Really hard to imagine Kevin Love staying in Cleveland

[Celtics4ever]

It is even harder to imagine him coming here, he will go back to Cali on one of their teams.

[GetLucky]

(In response to celticsclay)

You do realize that a "measly" 9.7 rebounds per game is better than anyone on our team, or most teams, for that matter. Also, Love and Greg Monroe are the only two players in the NBA scoring 16+ ppg on 13 or fewer shots.

[celticsclay]

(In response to celticsclay)

You do realize that a "measly" 9.7 rebounds per game is better than anyone on our team, or most teams, for that matter. Also, Love and Greg Monroe are the only two players in the NBA scoring 16+ ppg on 13 or fewer shots.

Did I say measly 9.7? If I didn't I don't think you understand how quotation marks work. Further than that, I am not sure why you picked the middle number of a 3 month trend showing his rebounding numbers are declining.

[zubi.anaba]

Last  8 games he is averaging 8.3 points and 7.8 rebounds in about 30 minutes a game. This stretch includes games against good, bad and terrible teams with varying frontline skills. To act like this is a one game outlier and he hasn't been struggling statistically is ridiculous.

Yes and this 8 game stretch has coincided with him missing games vs Heat, Magic, Leaving the philly game in the 3rd quarter, sitting in the 4th for the SPurs game. This is all because of the back injury

BY the Way he is actually Avg 12.75ppg 8rpg in the last 8 games
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3449/kevin-love
Not sure were you getting you numbers from. Unless of course your counting the 0 points from the games he didnt play which would bring your cherry picking of stats to a whole new level

His rebounding has been declining pretty steadily for the 2 months going from a high of 11.1 in January to 9.7 in February to 8.8 in March. That is not cherry picking it is a decline over a 3rd of the season. This could be attributed to his back injury, but you say he has been battling that all season.

Not much else to say. The back has been an issue all season but recently started getting worse hence the extended breaks they been recently giving him. His rebounding is fine.

Sorry a guy a big than can launch 3's is not that unique, especially at 36% for the season. While I realize Channing Frye is over paid for his skillset (as is Ryan Anderson). A big that can stretch the floor at that percentage is hardly unique. If you really want me to bother posting a bunch of big men that can shoot 36% from 3 I will.

-Are those stretch 4s giving you 10rpg with their 3pt shooting??
-Are they good enough passers to give you 3-4apg??
-Are they capable of abusing their defender downlow given the right matchup??
-Are you capable of running plays (esp at the elbow) through them for good stretches of the game??
-Are Cavs capable of getting any of those players without giving up a key part of their current core??

If you cant definitively say yes to all those questions then you really dont have an argument

This could be argued both ways. If he really is concerned about his back. Would he want to risk it getting injured next year and not signing the longest contract he could this offseason?

Of course he wont risk it. Thats my point. He has back issues. Could easily get injured next year and miss out on big money. Cavs can offer him the most money and most yrs. He will sign the 5 yr deal this off season.

MOst of all this talk from Celtics/Lakers/Knick fans seems like wishful thinking. Maybe if he was actually linked to a contender it would make sense but instead its all lottery teams who would still easily been at best 2-3 yrs away from being legit title contenders. I am sure after wasting the first 7yrs of his career, he is just dying to waste more yrs on a losing team rather get the most money/most contract yrs and compete for a title NOW!!!!!

[D.o.s.]

I don't think it's likely that he'll sign a five year deal this offseason.

[Donoghus]

I don't think it's likely that he'll sign a five year deal this offseason.

He'd be nuts to, IMO.

[zubi.anaba]

I don't think it's likely that he'll sign a five year deal this offseason.

Without the back injury???Probably not

But the back thing being an issue all season, I can easily see it happening. His max will be 5 yrs 120mil!! Its not like he has endorsement coming out his ass like Lebron or as durable. Logically i just dont see him passing it up

[D.o.s.]

Perhaps because you haven't considered just how much more money he'll be able to sign for in 2016.

[celticsclay]

BY the Way he is actually Avg 12.75ppg 8rpg in the last 8 games
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3449/kevin-love
Not sure were you getting you numbers from. Unless of course your counting the 0 points from the games he didnt play which would bring your cherry picking of stats to a whole new level

I don't have a tool that summarizes his last 8 games on ESPN for me, and it is harder to calculate because he has missed games in the middle of it. It looks like somewhere I did make a mistake in my math, I was putting it on a calculator. So apologies for that. To make it less abstract I was including these games

11pts 4 rebounds
10 points 10 rebounds
18 points 7 rebounds
22 points 10 rebounds
9 points 3 rebounds
11 points 11 rebounds
10 point 11 rebounds
8 points 5 rebounds

Those are not horrible games, but aside from a really strong game against Memphis those are probably not max-level numbers. He also is really a legit 3a option with JR Smith as 3b on their team right now. Smith plays a few more minutes and they take a really similar amount of shots.

This goes back for roughly the last month of the season. He was playing well in the beginning of March, but he has also had other poor stretches this season. As for your points about minutes in all of these listed games they were all between 27 and 39 and it appears he is going to play about 33 minutes a game now so none of this is totally out of whack.

