Tag: Kevin Love (Page 2 of 6)

Let’s talk T-Wolves!

September 2, 2011 / John Paulsen

ESPN asked five Minnesota-related questions of its network of NBA bloggers and it’s once again time for me to piggy-back on the proceedings.

1. Fact or Fiction: Ricky Rubio will be a star.

Fiction: I think he can be a better than average NBA starter, but by all accounts he hasn’t developed over the last couple of seasons as was expected. His shooting percentage is pretty dreadful, so that inaccuracy will limit his upside. On a positive side, he has great court vision and is a pretty good defender. I don’t see stardom, but I do see starterdom.

2. Fact or Fiction: Rick Adelman should be the Wolves’ next coach.

Fact. He’s the best coach available and has had success just about everywhere he’s landed. He’s not going to turn this ship around quickly, but he’ll make the T-Wolves better.

3. Fact or Fiction: Derrick Williams should start.

Fact. Let’s see if he can play the 3. If it’s a disaster, then bring him off the bench in a 6th man role and let him build his confidence against the other team’s backups. It’s not like losing a few games early is going to tank the T-Wolves’ season. It’s already tanked.

4. Fact or Fiction: Michael Beasley has a bright future in Minnesota.

Fiction. It’s doubtful that he has a bright future anywhere. This is a guy who, at one of these glorified playground games, recently pushed a fan in the face because he couldn’t take the criticism. Maybe he’ll turn it around — you never know. He did post nice numbers on a bad team in 2010-11.

5. Fact or Fiction: Minny makes the playoffs while K-Love is still there.

Fiction. I’m not in Love’s head, but I wouldn’t re-sign with a team that is run by David Kahn. So unless the team fires Kahn and brings in a great basketball mind, Love will likely sign elsewhere even though the T-Wolves can (currently) offer the most money.

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Who is the best rebounder in the NBA?

April 4, 2011 / John Paulsen

Over the past few weeks, I’ve tackled the MVP race, triple-dozens, point guard characteristics and three-point shooters, and now it’s time to take a look at rebounding.

To be eligible, a player has to meet the following criteria:

1. He must appear in at least 50 games.
2. He must play in at least 24.0 minutes a game.

I took the top 30 players in terms of Total Rebounding Rate (the number of rebounds a player gets as a percentage of total available rebounds available while he’s on the floor) and plotted Offensive Rebounding Rate (ORR%) against Defensive Rebounding Rate (DRR%).

Here is the list of eligible players (in alphabetical order): Andrew Bogut, Carlos Boozer, Kwame Brown (yes, Kwame Brown), Marcus Camby, Tyson Chandler, DeMarcus Cousins, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol, Marcin Gortat, Blake Griffin, Chuck Hayes, Roy Hibbert, J.J. Hickson, Nene Hilario, Al Horford, Dwight Howard, Kris Humphries, Serge Ibaka, Josh Smith, Al Jefferson, Amir Johnson, DeAndre Jordan, David Lee, Kevin Love, JaVale McGee, Greg Monroe, Lamar Odom, Emeka Okafor and Zach Randolph.

Below is the chart. As always, click on it to see a bigger version.

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Kevin Love breaks record with 51st double-double

February 17, 2011 / John Paulsen

Rotoworld has the details…

Kevin Love, who suffered a shoulder injury on Wednesday, had 18 points, 18 rebounds and zero 3-pointers for his 42nd straight double-double, and 51st before the All-Star break, setting an NBA record.
George Mikan had 50 double-doubles before the break in 1950, but Love snapped that record tonight.

For those of you who have pretty much ignored the T-Wolves this year, Love is having an outstanding season, averaging 21.1 points and 15.5 rebounds, and is shooting 43% from long range. He was named to the All-Star Game as an alternate.

The T-Wolves have their sidekick. Now they need to find a perimeter superstar who can shoot the lights out and/or create his own shot. They had two picks in the top 6 back in 2009, but passed on Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings and DeMar DeRozan (who is averaging 16.4 ppg for the Raptors), and instead came out of the draft with Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn. Curry looks like a star, while Jennings and DeRozan have shown flashes of that kind of potential.

Now it appears that the T-Wolves may trade a first-round pick for Anthony Randolph, who can’t get off the bench for the Knicks. A mid to late first-rounder would be fair, but if the T-Wolves end up trading away their first-rounder (which project to be in the upper lottery) it will be a steep price to pay for a guy who hasn’t made much progress in neither Golden State nor New York. Don’t forget, they owe a first-rounder to the Clippers to finish the dreadful Marko Jaric trade. That pick is top 10 protected in 2011 but is unprotected starting in 2012.

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Love not long for Minny?

January 6, 2011 / John Paulsen

In an SI.com article, Kevin Love didn’t shoot down the possibility that he would change teams in the near future.

Love sees all of this, has absorbed it, processed it. Which is why he is complimentary of the Timberwolves’ progress — “I can see a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “I couldn’t see it last year” — but he stops short of saying he plans to be in Minnesota for the long term. Love is eligible to sign a contract extension this summer but admits he does think about free agency, about having some control over his future.
“We’ll see what happens with what David Kahn and the front office want to do,” Love said. “If it’s right, it’s right. If it’s not, it’s not. I could end up somewhere else. I just want to play for a team that wants to win at this point. At this point, I just want to win now.”
Wherever Love goes, he won’t come cheap. The five-year, $60 million extensions signed by Joakim Noah and Al Horford last year will likely be Love’s starting point in negotiations. And his deal could be bigger. When asked what kind of contract Love could be in line for this summer, one league executive’s answer was succinct: Max.

Some internet outlets have jumped on these quotes and started talking trade, but it sounds to me like Love is talking about his extension and keeping his options open before he signs his next contract. He’ll be with the T-Wolves for at least two more seasons, and by then he should have a good idea whether or not the Ricky Rubio dream will ever pan out for GM David Kahn.

Love is averaging 21.0 points and 15.6 rebounds on 46% shooting, which is just so-so accuracy for a power forward. But when you consider his range (43% from 3PT, 1.3 made threes per game), it’s more than acceptable. He’s #2 in PER (24.04) amongst power forwards, second only to Dirk Nowitzki, and has the third-highest rebound rate in the league after Reggie Evans and Marcus Camby, who aren’t asked to do much else other than clean the glass.

Love is putting up gaudy numbers on a bad team, so is he really worth a max contract? Yeah, probably. When you have a guy who can score 20-plus a game and dominate the glass, and stretch the defense with his three-point range, you have to lock him up. I don’t know that Love will ever be the best player on a championship-caliber team — his defense is adequate at best (opponent’s eFG% is a healthy 49.7%, and the T-Wolves give up 4.5 more points per 100 possessions when he’s on the court) — but he’s certainly capable of being one of the best sidekicks in the league. The trick for Minnesota will be to find another star or two before Love has to make a decision about his future.

Ken Berger wrote a piece about the state of the T-Wolves that focuses on Kahn and his plan for the remainder of the season. (In short, he’s evaluating the roster.)

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