Is Kevin Love Overrated.

[fitzhickey]

Karl Malone and Anthony Mason were both super strong guys.





Big difference between our guys and Malone

[BballTim]

Loves shortcoming on defense also has to do with a lack of exceptional height, wingspan and reach. But what bothers me is his lack of full out effort to compensate.

  I'm curious about how you seem so knowledgeable about Love's defense. Truthfully, how many games of his did you see last year? How much more than average attention did you pay to his defense and effort? If I randomly chose some players on other teams could you tell me (without checking the internet) how well they defend and how hard they try on defense?

[indeedproceed]

what player do fans here WANT the C's to use all their assets on? because there arent many stars who average 25ppg, 12rpg coming on the market the next 5 years,

and Danny surely isnt going to field 10draft picks over the next 5 years, nor do I think Sullinger/Olynyk are our answers as "stars" to lead the team.

I recall people thinking the cost for KG was too high at the time...now Kevin Love is not KG, but he IS an all-star level talent in this league. he was 4th in scoring.

not sure why you would bank on "potential" vs. "actual"

I want LMA. Anthony Davis. If these players are not available trade our assets or even overpay a little for embiid or okafor next season

Right now sully and ko combined (with body improvements and experience) can provide the offensive production of love.

Then you have the 6th and 17th picks in a stong draft. All these assets are here to stay past this upcoming season also

Since unrealistic body improvements seem to be on the table for discussion, why stop there? Why not wait for Bradley to grow 4 more inches, Olynyk to develop blazing speed, and Jeff Green to grow a pair?

How is it unrealistic for ko to reach 260 and be in better condition?? Or sully to be more toned?

You had previously referred to Sully as developing and Anthony Mason type body, which is crazy.

Why??  Mason is a sully but with a conditioned body. Both big space eating players

So you honestly think Sully will become this?

Yes if he puts the work into it. You think mason or karl malone came into  the league that way?

Sully is a strong kig with a big lower base. Guys with big lower bases usually have an easier time building muscle

Karl Malone was a physical specimen the league didn't see again until Lebron James. The notion that KO or Sully have anything in common with first ballot HOF'er Karl Malone at this point is pretty far fetched.

[Tr1boy]

Well KOs body transformation from college soph to jr year was  considered highly impressive. And sully for his age is really strong.  With work they will come in next season better condition/strength. We are not talking about jajuan johnson uncertainty here

[ScubaSteve]

Loves shortcoming on defense also has to do with a lack of exceptional height, wingspan and reach. But what bothers me is his lack of full out effort to compensate.

I think it's funny that everybody's first criticism of Love is that he is a bad defender. While he may not be a great rim protector, his defensive rebounding skills are second to none in the NBA. I think sometimes as fans we tend to forget that the defensive possession doesn't end until someone either forces a turnover or secures a defensive rebound, something that Love does better than anyone else. So in a way Kevin Love is actually quite a good defender.

[D.o.s.]

Loves shortcoming on defense also has to do with a lack of exceptional height, wingspan and reach. But what bothers me is his lack of full out effort to compensate.

I think it's funny that everybody's first criticism of Love is that he is a bad defender. While he may not be a great rim protector, his defensive rebounding skills are second to none in the NBA. I think sometimes as fans we tend to forget that the defensive possession doesn't end until someone either forces a turnover or secures a defensive rebound, something that Love does better than anyone else. So in a way Kevin Love is actually quite a good defender.

Love secures defensive rebounds better than every other player in the NBA, eh?

[nickagneta]

KO took off an entire year and a half to transform his body between his sophomore and junior years. He stopped playing ball in March 2011 and didn't play competitively again until November 2012. He took all that time off to transform his body and the best he could do was what he currently is? That means he probably CAN'T transform his body much beyond what it already is. He is not going to be able to do in a few months what he couldn't do in 20 months at a younger age. Its just not going to happen.

[jambr380]

Loves shortcoming on defense also has to do with a lack of exceptional height, wingspan and reach. But what bothers me is his lack of full out effort to compensate.

I think it's funny that everybody's first criticism of Love is that he is a bad defender. While he may not be a great rim protector, his defensive rebounding skills are second to none in the NBA. I think sometimes as fans we tend to forget that the defensive possession doesn't end until someone either forces a turnover or secures a defensive rebound, something that Love does better than anyone else. So in a way Kevin Love is actually quite a good defender.

