Any chance the Cavs would trade Kevin Love?

[chambers]

Yes it's a real chance of happening. Not this season, but once the Cavs get torched by whoever comes out of the West-likely San Antonio.  Lebron will need a scapegoat and Love is probably that guy. They'd be much better off replacing Kyrie with Dwight Howard or even Hassan Whiteside because Kyrie just doesn't create offense for his team mates.
I'm copy/pasting this from another thread from the other day because it's relevant to this one and all these K Love discussions end similarly....

Kevin Love has some minor man v man defensive problems, but if he were given the same amount of shots as he had in Minnesota- particularly in the post- he'd be a borderline top 10 player.

Unfortunately in Cleveland he's simply misused. He's basically a Ryan Anderson clone that sits in the corner to:
A) get a kick from a driving Kyre
B) get a kick from a driving Lebron
C) Shoot a contested three on a ball swing

And in my opinion, the majority of it is lazy Lebron's fault. They don't run the pick and roll/pop for Lebron and Love, and it most of their sets, Lebron wants Love on the perimeter so he can drag the opposing PF out of the paint on defense, and then go Lebron- ISO, after which fails, kick to Love for a bailout three.
On our team of defensive juggernaughts, Love would have free roam to score 25 points and get 10 rebounds a game. He's arguably the best rebound+outlet passer in the NBA which would also help our guards in transition.
Our defense would help cover up his defensive liabilities (which are overblown-he's a PLUS defender and the Cavs opponents score less when he's on the floor), and our movement would be just perfect for this three point shooting and mid range to post play.

In 2014 the Wolves line up of:
Rubio/Martin/Brewer/Love/Pekovic scored 116. 8 and allowed 104.0 (+12.per 100 possessions in over 1,000 minutes. For comparison sake, LeBron/Wade/Bosh scored 110.1 and allowed 105.9 (+4.2).

When Love is used correctly he is on of the best players in the NBA and his team outscores the opposing team by a wide margin.

Basically think of Kelly Olynk on steroids, with post game and better rebounding skills in Brad Stevens system.

As a Kevin Love fan, for me, him going to Cleveland is the perfect recipe for us to grab a disgruntled star guy who can be a legit top 20 NBA player. He's not a 1v1 bandit, he's more like Aldridge- the kind of guy that needs a system that suits his spot up/stretch game- and the Cavs are just a terrible home for his game style. I don't know if he could be the #1 option on a championship team, but he's close, and he could definitely be the #2 option.

Right now in Cleveland, there are just too many road blocks. They need to ditch Kyrie and get a passing point guard- someone who can find Love in the post and run the pick and pop on the elbow with him correctly.

ie the other night when he scored 15 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and had the highest +/- on the team, yet only took 11 shots all night, whilst JR Smith took 18 shots and Kyrie took 13.
Just a crappy situation for him.

[Kane3387]

I think this is more likely than people imagine.  Love is averaging 12 points over the past two months on pretty weak shooting.  He's a fantastic offensive player, but the Cavs obviously don't need him when they have Kyrie and LeBron.   If Kevin Love was a better defensive player, he'd make more sense there... but when they they have better defensive options on that team... why bother keeping Love?

What's a trade that makes sense? Doesn't have to be Boston. Just curious. Lol but please don't say cousins for love.

[GetLucky]

I think this is more likely than people imagine.  Love is averaging 12 points over the past two months on pretty weak shooting.  He's a fantastic offensive player, but the Cavs obviously don't need him when they have Kyrie and LeBron.   If Kevin Love was a better defensive player, he'd make more sense there... but when they they have better defensive options on that team... why bother keeping Love?

What's a trade that makes sense? Doesn't have to be Boston. Just curious. Lol but please don't say cousins for love.

What about something like Love and Mosgov for Whiteside and Bosh?

Why for Miami: Miami gets something out of Whiteside before he walks as well as a player that can carry a heavier offensive load than Bosh, is locked up long-term, and is 4 years younger.

Why for Cleveland: Cleveland gets a "win now, walk later" (due to his lack of Bird Rights and the cap situation) defensive presence in Whiteside for this year as well as a more offensively-complimentary and apt-defensively Chris Bosh, who is signed long-term and whose career arc will coincide with LeBron's (as they are both 31).

[Kane3387]

This is the trade! Love to Boston.


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hjpx8sk

[MJohnnyboy]

This is the trade! Love to Boston.


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hjpx8sk

Geez. That's not a bad deal at all for a hypothetical blockbuster. I remember the popular  hypothetical back in the summer of 2014 was Love and Asik as the 4 and 5 on this team. I'm not a big fan of Asik's contract, but the cap is rising so it wouldn't be that bad to eat (He is also playing better from what I heard). My biggest issues would be that it's a huge identity shift for the Celtics and honestly, I think that would benefit the Cavs so much and I'm not so keen on helping them win a championship. Then again, if a trade does benefit the Celtics in the long run, I'd let that go. I think Love and IT, coupled with Crowder's 3&D impact, would be a great duo. Love is mediocre at best on defense, but would it matter if he's playing next to guys like Smart, Crowder, Johnson, and Asik?

Throw in some of the Celtics superfluous second rounders and maybe even the Dallas first, and I say done deal. As long as it doesn't involve the Brooklyn pick, I would approve this deal.

[chambers]

I think this is more likely than people imagine.  Love is averaging 12 points over the past two months on pretty weak shooting.  He's a fantastic offensive player, but the Cavs obviously don't need him when they have Kyrie and LeBron.   If Kevin Love was a better defensive player, he'd make more sense there... but when they they have better defensive options on that team... why bother keeping Love?

What's a trade that makes sense? Doesn't have to be Boston. Just curious. Lol but please don't say cousins for love.

