It is going to funny how many people who are trashing Love will turn around and be his biggest fans if he signs in Boston.
This is a fanbase that looks at a rookie averaging 8 points on 36% shooting as if he's an untouchable force of nature. Who are we kidding? Kevin Love averaging 26 points and 13 rebounds in Boston... he'd be a god. Within 3 months we'd have threads questioning where he ranked amongst the greatest Celtics of all time. "Love better than Pierce" thread is a virtual certainty. But there will also be at least one nutty person pondering if he's better than Larry Bird, because of the 'evolution of the game". "Hear me out... I'm not saying he's been more successful... I'm saying that if you used a time machine to send Love back to the 80s, he might be a better player". It'll be full-blown crazytown around here.
Luckily he's signing with the Lakers... so at least the irrational hate can be rational.
We'll leave the Smart thing alone since we've all spent countless hours debating it.
But please, besides the fact that Love is "from there" (Hardly, he grew up mostly in the Pacific Northwest where he was close friends with IT4), give me one good reason hell definitely sign with the Lakers. Let's take a look at the things basketball players care about. I'm saying this objectively, Boston is a much better place for him to go for just about every reason.
Boston has a way better coach, they run an offense that will fit all of his talents, they have a much much better roster of guys to play with, one of the best front offices in the NBA that has made it clear they want him here. Boston has a lot more assets to improve their team in the future, a far better locker room and team culture, they can offer him the kind of money he wants, they have a rabid fan base and oh yeah, they made the playoffs this year without him! Guy wants to play in the playoffs, why would he join LA? They'd be lucky to make it even with him. Plus, he has proven interest in playing for the Celtics, and he clearly seems to enjoy Boston itself.
I really don't understand what it is about the Lakers that makes some people so sure he's going there.
He absolutely has no information that lends credence to the declaration "he's signing with the Lakers".
Now, of course he may sign with the Lakers. LAL is almost always mentioned as a possible destination for top FAs -- but no one other than KL and those he may have confided in (probably not LarBrd33 among them) really knows what he plans to do.
I think it's hard for any player to leave their current team especially if that team has the top player in the league and that team is willing/able to pay more than any other team. In other words, I'd guess Cleveland has the advantage, but I know even less than LarBrd33.
Just to be clear, I wrote the bit about the Lakers semi-jokingly. Maybe he'll stay in Cleveland. Maybe he'll go to the Knicks. Who knows. I do think there's a lot of reasons to believe he'll end up with the Lakers. I have as much reason to believe Love ends up a Laker as I do Rondo ends up a Laker. Both seem pretty plausible. THere's been lots of buzz about it. But I wouldn't rule out Love ends up with BOston. I wouldn't rule out Rondo ends up with Boston either... even if the Lakers are more likely for a number of reasons.
There is a far greater chance Love ends up in Boston than NY and there's a greater chance Love ends up in NY than Rondo coming back to Boston. I get the idea, we could use another guy with Rondo's distributing skills, but considering how much everything improved when he left, I really doubt Ainge even considers making him an offer.
There's been some buzz about him and the Lakers, and at the end of the day I wouldn't be shocked if he signed there. But objectively, Boston has more going for it than LA does. If I were him, And I was resigned to not staying in Cleveland, I'd probably choose Boston.
Man, that would be sweet. If Love signed here, Ainge would be even more aggressive and we probably win the Atlantic.
I'm not so sure Boston has more going it for it than LA. Presumably LA is going to have a top 5 pick. Kobe will be back and they have room to sign Love and someone else. Let's say they end up with the 5th pick and go with Winslow. They could trot out a team next year of Love, Winslow, Kobe, and Rondo with Randle, Young, and Clarkson. Maybe they bring Hill back or end up with a vet at center. That is a pretty darn good team and one with enough young talent that in 5 years they will still be a good team.
Boston doesn't have that sort of young potential. Even putting Smart on the same level as guys like Randle, there is no Winslow and there are no other HOFers or former all stars on this team (and may not be any period). Objectively, Los Angeles has more going for it than Boston.
Not even close. Kobe is 39 years old, a shell of his former self, and he's a notoriously huge jerk that guys only put up playing with for the chance at a championship. But Kobe today isn't putting you in contention. Rondo, as much as I appreciate what he did here, is clearly not even close to the same player he once was and he has as many personality problems as Kobe. That dude mailed it in on a pretty good Dallas team that made the playoffs, what's he gonna do on a Lakers team that won't even make it?
As players, I like Randle and I really like Winslow, but they're both completely unproven. Free Agents don't sign with teams just because they've had a few recent high picks. Randle played one quarter of one game last season after suffering a major injury and while that's not his fault, it still leaves him as a player no one knows what kind of player he will be. Winslow hasn't even been drafted yet. Nick Young is a joke. I like Clarkson, but he was very much a product of being the only viable option on a really bad team.
And that's just the rosters. Love spent the first chunk of his career toiling away on a horrible Minnesota team that had a bunch of high lottery picks on it. He forced his way out of there for the chance to go to a viable franchise that's will fully utilize his talents while building a competative team around him. Who would you trust to do that? Jimmy Buss and friends or Danny Ainge? What team has more assets in order to do so, Boston or LA? What coach is better equipped to bring out the best of both his and his teammates talents, Stevens or Byron Scott? By signing with either team, which one is in a better position to succeed next season, us or them? Who has a better current roster, as well as the better locker room? Who made the playoffs without him anyways?
Pretty much all of those things fall in Boston's favor. If Love signed here, we're likely to win the Atlantic and get the 4 seed with minimal other moves. And we would still have our 1001 assets to use to bring in another top-tier guy. He would immediately be in a winning situation with lots of room for continued improvement. The knock on Boston is that they have a pretty good, young team, but no top 25 talents. Love is a top 25 talent. Having one makes it easier to get two. Especially is you have assets to use. Going to LA, he'll be lucky to get an 8th seed next year.
I'm not saying definitely he signs here or that he won't sign in LA. But if he does leave Cleveland to sign in LA, it will be because he grew up a laker fan, went to college at UCLA and wants to be the best player in a "glamour market". Not because they're in a better situation basketball wise than the Celtics.
Besides, can you imagine Kobe, Rondo, Love and Nick Young all in the same locker room? Poor Jordan Clarkson would wanna kill himself.
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