Glen Taylor (owner) wants to keep K. Love

[Fafnir]

That statistic you are referring to...I recall seeing/reading/hearing it as well.

Something along the lines of best point differential for a non-playoff team in some-odd number of years. They lost like a dozen games by single digits. Yadda yadda ya.

Hey Taylor - your player wants out. Either move him or get nothing.

Basically they severely under performed in late game clutch situations, leading them to bad record compared to their point differential.

Though Rubio/Barea/Brewer were a huge part of that clutch failures so I'm not sure if they should expect a ton of improvement.

[Birdman]

Minnesota are going to be like Phoenix and Toronto..Amare left Phoenix and Bosh left Toronto both teams knowing they wasn't going to resign with them..could have traded them and got something but instead got nothing..same will happen with the T-Wolves when Love signs with the Lakers next summer

[Sketch5]

"My response is that we are going to look at everything that makes sense that would make our team better," Taylor told NBA TV, "but we are not going to move a superb player like that without getting equal or more value back."

NBA TV analyst Steve Smith, who interviewed Taylor, said the Wolves could push for a playoff spot in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference this season.

Taylor concurred.

"I think our team is just on the border," Taylor said. "We lost too many close games last year, and having Kevin Love there as, right now, the heart of our team ... I would like to have Kevin back and play under Flip (Saunders) and see how the coaches will utilize him with the other players."

http://www.twincities.com/timberwolves/ci_26163648/timberwolves-taylor-i-want-kevin-love-team-this

He may be posturing or he may be serious. We really don't know.
[/quote]


If Minny really wants an equal return, or more value than Love they are fooling them selves. Very rarely when a play like Love is on the market do the team get a equal player in return, wouldn't make sense. Nor do they get great value for them. Especially  when a player wants out and made it known.

Minny's best bet is to start over. They haven't drafted well, and they need to grab a player in the draft and build from their. Lavine looked pretty good so far, so there is a start. Grab some picks from a team like, I don't know, Boston? And cut bait with as much contracts as possible.

Teams don't want to give up a Thompson or Wiggins, they need to get that straight. They'll get lesser players, but more of them and picks and hope one of them stick.

DA got luck with Sully and KO drafting them while the team was still some what good. Now with Smart and Young, they have a nice core of young players adding AB to that mix, and possible Zeller. But a lot of that was done because of deals they made, and sacrificed a season to get Smart.

I hope they keep Love at this pint and he heads out. Just I think he'll end up in LA, unless they really stick. At least Boston could give him a nice pitch of having a good young team, cap space, and a Really good player (Rondo) who isn't almost 40 years old and about to retire...

[LooseCannon]

Minnesota are going to be like Phoenix and Toronto..Amare left Phoenix and Bosh left Toronto both teams knowing they wasn't going to resign with them..could have traded them and got something but instead got nothing..same will happen with the T-Wolves when Love signs with the Lakers next summer

Phoenix got a trade exception (not used) and a protected second-round pick that failed to materialize.  Toronto got a trade exception (used to absorb Peja Stojakovic is a trade with Jerreyd Bayless for David Andersen, Jarret Jack and Marcus Banks), the first round pick used on Jonas Valanciunas, and a first that was traded for James Johnson (and was eventually used on Norris Cole).

[cman88]

this is GREAT news for C's chances of nabbing love. If he stays with the team into the season, NO WAY teams are giving up THompson or Wiggins for him(and they arent even now)

if Sullinger/olynyk up their value during the season, all Ainge has to offer Flip is them and maybe a couple picks.

But, right here is why you see this franchise has not accomplished anything.

[SHAQATTACK]

I doubt Minn has the ability to add players around Love .....via free agency to make Love happy and them a contender .

They should know this and KLove knows this ...

Min has to rebuild via the draft .....hope to get a run of Luck lik Cleveland

Cleveland has the added benefit that LeBron LIKES Ohio ......

Minds best chance is to tank like 76 's .....tank it to the max and draft a few lottery guys

Before the NBA changes the rules so you can. 'T tank into the lottery more than like two or three years in a row .

If they can get Klay Thompson ..then tank into the Lottery for two more years , then they have a something to look forward to.  Thompson has to sign for five years ....to give the time to rebuild.