What about something like Love and Mosgov for Whiteside and Bosh?

Why for Miami: Miami gets something out of Whiteside before he walks as well as a player that can carry a heavier offensive load than Bosh, is locked up long-term, and is 4 years younger.

Why for Cleveland: Cleveland gets a "win now, walk later" (due to his lack of Bird Rights and the cap situation) defensive presence in Whiteside for this year as well as a more offensively-complimentary and apt-defensively Chris Bosh, who is signed long-term and whose career arc will coincide with LeBron's (as they are both 31).

This is exactly the trade I'd worry about getting hoodwinked on for Love in a Cleveland offseason melt down.
Lebron grabs his girlfriend Bosh who's played with Lebron for years and sures them up defensively,  whilst also playing C if Mozgov goes down. Love then goes to the Heat locked up on a long term deal.
I think the Heat would ask for Shumpert+Mozgov too if they sent out Whiteside as Kane suggests.

As far as Celtics trades, they basically have to include
Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder
Or
Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas
With Amir Johnson for depth and to make money work.
Perosnally Id rather send out IT and Bradley instead of Crowder.
As I've said before, if Danny can get Harrison Barnes to replace Crowder then that would mean that Jae going out is a possibility.

[indeedproceed]

This is the trade! Love to Boston.


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hjpx8sk

I will say this is the most realistic "love to boston" trade I've seen. Picks involved too, of course.

[LarBrd33]

This is the trade! Love to Boston.


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hjpx8sk

I will say this is the most realistic "love to boston" trade I've seen. Picks involved too, of course.

Yeah I'm pretty dumfounded by the logic of it... it actually makes sense.

Kane, did you come up with that yourself? 

[jpotter33]

This is the trade! Love to Boston.


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hjpx8sk

I will say this is the most realistic "love to boston" trade I've seen. Picks involved too, of course.

Yeah I'm pretty dumfounded by the logic of it... it actually makes sense.

Kane, did you come up with that yourself?

Hasn't Asik been pretty abysmal ever since he's signed his new contract, though? And would we really waste picks and stuff on a guy (Asik) who we can essentially get in the draft this summer, i.e. Poeltl?

[Kane3387]

This is the trade! Love to Boston.


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hjpx8sk

I will say this is the most realistic "love to boston" trade I've seen. Picks involved too, of course.

Yeah I'm pretty dumfounded by the logic of it... it actually makes sense.

Kane, did you come up with that yourself?

Yeah. I figured Ainge might be willing to let NO dump Asik on him. Asik (if right) along with smart and crowder would be nice defensive compliments to IT and Love.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Hahaha, look at what the Cavs give up and what they get back. Sure they give up the best player in Love but they get a bunch of complimentary players that could stack up and beat any team in the East (they already do that w/ Love) and a player like AB can help them beat a team like GSW by containing Curry and he could give them pts on any given day, Morris can get Love's 12pts and probably more with the attention on LBJ, Anderson will bomb away from 3 also b/c of the LBJ attention, Chandler off the bench or a starter can give what Mozgov can but with the defensive talents of LBJ/AB/Shumpert won't have to be as great. It's probably so much more the Cavs will benefit from that trade that I would do it in a heartbeat if I was their GM/owners! That team would be so nasty.

[TheSundanceKid]

This is the trade! Love to Boston.


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hjpx8sk

That's a monster trade. Not sure Cleveland would want Chandler though, what does he do that Mozgov doesn't? You can take them out and it still works though!

I don't think NO and PHX would even need picks as they get rid of their worst contracts!

Ultimately I think Cleveland say no as Bradley just replicates what they have in Smith and Shump and having Morris on the books for 3 more years doesn't help them. Although part of me goes "[dang], with that depth how can they lose?!"

[LarBrd33]

My first instinct was that the Blatt firing probably made it far less likely that we'd see Love traded since I imagine one of the key reasons Blatt was fired was because of his inability to make the most of Love's talents.

From an ESPN article:

Meanwhile, Love had played poorly since Irving's return to the lineup, and he was not included effectively in the game plan against the Spurs or Warriors. In the next two games, a win in Brooklyn and a quality home win over the Los Angeles Clippers, Love piled up 35 points and 34 rebounds. Asked to explain the change, Love credited Irving -- not Blatt -- with making a strategy suggestion.

I just listened to a rant by Steven A Smith, though, and he seemed to suggest that there could still be big moves.  He suggested the Cavs will still need to consider moving Kevin Love.  He also pointed out that the Cavs gave Kevin Love 5 years 100+ million (in spite of his history of nagging injuries) basically because they promised him that they would.  That's in line with what I believe... which is that the Cavs and Love more or less had a handshake agreement that they'd pay him max money and find him a new home if things didn't work out.   Had they lost Love after a single season to free agency, it would have been incredibly embarrassing for them.  Wiggins looks fantastic and that was a hell of a lot to give up for a 1 year rental.  There's no way that deal happened without both sides having an understanding. 

It does sound like even the players were (are?) prepared for a potential Kevin Love trade:

When the players were called together to receive the news, some thought a player had been traded, sources said. Several players speculated they were going to be told Love had been dealt. But it was Blatt.

I don't know if Love will be moved before the deadline.   I still think they'll give Tyrone Lue an opportunity to see if he can get the most of all 3 stars... but if Love continues to struggle co-existing with LeBron/Kyrie, I can't imagine him being in Cleveland long-term. 

[LarBrd33]

Take anything Peter Vescey says with a grain of salt, but:

[obnoxiousmime]

This is the trade! Love to Boston.


http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hjpx8sk

Cleveland is not going to want Chandler's massive deal and they don't have space for so many role players. Why make it so complicated?