Kevin Love prefers to be traded to Blazers. Thompson also available

[Donoghus]

My initial gut reaction on the question of Love being a HOFer or not is to say no.  But we're also talking Springfield here and it really seems to border more on a "Hall of Very Good" and not necessarily a "Hall of Fame" so it wouldn't shock me if he eventually got in.   

Webber certainly seems more deserving and I hold a forever soft spot in my heart for Kemp although I think his case is a little more murky. 

[gpap]

From what I saw the other night, I’m set with both Love and Thompson.

[Amonkey]

From what I saw the other night, I’m set with both Love and Thompson.

I think Tristan is still a good role player as a big man. I think he creates havoc with those offensive rebounds. However, on this team there's really not that much for a need. I think he's a better offensive rebounder than Kanter but Kanter has better offensive post moves. Essentially, not that much of a difference.

[td450]

From what I saw the other night, I’m set with both Love and Thompson.

I think Tristan is still a good role player as a big man. I think he creates havoc with those offensive rebounds. However, on this team there's really not that much for a need. I think he's a better offensive rebounder than Kanter but Kanter has better offensive post moves. Essentially, not that much of a difference.

Keep in mind that some of that depends on offensive sets. There is a tradeoff between offensive rebounding positioning and spacing to give your team room to drive. I think Stevens prefers more of the latter.

[fairweatherfan]

My initial gut reaction on the question of Love being a HOFer or not is to say no.  But we're also talking Springfield here and it really seems to border more on a "Hall of Very Good" and not necessarily a "Hall of Fame" so it wouldn't shock me if he eventually got in.   

Webber certainly seems more deserving and I hold a forever soft spot in my heart for Kemp although I think his case is a little more murky.

That's what I'm saying! It's not that his resume is so impressive that an ideal Hall of Fame would admit it, it's that it's probably good enough for the real world Hall of Fame to really let him in.

[gpap]

From what I saw the other night, I’m set with both Love and Thompson.

I think Tristan is still a good role player as a big man. I think he creates havoc with those offensive rebounds. However, on this team there's really not that much for a need. I think he's a better offensive rebounder than Kanter but Kanter has better offensive post moves. Essentially, not that much of a difference.

My issue with Thompson is he can’t shoot free throws worth a lick

[gpap]

From what I saw the other night, I’m set with both Love and Thompson.

I think Tristan is still a good role player as a big man. I think he creates havoc with those offensive rebounds. However, on this team there's really not that much for a need. I think he's a better offensive rebounder than Kanter but Kanter has better offensive post moves. Essentially, not that much of a difference.

Keep in mind that some of that depends on offensive sets. There is a tradeoff between offensive rebounding positioning and spacing to give your team room to drive. I think Stevens prefers more of the latter.

We still need a big, but preferably someone a little more versatile than Thompson. Honestly, I think Kanter is better than TT.

[Tr1boy]

From what I saw the other night, I’m set with both Love and Thompson.

I think Tristan is still a good role player as a big man. I think he creates havoc with those offensive rebounds. However, on this team there's really not that much for a need. I think he's a better offensive rebounder than Kanter but Kanter has better offensive post moves. Essentially, not that much of a difference.

Keep in mind that some of that depends on offensive sets. There is a tradeoff between offensive rebounding positioning and spacing to give your team room to drive. I think Stevens prefers more of the latter.

We still need a big, but preferably someone a little more versatile than Thompson. Honestly, I think Kanter is better than TT.

you must be joking

TT is a machine and an excellent versatile defender.  Also gets to the line quite a bit (though FT is so so). He is better than Kanter

Celts should explore a way to bring TT onboard

[Somebody]

My initial gut reaction on the question of Love being a HOFer or not is to say no.  But we're also talking Springfield here and it really seems to border more on a "Hall of Very Good" and not necessarily a "Hall of Fame" so it wouldn't shock me if he eventually got in.   

Webber certainly seems more deserving and I hold a forever soft spot in my heart for Kemp although I think his case is a little more murky.

I think Webber put in a lot of quality years in his career - he never peaked as an MVP candidate, but he threw in quite some All-NBA seasons.

[Moranis]

My initial gut reaction on the question of Love being a HOFer or not is to say no.  But we're also talking Springfield here and it really seems to border more on a "Hall of Very Good" and not necessarily a "Hall of Fame" so it wouldn't shock me if he eventually got in.   

