OT Love's Return to Mini

[Daweez04]

Promo for Love's return to Minnesota. I won't spoil it for ya...

 

[SheedSoNasty]

Saw that coming after Marion's name came up. Funny!

 

[BBert]

OK, I LOL'd.

If this is "The Game (They've ) all been waiting for", they must have some serious masochostic issues over there in MinneHaHa land. That Cavs lineup is going to give the Wolves a wedgie, take their lunch money, shove them in a locker, flush their winter coat in the toilet, pants them, and make them put their tongue AND their wet dick on a frozen flag pole.

I can't watch. (Well, maybe just a peek.)

 

[PDXFonz]

Hahahah! You know the boo birds are going to be out for his return. Minny fans are salty as hell, as this forum well knows.

 

[RR7]

Didn't watch, but read somewhere else about it, they didn't include him or something. That's kind of pathetic if you ask me, and shows why he would want to leave a shit organization in the first place. I don't much care for love, but he's still a really talented player. Twice now in the last like 15ish years, Minnesota has had a top 3ish pf and failed to build a decent team around them. Their inept management decided to insult him further by not offering him the 5 year extension which he was happy to sign to stick around their long term. You're not willing to make that commitment to him, but then are going to be upset when free agency is so enticing to him.

 

[PDXFonz]

Didn't watch, but read somewhere else about it, they didn't include him or something. That's kind of pathetic if you ask me, and shows why he would want to leave a shit organization in the first place. I don't much care for love, but he's still a really talented player. Twice now in the last like 15ish years, Minnesota has had a top 3ish pf and failed to build a decent team around them. Their inept management decided to insult him further by not offering him the 5 year extension which he was happy to sign to stick around their long term. You're not willing to make that commitment to him, but then are going to be upset when free agency is so enticing to him.

They are better off without him, I think they understand it and that's what I get from the video. Wouldn't you be pissed if the Blazers wasted that many years for someone who couldn't even get them to the playoffs?

It would be interesting to see what they would have done should Love not have shown how grossly overrated he was.

 

[RR7]

They are better off without him, I think they understand it and that's what I get from the video. Wouldn't you be pissed if the Blazers wasted that many years for someone who couldn't even get them to the playoffs?

It would be interesting to see what they would have done should Love not have shown how grossly overrated he was.

after Roy was done, there were 2 years Aldridge "failed to get us to the playoffs" as well. I'd be pissed more with our management if they made stupid decisions often, and chose to insult our best player for an unproven player. If we didn't draft Lillard and instead took Austin rivers there, and then saved our 5 year extension for rivers, and Aldridge left the following season, I wouldn't boo him when he returned or support our franchise being happy be was gone just because he couldn't get us to the playoffs.

 

[RR7]

And I don't see how what you take away is them feeling like they're better without him. If they just showed their young guys? Absolutely. Even if they just highlighted the guys they got in the deal. Fine. To have a video talking about the return of Mike miller is just lame. I'd be pissed if the Blazers did something similar, personally.

 

[blue9]

Twice now in the last like 15ish years, Minnesota has had a top 3ish pf and failed to build a decent team around them.

That's because you can't build a winning team around a PF, unless you have a transcendent talent at PF (Duncan). Winning teams are built around guards/wings.

 

[RR7]

Garnett was a transcendant talent. Duncan played for a much better organization.

 

[Orion Bailey]

That's because you can't build a winning team around a PF, unless you have a transcendent talent at PF (Duncan). Winning teams are built around guards/wings.

And Centers...when the league was full of legit centers, like Hakeem, Patrick Ewing, Shaq, etc...
You can build around a quality center as well. I do not think Howard is a quality center, more like a quality crybaby.

 

[magnifier661]

That's because you can't build a winning team around a PF, unless you have a transcendent talent at PF (Duncan). Winning teams are built around guards/wings.

Garnet was absolutely a transcendent talent. He also won in Boston being the #1 option.

 

[blue9]

And Centers...when the league was full of legit centers, like Hakeem, Patrick Ewing, Shaq, etc...
You can build around a quality center as well. I do not think Howard is a quality center, more like a quality crybaby.

