Love gets in over Aldridge

[julius]

Aldridge is leading his team all the way to the 9th seed.

Giddyup!

Ed O.

So if it turns out that Zach leads his team to the 9th seed (or lower) is that going to change how you respond to this thread/post?

 

[PapaG]

Would you rather have a "franchise player" that can't get his team out of the lottery?

Ed O.

Either you're being intellectually dishonest, or you're just flat-out ignorant to what has happened to the Blazers this season, and why they are 1/2 game out of the 8th seed.

Which is it? I know the answer, and I'm sure everybody else does as well.

 

[Ed O]

So, if I'm reading this right, you're saying that the Wolves' future is brighter than the Blazers' at this moment in time. Really?

You are not reading that right.

If you took the current roster and gave it Love and a top-3 pick, I think it would be better off than the current roster with Aldridge and the final lottery pick.

Ed O.

 

[julius]

I'd rather have a top three pick and a 22 year-old all-star than Aldridge and the final lottery pick, that's for sure.

Ed O.

I'd rather have Aldridge who is keeping the team in the hunt for the playoffs (and should continue to, esp once Camby comes back).

Would you rather have a "franchise player" that can't get his team out of the lottery?

Ed O.

that does not compute...you just said you'd rather have a top three pick and a 22 year old, than a player who is significantly closer to getting out of the lottery (scratch that...staying out of the lottery).

 

[Ed O]

So if it turns out that Zach leads his team to the 9th seed (or lower) is that going to change how you respond to this thread/post?

Not really. I think Love deserves to be on the all-star game more than Zach.

Ed O.

 

[Ed O]

Either you're being intellectually dishonest, or you're just flat-out ignorant to what has happened to the Blazers this season, and why they are 1/2 game out of the 8th seed.

Because the team needs to rely on Aldridge to be its "franchise player"?

It's amusing to me that you expect the Blazers' failures to be explained away due to injury when it comes to Aldridge's team, and yet you ignore that EVEN AFTER THE INJURIES TO THE BLAZERS, the roster is still markedly better than the Timberwolves'.

Ed O.

 

[PapaG]

Love is having such a "memorable" season that the coaches who have to game plan for him didn't even vote him into the game. Since stats are the only thing Love has going for him, and since the coaches didn't see fit to vote in a guy having a season that hasn't been seen since 1982-83, I think it shows just how important stat monsters like Love are in the eyes of those beating his team like a drum.

The coaches not voting him in really says it all to me.

 

[Ed O]

Love is having such a "memorable" season that the coaches who have to game plan for him didn't even vote him into the game. Since stats are the only thing Love has going for him, and since the coaches didn't see fit to vote in a guy having a season that hasn't been seen since 1982-83, I think it shows just how important stat monsters like Love are in the eyes of those beating his team like a drum.

Who should he have been voted in instead of?

His failure to be voted in isn't much of an argument that Aldridge deserves it, as you know.

Ed O.

 

[PapaG]

Originally Posted by Kevin Love
"I remember sitting on a plane last year with [team president David Kahn]," Love said. "He said 'Maybe one day you'll be in the game on Sunday.' I was thinking to myself 'Wouldn't it be nice if it was back home in L.A.,' and here I am."

Here you are. The "All-Star" replacement player who has led his laughingstock team to 11 wins in 53 games. Party on, KLover!

 

[julius]

Wait...L.A. is "home" for Kevin Love now? After 1 year there?

That's kind of cheesy.

 

[PapaG]

Who should he have been voted in instead of?

Nobody.

His failure to be voted in isn't much of an argument that Aldridge deserves it, as you know.

Ed O.

Once again, you're posting something that I never posted. My point is that Love not being voted in, with his once-in-a-generation statistical season, is a valid argument that Love didn't deserve to be in the game. It tells me where the coaches' priorities are, and Love being selected by Stern tells me what the league office's priorities are.

 

[julius]

Wait...I just caught it! When Kevin Love said "Wouldn't it be nice if it were in LA"...he was secretly sending a message to Brian Wilson!

 

[RoyToy]

Aldridge/Love/Randolph didn't get voted in because the coaches rewarded Tim Duncan with being on the team with the best record in the NBA. There's that.

Stern however deviated from that path and selected a guy that's on the worst team in the WC. That's a joke imo, and it makes me really question what Stern's motives are.

In the end the selection was made before the games yesterday and Aldridge was on the team with the best record out of the 3. It should have been his spot.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

If you took the current roster and gave it Love and a top-3 pick, I think it would be better off than the current roster with Aldridge and the final lottery pick.

Coincidentally, if you took Aldridge off of the current roster and replaced him with Love, you'd probably end up with the very top-3 pick you so covet.

 

[B-Roy]

Coincidentally, if you took Aldridge off of the current roster and replaced him with Love, you'd probably end up with the very top-3 pick you so covet.

I think that's what he was getting at...

 

[Ed O]

Coincidentally, if you took Aldridge off of the current roster and replaced him with Love, you'd probably end up with the very top-3 pick you so covet.

