would obviously push him down a lot further.
(Not in particular order)
1) Lebron
2) Westbrook
3) Harden
4) Durant
5) Blake
6) Curry
7) Aldridge
Paul (see the clippers the last month)
9) Davis
10) Cousins
11) John Wall
12) Howard (if healthy)
13) Horford
14) Marc Gasol
15) Carmelo
16) Klay Thompson
17) Randolph
18) Bosh?
19) Milsap
20) George
21) Bledsoe
I admit when you get down to the late teens and early twenties it becomes more interesting point of debate, but all the players in the top 15 are either two way players or really elite at one skills (curry, harden). Love just isn't at that level.