[D.o.s.]

There's some evidence to suggest that the Timberwolves should've made the playoffs last season.

I'm sure Flip has shown it to their owner.

Not really.

Other than Kevin Love, the team sucks and the Western Conference is stacked.

There is, actually. I can't dig it up right now, but I believe it has something do with their abnormal penchant for blowing winnable games and some other fairly legitimate metric. I think it was in a Lowe article, but I don't have time to look for it at the moment.

Are you talking about this? Pythagorean win percentage

"Here are the current standings of the 11 Western Conference teams with seemingly realistic playoff hopes:

1. Spurs, 31-8
2. Trail Blazers, 29-9
3. Thunder, 29-10
4. Clippers, 27-13
5. Rockets, 26-15
6. Warriors, 25-15
7. Suns, 22-16
8. Mavericks, 23-17
9. Nuggets, 20-18
10. Grizzlies, 19-19
11. Timberwolves, 18-20

And here are the standings if we used Pythagorean win percentage, historically a better indicator of future success than standard win percentage:

1. Spurs, 29-10
2. Thunder, 28-11
3. Trail Blazers, 27-11
4. Clippers, 27-13
5. Warriors, 26-14
6. Timberwolves, 24-14
7. Rockets, 25-16
8. Suns, 22-16
9. Mavericks, 22-18
10. Nuggets, 20-18
11. Grizzlies, 18-20

However, even if they immediately begin playing like the team Pythagorean win percentage says they are, their 18-20 start will weigh down their record. Here’s what the end-of-season standings will look like if each team wins at their current Pythagorean rate the rest of the year:

1. Spurs, 63-19
2. Thunder, 60-22
2. Trail Blazers, 60-22
4. Clippers, 55-27
5. Warriors, 52-30
6. Rockets, 51-31
7. Suns, 47-35
8. Timberwolves, 46-36
8. Mavericks, 46-36
10. Nuggets, 43-39
11. Grizzlies, 40-42
"

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/17/rick-adelman-to-minnesota-timberwolves-if-you-think-youre-a-playoff-team-why-dont-you-just-forget-it/

I remember reading that article, but I was actually referring to the one McHale's pits referenced: point differential.

Found the links:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-question-of-kevin-love/

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10664802/nba-top-10-nba-players-numbers

Pertinent bits from the insider article:

Love is in a unique spot. There's no track record of top-three players not appearing in the playoffs any of their first seven seasons. At the same time, there's also no track record of teams with a point differential as good as Minnesota's (plus-3.0 PPG) missing the playoffs. The Timberwolves are on track to surpass the 2000-01 Houston Rockets, who outscored opponents by 2.3 points per game, as the best lottery team by this measure since the ABA-NBA merger.

Love deserves some blame for Minnesota underperforming. According to NBA.com/stats, his true shooting percentage drops to .499 in the last five minutes with the score within five points, ranking him 32nd of the 49 players with a usage rate of at least 25 percent in such situations. And Love's poor interior defense also is a factor in the Wolves' inability to stop opponents late in games. But Minnesota might not play so many close games if the bench wasn't continually blowing leads Love helped create.

[Quetzalcoatl]

When does the NBA schedule get released?  Let's hope they don't play any Eastern teams until after the trade deadline 

[JOMVP]

I'm hoping Minnesota finally gets over this idea that they can get back established players in a trade for Love.

Its not happening. Get over it. Resign to the fact that you messed up your franchise over the past couple years and start over. You need to build through the draft, and oh hey, here is a ton of draft picks that we just found. Let me check my back pocket... oh look, another draft pick.

Just don't use them on the likes of Johnny Flynn, and Derrick Williams, and Corey Brewer, and Wesley Johnson... the list just goes on and on for bad drafting.

[cman88]

not to mention, I dont see how Minnesota sniffs the playoffs next year. Alot of teams just got stronger in that conference that should make a jump

[JOMVP]

Wesley Johnson... oh my god what an epic failure of a pick that was.

[LooseCannon]

I'm hoping Minnesota finally gets over this idea that they can get back established players in a trade for Love.

I expect they will, but not until January.