[Donoghus]

You two need to figure out the quote function.  This back & forth has been confusing as heck to follow.

[celticsclay]

Last  8 games he is averaging 8.3 points and 7.8 rebounds in about 30 minutes a game. This stretch includes games against good, bad and terrible teams with varying frontline skills. To act like this is a one game outlier and he hasn't been struggling statistically is ridiculous.

Yes and this 8 game stretch has coincided with him missing games vs Heat, Magic, Leaving the philly game in the 3rd quarter, sitting in the 4th for the SPurs game. This is all because of the back injury

BY the Way he is actually Avg 12.75ppg 8rpg in the last 8 games
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3449/kevin-love
Not sure were you getting you numbers from. Unless of course your counting the 0 points from the games he didnt play which would bring your cherry picking of stats to a whole new level

His rebounding has been declining pretty steadily for the 2 months going from a high of 11.1 in January to 9.7 in February to 8.8 in March. That is not cherry picking it is a decline over a 3rd of the season. This could be attributed to his back injury, but you say he has been battling that all season.

Not much else to say. The back has been an issue all season but recently started getting worse hence the extended breaks they been recently giving him. His rebounding is fine.

Sorry a guy a big than can launch 3's is not that unique, especially at 36% for the season. While I realize Channing Frye is over paid for his skillset (as is Ryan Anderson). A big that can stretch the floor at that percentage is hardly unique. If you really want me to bother posting a bunch of big men that can shoot 36% from 3 I will.

-Are those stretch 4s giving you 10rpg with their 3pt shooting??
-Are they good enough passers to give you 3-4apg??
-Are they capable of abusing their defender downlow given the right matchup??
-Are you capable of running plays (esp at the elbow) through them for good stretches of the game??
-Are Cavs capable of getting any of those players without giving up a key part of their current core??

If you cant definitively say yes to all those questions then you really dont have an argument

This could be argued both ways. If he really is concerned about his back. Would he want to risk it getting injured next year and not signing the longest contract he could this offseason?

Of course he wont risk it. Thats my point. He has back issues. Could easily get injured next year and miss out on big money. Cavs can offer him the most money and most yrs. He will sign the 5 yr deal this off season.

MOst of all this talk from Celtics/Lakers/Knick fans seems like wishful thinking. Maybe if he was actually linked to a contender it would make sense but instead its all lottery teams who would still easily been at best 2-3 yrs away from being legit title contenders. I am sure after wasting the first 7yrs of his career, he is just dying to waste more yrs on a losing team rather get the most money/most contract yrs and compete for a title NOW!!!!!

Your arguments are really all over the place and I am not sure what your general point is.
You seem to be saying he is a really great fit for the Cavs because they can run the defense through him on the elbow, he can abuse weaker defenders on the box and can give them a lot of rebounding. You also seem confident that he is going to sign a 5 year contract extension with them this offseason. I have not seen anyone even loosely associated with the NBA suggest the second point is going to happen this offseason.

Related to the first, he has himself discussed the challenge of adjusting to the role. If someone wants to dig up some quotes from Blatt about better integrating him into their offense I would happily give a TP. However, acting like it has been a really smooth fit seems a bit over the top. I am assuming at this point that you are a Cavs fan and really want to keep him. That is totally cool, but lets keep it somewhat realistic. By that same token, I don't think the Celtics are going to get him at all, and I am not even sure he is a great fit for us without other roster moves. If a team like Portland or Memphis were to lose Gasol or Aldridge this offseason those are two situations that I think would immediately become better fits and also be contenders. Heck if Duncan and Ginobli retire, maybe he becomes an amazing fit in Pop's offense. Lots of possibilities that we wont know until sometime this offseason.

[D.o.s.]

You two need to figure out the quote function.  This back & forth has been confusing as heck to follow.

What are you talking about I can read it fine.

[celticsclay]

You two need to figure out the quote function.  This back & forth has been confusing as heck to follow.

What are you talking about I can read it fine.

I am not sure why I am having trouble with it today... he has like 8 or 9 different points and I was trying to address the more reasonable ones of the bunch, but it keeps screwing up. I apologize.

[zubi.anaba]

Perhaps because you haven't considered just how much more money he'll be able to sign for in 2016.

Again this would make sense if he has always been fully healthy or had minor issues. The back thing is definitely a big deal and something he has to address in the off season. Wesley Mathews just lost himself max money due to injury. You better believe players pay attention to stuff like that and would consider taking the money now rather risking losing it all or at least a significant chunk of it

[dreamgreen]

Remember when Boozer bolted on Cleveland?

Hahahahaha.

It's still Cleveland. Nobody really wants to be there.

Correct.


On the other hand, like Who's said, there's not a good alternative.

Boozer went to Salt Lake City.  I mean come on.  He clearly didn't leave because he didn't want to be in Cleveland and then he goes to Salt Lake.  It was all about the money with him.  Everyone knows that.

Cleveland is a pretty nice place to live actually.  A lot of guys that end up playing here, actually live here when their careers are done.

Salt Lake City is really nice city, extremely clean.