I said it draft day and now after watching Kevin Love play professional basketball for the second time this year, I'll say it again. Kevin McHale was an idiot for trading O. J. Mayo for Kevin Love.
What made him think, judging by what he saw these two players do in the Pac-10 last year, that Kevin Love would be the better professional NBA player or even a better fit of a player for the Minnesota Timberwolves? Love looked, to be polite, bad both times I've seen him play. Randy Wittman, maybe one of the poorest excuses for an NBA coach in quite some time, has decided to place Love on the exterior of the offense thinking this will open things up for Al Jefferson. Yeah, here's the problem, Love can't hit an outside shot to save his life this year.
Love had a nice 15-17 footer in college. He is not, however, an 18-24 foot outside shooter. He's taking 35% of his shots from outside with a putrid 22%eFG% His 36.9% FG% and 11% 3PT% is dismal.
Love appears slow and pretty much a tweener big guy. Too short and not long enough or physical enough for a center. Not nearly close to being athletic enough for a PF.
Compare his numbers to the ROY numbers that Mayo is currently putting up on a surprising team in Memphis.
PTS REB AST STL BLK FG% FT% 3pt%
Mayo 20.0 4.8 2.3 1.33 0.08 43.5% 89.5% 40.0%
Love 8.8 6.2 1.2 0.55 0.82 36.9% 85.0% 11.1%
I really don't care how early in the season or their respective careers it is. Mayo showed huge amounts more pro potential in college and is exhibiting the same thing this year on the pro court. I think Mayo might just be the best talent and player to come out of last year's class and he fell into Kevin McHale's lap. And what did McHale do? He traded him out of town for what amounts to a third string PF on his club.
What a colossal bonehead of a move. McHale's Love love will ultimately be his worst move in a managerial career of full of horrible moves.
Nick, I think you are MASSIVELY jumping the gun on this one...Love is never going to be the scorer Mayo is, but his all-around game, smarts, and playing position in the frontcourt will make him a fine complement to Al Jefferson in time.
What you are seeing now is early-season inconsistency from a player who does not have the luxury of out of this world athleticism to help make up for the adjustment he is making to his role and the pace of the NBA game - in time, he will make this adjustment and become more consistent.
Love has had some outstanding moments in the NBA already as well as the poor. He is not knocking down his face-up shot, which to me is PURELY a comfortability thing - Love's 15-17 foot shot is money in the bank and will eventually create an outstanding high/low combo with Jefferson - having a duo like that in the front court will pay dividends in the long run.
Also, Minny got Mike Miller in this deal as well and he is suppose to be filling the wing scorer role that made it easier to make this trade. Right now, Miller isn't asserting himself enough and none of Minny's other perimeter players are scorers other than McCants. Gomes is having an uncharacteristically poor start to his 4th season and Randy Foye just isn't a dynamic scorer in the NBA.
Minny needs a go-to perimeter wing to complement the Jefferson/Love front court, but that is the easiest position to fill in the NBA and the team has the pieces to make a trade, the cap room to sign a FA, and the draft spot to take a lotto pick, (HELLO DeMar DeRozen!!!)
Kevin Love, IMO, will be a 17/10/4 PF who you can run the offense through - like Brad Miller - while Mayo will be a 25/5/5 PG/SG type. Mayo will be a bigger "star" but Love is going to be a great front court complement to Big Al and Minny should have no problems acquiring the perimeter wing they need to make the trade work in their favor.
At the end of the day, I don't think Mayo is such a prodigious talent that Minny can pass up a deal that solidifies their C/PF position for the next 10 years while adding a vet wing, (Miller) to boot.
When you focus on long term rebuilding strategy and look at the wealth of wing talent in the area Minny will be drafting in, its sound strategy. Trades aren't always about the one-for-one exchange of players - not when an organization is trying to build an entire nucleus.
Mayo is very nice, but Love is a player too and the odds favor grabbing a starting PF before a starting SG based on FA cost of each position, talent available, current roster makeup, and percent chance of adding a wing of comparable talent...
...if Minny gets DeRozen, Holiday, Evens, or Harden in next year's draft, they will have the scoring they need to complement Jefferson/Love...Jefferson makes the caliber of wing player necissary a lot easier to find...and Mayo will be pining for that dominant big long after Minny has gone into fine-tuning mode - unless you're a big fan of Darrel Arthur!