As with PF you need to be a pretty transcendent C - merely being very good is not good enough.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

Garnet was absolutely a transcendent talent. He also won in Boston being the #1 option.

Pierce was the #1

 

[blue9]

Pierce was the #1

Yup, BOS was always Pierce's team. They built the team around him by going out and trading for KG (and Ray). They didn't build around KG, they built around a SF.

Other PFs that were built around include:
Bosh
Pau
Amare
Sheed
Barkley
Webber
What's McHale without Bird? Extremely good, but Bird was the centerpiece.
What's Malone without Stockton? Again, extremely good, but Stockton made those teams work.

The lesson is: don't build around a PF and expect to win a championship. There have been a hell of a lot of really great PFs, but Duncan is the only one that was the centerpiece on a championship team. (I do not count Dirk as a success story built around a PF. If you want to, that's fine, but it was a one-and-done flukey championship and an exception rather than the rule. Sure, I'd love to win a championship even if it was a fluke, but I don't think it's a good route to take.)

 

[HailBlazers]

Takes one to know one Kevin:

Love has been an All-Star in three of the last four years prior to this season. He has fought back spasms the last few weeks and took a sharp knee to the thigh from the Blazers’ Chris Kaman on Wednesday that left him on the ground for a few minutes before he limped off.

“He’s a hack,” Love laughed in referring to Kaman. “He’s thrown in there at this point in his career to draw fouls and hit people. He just kneed me right in the thigh. That didn’t feel too great. I was able to get up and go along with it fine. The rest yesterday helped and I’ll be ready to go tonight."

Kevin Love calls Timberwolves video 'hilarious,'

 

[RR7]

But you can do the same for every position. You always have to be a transcendent talent with a great team.
I can list McGrady, vince carter, reggie miller, Dominique, Clyde. Didn't win titles as dominant wings. Taking a 100% stance on you don't do things this way or that way in sports is just foolish

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Come on guys, Garnett was a lot better than Pierce. You can say Pierce was the #1 option, and I'm sure he was, but Garnett was the best player on that team.

 

[magnifier661]

Yup, BOS was always Pierce's team. They built the team around him by going out and trading for KG (and Ray). They didn't build around KG, they built around a SF.

Other PFs that were built around include:
Bosh
Pau
Amare
Sheed
Barkley
Webber
What's McHale without Bird? Extremely good, but Bird was the centerpiece.
What's Malone without Stockton? Again, extremely good, but Stockton made those teams work.

The lesson is: don't build around a PF and expect to win a championship. There have been a hell of a lot of really great PFs, but Duncan is the only one that was the centerpiece on a championship team. (I do not count Dirk as a success story built around a PF. If you want to, that's fine, but it was a one-and-done flukey championship and an exception rather than the rule. Sure, I'd love to win a championship even if it was a fluke, but I don't think it's a good route to take.)

But Malone made it to the finals and almost beat Chicago, which says a lot to me. You could also argue that sac queens should have won vs lakers. Game 6 was so terribly called.

 

[blue9]

But you can do the same for every position. You always have to be a transcendent talent with a great team.
I can list McGrady, vince carter, reggie miller, Dominique, Clyde. Didn't win titles as dominant wings. Taking a 100% stance on you don't do things this way or that way in sports is just foolish

Well, sure, generally the best team(s) have the best player(s). But if you remove the Jordan's, Kobe's, and LBJ's, there's more history of good wings winning than good PFs winning. Pierce wasn't a transcendent player, just a very good wing. Unfortunately the last couple of decades were so dominated by 3 teams it's hard to look past the transcendence of Jordan/Kobe/Duncan. But even if you step back from "Champion" and look at who was in the Finals, the teams were generally built around very good guards/wings - Clyde, Miller, Iverson, Kidd, Payton*. Teams built around very good PFs generally didn't even make it to the Finals.

*Maybe you want to say the Sonics were built around Kemp, but he played more like a SF in a PF's body. And Payton was to Stockton and Kemp was to Malone.

 

[blue9]

But Malone made it to the finals and almost beat Chicago, which says a lot to me. You could also argue that sac queens should have won vs lakers. Game 6 was so terribly called.

