That explains a lot. I suspect a little personal bias.
It's entirely personal bias. I was briefly excited about the Wolves last year, 'cause of Brandon Roy, but that's it. I like Corey Brewer, too -- even though he's got the opposite problem, in that people think he's a better defender than he is.
Fair enough. As our resident Kevin Love expert, care to answer some questions?
#1 - Is Love's defense as bad as everyone thinks or is defense just not a priority in Minnesota? I've seen systems transform players before... Pierce and Ray weren't really considered great defenders prior to merging of the Big 3 and the implementation of a defense-first mentality.
#2 - Some folks say Love isn't a shot-creator. Is this accurate? He's a top 5 scorer in the NBA and appears to do it rather efficiently. Is he just hitting open shots or is he doing work?
#3 - Having watched 75% of the T-Wolves games, how do you feel Rubio compares to Rondo. Do you imagine Love's productivity/efficiency would improve, stay the same or get worse next to Rondo?
#4 - Is Love's passing overrated? My impression is that he's an elite passer for a big. Is that overblown? Can you run an offense through him? Would the Wolves have been better just running the ball through Love and replacing Rubio with a capable shooter... or does he need an elite playmaker to be effective?
#5 - What particularly do you feel makes Love overrated? You seem very opposed to bringing him in. This team lacks scoring and rebounding... seems Love is elite at both... wouldn't he be a big help?
Expert I am not, especially since he was out most of last year.
1 -- Some of it is systemic, since the Wolves are/were much closer to 'outscoring' than 'contesting shots'. Some of it was Love being hidden on the less aggressive big, some of it is simply that he doesn't think defensively: That's dangerously close to being one of those dumb 'hot sports takes', but he's a bad defender who doesn't really seem to commit himself to the idea that 'yes, I can stop this guy from scoring the basketball'.
The salient number for that, then, is the fact that his opponent's FG% at the rim is 57.4%, and that's based on the roughly 9 opponent field goal attempts a game. (The whole team's D, by the way, was awful -- their best defender was Ronny Turiaf.) Love is not a good defender, and he absolutely needs to be paired with one in the front court if he's going to be on a winning team.
those numbers are here:
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingDefense.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=25&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&filters=TeamAbbr*E*MIN
2 -- depends on what you mean. He's not a Paul Pierce, he's not a guy you give the ball to in isolation, and he never drives to the hoop. Ever. He played in 77 games last year and only drove 84 times. Despite that, he still gets to the line 8-9 times a game, so its not like he needs to do that, necessarily, to get his points. His post game is underrated, maybe, because of his range, so he's great on the offensive end for the threat he provides. He's the Platonic ideal of a stretch four, but he's not an offensive juggernaut, in that you don't get that sort of awed feeling when he has the ball, if that makes any sense.
those numbers here:
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingDrives.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=25&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&filters=TeamAbbr*E*MIN
3 -- Rubio, right now, was the worst case scenario everyone was throwing around before Rondo got back to the injury. The guy is still one of the most effortlessly amazing passers out there, but his team is crap (and that assessment includes Kevin Love). Rubio desperately needs to be surrounded by quality teammates in order for him to play well. Love might play better next to Rondo, but I suspect their relationship on the court will be relatively similar -- the difference is that Boston will most likely be able to field a much better team around them.
4 -- His outlet passing is superb. And, partly because he's not a guy who can break you down, Love passes the ball a lot -- he needs the ball in his spots. He doesn't make many passes that end in free throw attempts, but to put it in perspective: he passes the ball more than Sully and Olynyk combined.
[passing data here:
http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingPassing.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=25&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&filters=TeamAbbr*E*MIN&sortField=PTS_CRT&sortOrder=DES
5 -- his rebounding is slightly overrated: almost 2/3rds of his boards are uncontested, and he's literally the only one mopping up the glass on either end of the floor. That said, beyond the fact that I'm not enamored with Love's game aesthetically, I'm all in on bringing him here, provided the price isn't too heavy on draft picks. He's significantly better than any of our bigs, and Rondo + Love isn't a terrible starting point for re-entry into the playoffs. I don't think he's worth the 'Big Ticket' price that many trade scenarios here envision, even though I agree that our assets, as far as real players go, are not that exciting.