Love secures defensive rebounds better than every other player in the NBA, eh?

Well, technically he lead the league in DRPG this season with 9.6 - .1 ahead of DeAndre Jordan.

I am not a huge Love supporter on the defensive end, but he is correct in his assertion of Love's defensive rebounding ability.

[D.o.s.]

Love also grabs more uncontested boards than DeAndre Jordan, and some of his immediate contemporaries (and less than others, to be sure) so there's a question to be made about whether or not his defensive rebounding numbers are really an indication of good defense.

[Tr1boy]

KO took off an entire year and a half to transform his body between his sophomore and junior years. He stopped playing ball in March 2011 and didn't play competitively again until November 2012. He took all that time off to transform his body and the best he could do was what he currently is? That means he probably CAN'T transform his body much beyond what it already is. He is not going to be able to do in a few months what he couldn't do in 20 months at a younger age. Its just not going to happen.

Best he could on is put on 15-20 pounds of strength?

Man thats horrible

[McHales Pits]

Love also grabs more uncontested boards than DeAndre Jordan, and some of his immediate contemporaries (and less than others, to be sure) so there's a question to be made about whether or not his defensive rebounding numbers are really an indication of good defense.

The counterpoint to this is that Love's teammates know how good of a rebounder/outlet passer he is so they cheat down the court and let him gobble up boards and toss long passes down to them for easy baskets. Consequently, Love's opponents know of his penchant to throw court-length outlet passes after defensive boards so they have to guard against that - meaning that they have less guys to throw at the offensive glass.

In essence, his defensive rebounding and outlet passing is so good that he changes the way his teammates and opponents play the game.

[soap07]

Love also grabs more uncontested boards than DeAndre Jordan, and some of his immediate contemporaries (and less than others, to be sure) so there's a question to be made about whether or not his defensive rebounding numbers are really an indication of good defense.

Would you be able to back this up? Uncontested boards? What an arbitrary term.

[McHales Pits]

Here are the the Rebounding Stats from 2013/14. Infer what you will...

For those that don't download the link, Kevin Love ranks third in the NBA in contested rebounds per game...

[McHales Pits]

Love also grabs more uncontested boards than DeAndre Jordan, and some of his immediate contemporaries (and less than others, to be sure) so there's a question to be made about whether or not his defensive rebounding numbers are really an indication of good defense.

Would you be able to back this up? Uncontested boards? What an arbitrary term.

As you will see from my link (which came from NBA.com), this is not true. Jordan, Aldridge, Cousins, and Howard all grab more uncontested boards per game.

http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingRebounding.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=25&sortField=REB_UNCONTESTED&sortOrder=DES&SeasonType=Regular%20Season

[D.o.s.]

Love also grabs more uncontested boards than DeAndre Jordan, and some of his immediate contemporaries (and less than others, to be sure) so there's a question to be made about whether or not his defensive rebounding numbers are really an indication of good defense.

The counterpoint to this is that Love's teammates know how good of a rebounder/outlet passer he is so they cheat down the court and let him gobble up boards and toss long passes down to them for easy baskets. Consequently, Love's opponents know of his penchant to throw court-length outlet passes after defensive boards so they have to guard against that - meaning that they have less guys to throw at the offensive glass.

In essence, his defensive rebounding and outlet passing is so good that he changes the way his teammates and opponents play the game.

You could say that, except Love also grabs a lower percentage of rebounds per chance* among bigs that played at least 70 games last season than Jordan, Drummond, Cousins, Boozer, Howard, Derrick Williams (?!), and Al Jefferson. Of that list, relatively unsurprisingly, Love grabs more contested boards than Williams, Jefferson, Howard, and Boozer, so it looks like your 'in essence' theory doesn't have a whole lot of merit.


*The number of times player was within the vicinity (3.5 ft) of a rebound.

http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingRebounding.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=25&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&filters=GP*GE*70&sortField=REB_COL_PCT&sortOrder=DES

Kevin Love is a great rebounder, but the numbers don't definitively prove he's better than, say, Drummond or Jordan.