Yes, but again - what's Malone without Stockton? Stockton/Malone and Payton/Kemp are packages that can't be separated. Malone without Stockton wouldn't have gone anywhere. Stockton/Payton made those teams work.
And I do agree that SAC should have advanced to the Finals - that was a travesty.

 

[magnifier661]

Yes, but again - what's Malone without Stockton? Stockton/Malone and Payton/Kemp are packages that can't be separated. Malone without Stockton wouldn't have gone anywhere. Stockton/Payton made those teams work.
And I do agree that SAC should have advanced to the Finals - that was a travesty.

Well yeah, but that can be said about any championship team. What's Jordan without Pippen, what's Magic without Kareem, what's bord without Parish and McHale? You can go down the list and say that for any tandem.

 

[KingSpeed]

Wolves will win. Took 55 points from Kyrie to barely beat us. He's not gonna do it again.

 

[blue9]

Well yeah, but that can be said about any championship team. What's Jordan without Pippen, what's Magic without Kareem, what's bord without Parish and McHale? You can go down the list and say that for any tandem.

Jordan, Magic, and Bird were all transcendent players and didn't RELY on others, they were relied upon.

Over the past couple decades there have been numerous examples of teams trying to build around some of the best PFs and not going very far. There's a clear pattern that teams with PFs as their centerpiece just don't work as well as teams with guards/wings as their centerpiece. Setting aside transcendence there are only two teams (SEA/UTH) in the last 30 years that made it to the Finals with a team "built around" a PF...and even then, the PG was just as, if not more, important to the team's success.

 

[magnifier661]

Jordan, Magic, and Bird were all transcendent players and didn't RELY on others, they were relied upon.

Over the past couple decades there have been numerous examples of teams trying to build around some of the best PFs and not going very far. There's a clear pattern that teams with PFs as their centerpiece just don't work as well as teams with guards/wings as their centerpiece. Setting aside transcendence there are only two teams (SEA/UTH) in the last 30 years that made it to the Finals with a team "built around" a PF...and even then, the PG was just as, if not more, important to the team's success.

Jordan had 7 years without Pippen and failed to get past the second round. Kobe required Shaq and Gasol. Shaq couldn't do it by himself, Kobe couldn't do it by himself. LBJ couldn't do it by himself either. Even Magic couldn't.

And let's talk about Duncan.... Without Robinson the first title, it wouldn't have happened. Without Parker or Ginobli it wouldn't happen thereafter.

 

[blue9]

Jordan had 7 years without Pippen and failed to get past the second round. Kobe required Shaq and Gasol. Shaq couldn't do it by himself, Kobe couldn't do it by himself. LBJ couldn't do it by himself either. Even Magic couldn't.

And let's talk about Duncan.... Without Robinson the first title, it wouldn't have happened. Without Parker or Ginobli it wouldn't happen thereafter.

Nobody can do it alone. That doesn't change the fact that teams built around PFs don't get to the Finals (very often).

 

[magnifier661]

Nobody can do it alone. That doesn't change the fact that teams built around PFs don't get to the Finals (very often).

Okay I'll give you that...

 

[RR7]

Why ignore dirk then from that? Because it was only one year they won? They made it one other time and were consistently a top team in the west. Pointing to Iverson and Clyde to support your opinion and ignoring dirk makes no sense. For every example you use, there's plenty to counter. McGrady never getting out of the first round. Carmelo. Dominique. jerry Stackhouse. Why use Iverson and ignore dirk?

 

[blue9]

Okay I'll give you that...

And that's all I'm getting at - building around PFs will only get you so far. And now maybe you'll understand that my distaste for LMA stems from my belief that you don't build around PFs. All of the evidence suggests that PFs don't win championships. PFs should be ancillary players, not your highest paid, go-to player.

 

[magnifier661]

And that's all I'm getting at - building around PFs will only get you so far. And now maybe you'll understand that my distaste for LMA stems from my belief that you don't build around PFs. All of the evidence suggests that PFs don't win championships. PFs should be ancillary players, not your highest paid, go-to player.

Aldridge is a center! Booyah!!!!!!