I doubt it. Love playing with Miller and the other guys would still result in a fringe lottery team.

Ed O.

 

[PapaG]

I doubt it. Love playing with Miller and the other guys would still result in a fringe lottery team.
Ed O.

Yes, an "All-Star" who can't demand a double-team playing with Miller and the rest would have the exact same record as an LMA-led team without Roy and Camby. Was that a statement of fact, btw? I can't tell, because there isn't an "IMO" disclaimer.

Also, does that mean the LMA would have 20/15, because he'd be free from defending his position, and could just float around on the court?

What's done is done...

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Minnesota now at least has a building block for the first time since KG.

They just have to get rid of the fringe NBA player they have stockpiled, like:

Martell Webster
Luke Ridnour
Corey Brewer
Nikola Pekovic
Sebastian Telfair
Anthony Tolliver
Kosta Koufos
Wayne Ellington
Lazar Hayward
Sundiata Gaines

Basically their entire roster outside Beasley, Love, and maybe Darko.

 

[Natebishop3]

Sorry, but Aldridge > Love and I think most GMs would agree with that. I think LMA is showing that he has the real ability to be an unstoppable force on both ends of the court if he wants to be. Love will never be that guy. He's a hustle player. A garbage man. That's great and everything, and I think there's a place for him on any team, but franchises are built around guys like Aldridge. He could be a Garnett type player.

 

[PapaG]

Basically their entire roster outside Beasley, Love, and maybe Darko.

I sure hope Minnesota can us those three as a foundation. Two are #2 picks in the draft, and Love was the 5th pick.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Sorry, but Aldridge > Love and I think most GMs would agree with that. I think LMA is showing that he has the real ability to be an unstoppable force on both ends of the court if he wants to be. Love will never be that guy. He's a hustle player. A garbage man. That's great and everything, and I think there's a place for him on any team, but franchises are built around guys like Aldridge. He could be a Garnett type player.

I kind of agree with that, except I'm not sure I'd call him "unstoppable" ... his "unstoppableness" still needs some work, but as a two-way player I think he's vastly superior to Love because of his ability to guard almost every position on the floor at least adequately if not well.

 

[PapaG]

Blazers are now ahead of Memphis in the standings, and LMA had 20/10. Using Ed O.'s math, this means that LMA is more deserving than ZBO, but also that Kevin Love would have gone for 30/20 in Blazer win tonight.

 

[PapaG]

I kind of agree with that, except I'm not sure I'd call him "unstoppable" ... his "unstoppableness" still needs some work, but as a two-way player I think he's vastly superior to Love because of his ability to guard almost every position on the floor at least adequately if not well.

Well, that, and also that every team in the NBA is being forced to collapse or double on LMA.

I'm not sure I've seen Love double-teamed once this season. Beasley, I've seen it numerous times.

 

[Natebishop3]

Blazers are now ahead of Memphis in the standings, and LMA had 20/10. Using Ed O.'s math, this means that LMA is more deserving than ZBO, but also that Kevin Love would have gone for 30/20 in Blazer win tonight.

Just because I'm curious, what kind of numbers do you think Love would average if he were on the Blazers? I suspect he'd get maybe 15/11.

 

[PapaG]

Just because I'm curious, what kind of numbers do you think Love would average if he were on the Blazers? I suspect he'd get maybe 15/11.

Seems about right to me, at least if the team is winning. I'm not sure who in this roster is scoring the points, though. If Love is Option A, then it seems to me that this is still an 11 win team. He'd still probably have his "All Star" stats if that was the case.

He got abused yet again tonight, yet put up 18/19. He's everything that is wrong in the NBA to me.

 

[jlprk]

You know what keeps this thread going? It's the similarity between Aldridge and Love. The suspicion is that neither is the most motivated guy. Both need a coach with a whip. Neither has a killer instinct. Both default to resting on their laurels and letting someone else lead the team.

And then there's Zach. Each of the 3 has his human weaknesses.

 

[B-Roy]

Just because I'm curious, what kind of numbers do you think Love would average if he were on the Blazers? I suspect he'd get maybe 15/11.

15/20 is more like it.

 

[PapaG]

15/20 is more like it.

Depends on how long Camby would let Love box him out for rebounds. That would be a fun locker room to follow, just as I suspect the T-Wolves' locker room is entertaining.

 

[B-Roy]

Depends on how long Camby would let Love box him out for rebounds. That would be a fun locker room to follow, just as I suspect the T-Wolves' locker room is entertaining.

Meh. It'd be funner to watch than Cunningham run around with his head cut off and Patty shoot while Cunningham is on the ground trying to find his head.

 

[Pinwheel1]

At this pace Portland is projected to win OVER 20 more games than Minnesota. The Wolves are 0-11 in their division. Zero freakin wins. I can't get past those stats. I still would like to have the guy on our team, but I still can't see rewarding him for the first half of this season. The fact that canzano disagrees with this, makes me even more convinced i am right.