TSS Reacts: Kevin Love Traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers

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The trade of Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers was months in the making and after many months of anticipation, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers have finally (emphasis on the finally) agreed upon a deal that would send Kevin Love to the Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a 2015 protected 1st round pick. The Timberwolves also agreed to trade Bennett to the Philadelphia 76ers for Thaddeus Young. Of course, nothing is official yet as Andrew Wiggins cannot get traded until August 23rd, 2014, 30 days after he signed his rookie contract. As everyone probably knows by now, the acquisition of Kevin Love shakes up both the Eastern and Western conference’s playoff picture (Cleveland now, Minnesota in the future) and we here at TSS chime in on this star-studded trade.

Harvin Bhathal

Twitter: @Vinchenzo_34

Kevin Love talent wise is one of the best basketball players in the world. Being one of the most talent players in the world however, doesn’t win championships. In Love’s six seasons in the NBA, he’s gained the reputation as a stat-stuffer. Being a stat-sheet stuffer isn’t necessarily a bad thing, that is for the player themselves, but if he wants to win a championship, he’s going to have to do more than that. Kevin Love isn’t on a Minnesota team that never finished better than 40-42 anymore. Playing in a city (Cleveland) where expectations are as high as ever with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Love himself are expected to lead the team to its first ever NBA championship, is way different to what the culture was in Minnesota. Kevin Love may struggle not being the 1st option on a team anymore but he’ll find a way. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh certainly did and look what that got them; two NBA Championships.

I’ll tip my hat to the Cleveland Cavaliers for acquiring a superstar in Kevin Love. It certainly brightens up their gloomy present and makes their future even better. If they keep their core of Kyrie Irving, LeBron James and Kevin Love for many, many years, I expect at least one NBA championship and at the most, maybe two? See that I’m questioning myself? I don’t have as much confidence in this team as others do. The Cavaliers certainly aren’t going to win a championship in their Big Three’s first year together (LeBron has experience in that field) but they are going to be in contention for the Larry O’Brien trophy for many years to come.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have certainly set themselves up for the future that contains multiple playoff appearances to say the least. Bravo to Milt Newton for getting this trade accomplished as the Timberwolves finally have some legitimate playoff potential in the near future. A core that features Ricky Rubio, Zach Lavine, Andrew Wiggins, Thaddeus Young, Nikola Pekovic, Gorgui Dieng and Shabazz Muhammad is not one to be taken lightly. Andrew Wiggins is going to become a star and being in Minnesota only helps that.

Normally, when a team trades away its homegrown established star, the future isn’t bright for that team. Ironically, the Timberwolves have some experience with that in Kevin Garnett. However, there are instances such as this where both teams benefit. Because it’s human nature to pick between two things, I’ll give the nod to the Minnesota Timberwolves for this trade. They’re finally going to be able to do what they haven’t with Kevin Love; make the playoffs.

Zach Libby

Twitter: @Zach__Libby

First off, I’m going to assume that the others writers at TSS are going to downgrade the latest blockbuster trade involving the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Why would general manager David Griffin have the nerve the trade Andrew Wiggins,” They’ll say. “He has the potential to be this generation’s Michael Jordan.” I applaud the Cavs for taking a risk on the future for an opportunity to clinch their first NBA title in franchise history by giving up Wiggins, Anthony Bennett (Philadelphia 76ers) and a protected 2015 first-round draft pick for three-time All-Star power forward, Kevin Love.

By adding Love, who averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 per game last season first-year head coach David Blatt will put out a stating lineup that features Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Lebron James, Love and Anderson Varejao. Let’s not forget that Tristan Thompson, Mike Miller, James Jones, Ray Allen and Shawn Marion (maybe) will headline the bench, making for one hell of a basketball team on paper.

“But Zach, will the Timberwolves improve from this deal?”. Absolutely! I’m not promising a playoff appearance in 2014-15 but I am promising that they will be relevant in the Western Conference. The T-Wolves already have a young talented core that consists of Ricky Rubio, Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng, Nikola Pekovic and first-round draft pick Zach LaVine. Bring in the former Kansas Jayhawk, a top prospect in 2015 and Thaddeus Young from the 76ers sounds pretty intriguing for multiple playoff runs.

Prediction: Cavs will reach the Eastern Conference Finals against the Chicago Bulls…T-Wolves will reach the playoffs in 2015-16.

But then again, I’ve been told that I have the worst sports take since Skip Bayless so what do I know?

John Zelasney a.k.a The Informer

Twitter: @TheRealInformer

Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers absolutely makes them one of the two best teams in the Eastern Conference. If you want to say that the Chicago Bulls are still the front-runners, than by all means make the case. The fact of the matter is, because of LeBron James the Cavs were one of the two best teams in the East before they traded for K-Love and now that they have made the trade they are still one of the two best teams in the East.

Does that mean they are going to win the NBA title next season? Absolutely not.

The Miami Heat have just shown us over the past four years that you can’t just put together a pick-up basketball team and automatically win. It takes time for the team chemistry to build and it takes time for players to learn how to win in the playoffs (The Informer is looking at you Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving). Just because the Cavs young players are now playing with James does not mean they are going to know what to do with ten seconds left of a crucial game five against a playoff-tested Bulls or Charlotte Hornets team.