Webber certainly seems more deserving and I hold a forever soft spot in my heart for Kemp although I think his case is a little more murky.

I think Webber put in a lot of quality years in his career - he never peaked as an MVP candidate, but he threw in quite some All-NBA seasons.

5 times Webber got MVP votes, peaking by finishing 4th in 2001.  He also finished 7th twice, 9th, and 10th.  So he was a MVP candidate at least in 2001.  That year he even got 5 1st place votes and finished with 521 points.  Iverson won with 1121 points, Duncan was 2nd with 706 points, and Shaq was 3rd with 578 points.  Garnett was 5th, but only had 121 points.  I think if Webber would have played more than 70 games he might have eclipsed Shaq for 3rd (the Kings were just 7-5 in the 12 games he missed). 

[Somebody]

My initial gut reaction on the question of Love being a HOFer or not is to say no.  But we're also talking Springfield here and it really seems to border more on a "Hall of Very Good" and not necessarily a "Hall of Fame" so it wouldn't shock me if he eventually got in.   

Webber certainly seems more deserving and I hold a forever soft spot in my heart for Kemp although I think his case is a little more murky.

I think Webber put in a lot of quality years in his career - he never peaked as an MVP candidate, but he threw in quite some All-NBA seasons.

5 times Webber got MVP votes, peaking by finishing 4th in 2001.  He also finished 7th twice, 9th, and 10th.  So he was a MVP candidate at least in 2001.  That year he even got 5 1st place votes and finished with 521 points.  Iverson won with 1121 points, Duncan was 2nd with 706 points, and Shaq was 3rd with 578 points.  Garnett was 5th, but only had 121 points.  I think if Webber would have played more than 70 games he might have eclipsed Shaq for 3rd (the Kings were just 7-5 in the 12 games he missed).

I don't put any weight into NBA accolades and honours when it comes to evaluating a player anymore - they feel hollow to me when you have Moses Malone winning 3 MVPs during the dominance of Kareem and Bird, Allen Iverson winning an MVP when Shaq was in the midst of his amazing 3 year apex, Westbrook winning MVP over Harden because of the narrative that he averaged a triple double and many more egregious examples.

I simply don't think that Webber had an MVP calibre peak. His offence was excellent in his best years, but they were a step below that of Duncan/Dirk/Garnett - he didn't have that resilient set of skills on offence to be a high efficiency volume scorer in the playoffs like Duncan and Dirk, and he wasn't as good as Garnett when it came to his complementary skills (he wasn't as good as a floor spacer and his finishing around the rim was lacking compared to a cyborg like Garnett). Then there was the matter of his defence - he was a solid defender, but two way megastars like Garnett and Duncan were in a different universe compared to him on that end of the floor. He might've been comparable to Dirk during that period (his 2002 campaign was probably even better than Dirk's), but that only gives him an All-NBA peak due to his lack of two way impact and transcendent offence.

[Fafnir]

I am not here for any besmirching of Moses Malone. Especially when his team beat the Lakers one of his MVP years (and took out the team that swept the Celtics).

Dude was a monster and deserved his accolades.

[Donoghus]

I am not here for any besmirching of Moses Malone. Especially when his team beat the Lakers one of his MVP years (and took out the team that swept the Celtics).

Dude was a monster and deserved his accolades.

Absolutely.   Also, what he did with that '80-81 Houston squad in the playoffs was rather incredible.

His stretch from around '78-85 is bonkers.

[Somebody]

I am not here for any besmirching of Moses Malone. Especially when his team beat the Lakers one of his MVP years (and took out the team that swept the Celtics).

Dude was a monster and deserved his accolades.

Absolutely.   Also, what he did with that '80-81 Houston squad in the playoffs was rather incredible.

His stretch from around '78-85 is bonkers.

Lots of players had incredible runs, it doesn't make them worthy of an award over players better than them.

[Donoghus]

I am not here for any besmirching of Moses Malone. Especially when his team beat the Lakers one of his MVP years (and took out the team that swept the Celtics).

Dude was a monster and deserved his accolades.

Absolutely.   Also, what he did with that '80-81 Houston squad in the playoffs was rather incredible.

His stretch from around '78-85 is bonkers.

Lots of players had incredible runs, it doesn't make them worthy of an award over players better than them.

Apparently, the MVP voters didn't agree with you there.