With all that said, this trade will eventually lead to a championship. Whether it is this year, the next or the year after; eventually LeBron, Love and Irving will gel as a unit and bring the city of Cleveland their first sports title in 1 million years (The Informer doesn’t know the exact number, but it has been a really long time).

And for that reason alone this trade was a homerun for the city, the fans and most of all for LeBron who now has a new “Big 3” to help him when the heat gets turned up in June.

Long live “The King” and his loyal subjects.

Brendan Taylor

Twitter: @ThatboyBTaylor

Before I get into what I think about this trade let me first say that I’m not really a fan of Kevin Love, in fact I don’t even think Kevin Love is the best player at his position and is the 3rd best power forward behind Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge. I think this trade is beyond crazy and here is why; when you get into the playoffs, two things are paramount.

1. Size on the perimeter

In a position less league driven by small ball its important you have long, laterally quick and athletic guys to shutdown the juggernauts such as Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and now Jabari Parker. A lot of people are saying Wiggins is 19 and what not but you can see from miles away that this kid is going to be special, like top 25 NBA player special. If he was to play on a team with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving I believe he can be a top 25 player in year one. People make a huge deal of the 2-ay greatness of Paul George, well the fact of the matter is that this guy has the chance to be a notch or two above Paul George. Even if he isn’t the greatest offensive player in his rookie season the fact of the matter is that when you get into the playoffs you have to deal with LeBron and this guy on the perimeter so if a team gets into a half court set against this Cleveland with Wiggins and LeBron then you better have a dominant low-post scorer because it will be hard to get anything from your wing players against these guys. It’s the matchup problems they would cause, they just made life easier on every contender in the East by getting Kevin Love

2. Shooting

This is a huge reason they brought in Kevin Love. In an era where stretch 4’s are way to overvalued, Kevin Love becomes the next example of this. While Kevin Love is a tremendous offensive player who had 10.3 offensive win shares the fact of the matter is that the defense he is bringing to the table will regress the heck out of a team that already gives up 101.5 points per game. They added Mike Miller, James Jones and already had Dion Waiters. Shooting wasn’t a huge need and while they got an all-star talent, Kevin Love is notorious for terrible pick and roll defense and hasn’t ever been to the playoffs. So I’m against this trade.

Not to long ago I wrote about LeBron signing back on with the Cavaliers was the greatest public relations in sports history and not entirely because he wanted to come home. The reason I said that is because he is incredibly fixated on money and the 2nd year of his two year deal with the Cleveland is a player option. Like LeBron, Kevin Love also has a player option after this upcoming season. So in theory if Cleveland were to fall flat on their face both of them could opt out of their contracts and leave elsewhere, I know that sounds crazy right now but we live in a world of crazy known as the NBA I respect Cleveland’s intention to bring the city a title but this has all the makings to blow up right in their face, so they better bring a title to Cleveland because if they don’t this will be a colossal disaster. Andrew Wiggins, regardless of what happens in Cleveland, will change the Minnesota Timberwolves into a winner.

Brian Rzeppa

Twitter: @brianrzeppa

In my opinion, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers agreement on the trade for Kevin Love was great for both sides. Starting with Minnesota, they get a potential franchise centrepiece for at least the next half-decade. Though it’s certainly risky to trade proven commodities for potential, there really wasn’t a deal out there that would have benefitted them more than this one.

On the Cavs side, this was the perfect use of some great fortune. After stumbling into two first overall picks in a row, to turn that into Kevin Love is phenomenal. Love is a top-10 player in the league any way that you cut it, even though some have tried to cut him down this offseason. He’s never had a supporting cast around him, so having teammates like LeBron and Kyrie should help him flourish even further. This trade was an absolute must for Cleveland, as they couldn’t risk wasting precious years of LeBron’s prime waiting for someone to develop.

Alex Strouf

Twitter: @LetsGoAlex

Kevin Love. LeBron James. Kyrie Irving. The big three. It’s happening again, and what I mean by that is an organization in the NBA is beginning to put superstar-caliber pieces around the best player in the NBA, LeBron James. Kevin Love will be traded from the Timberwolves of Minnesota to the Cavaliers of Cleveland for the 2014 first-overall pick Andrew Wiggins, the 2013 first-overall pick Anthony Bennett, and a 2015 draft pick. The Timberwolves are rumoured to be shipping Bennett to the Philadelphia 76ers for Thaddeus Young, but that is not as firm of an agreement as the Love to the Cavaliers deal is. Now, if Bennett stays, the Timberwolves won this trade.

If Bennett goes, the Timberwolves win even more. Yes, Love puts up some great numbers, but the Cavs now own three All-Stars that want the ball in their hand. The Wolves just received one of the best upsides in the entire NBA in Andrew Wiggins, and something that made him get picked first-overall in Anthony Bennett or a guy that is used to be the franchise centrepiece in Thaddeus Young. The T-Wolves already have a fantastic point guard in Ricky Rubio, so adding one of, if not the best, rookie in Andrew Wiggins may just be the best move right now, and is easily the best move long-term. The Timberwolves have a very promising future ahead of them.

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Anytime a player of Kevin Love’s caliber gets traded, it sends shockwaves through the NBA and this time was no different. Sure, Love could’ve handled the situation a little better but he got his wish and he is a Cleveland Cavalier. All we can do now is wait and see how this will pan out in the future, for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Who’ll win an NBA Championship first, Kevin Love and the Cavs or Andrew Wiggins and the T-Wolves?