First off let me make this clear, I’m not advocating this move and I don’t know which side I would fall on. But with the way things are going in Cleveland you have to think they are actively wondering if Kevin Love is the right fit for Lebron James and Kyrie Irving. The Cavs have very poor post defense and almost no chemistry as a team. I don’t think Houston is looking to moving Dwight nor should they be looking. The guy is only a few months removed from being absolutely dominating against Robin Lopez in the play-offs and most nights he is still the best rebounding and defensive big man in the league. Conventional wisdom tells us that if the Rockets ever decided to trade Dwight that they would get pennies on the dollar for him. But if Cleveland offered Love to Houston for Dwight, it might be the closest thing to an even money trade for two superstars that I can ever remember. The Cleveland Perspective Pros for making the trade: Cleveland may be in the middle of a perfect storm. There have been zero signs that this current group of players are a fit and both James and Love have player options at the end of the season. James is fickle and if things go bad enough who knows if he opts out and goes back to Miami or somewhere else. There is not a chance that Love would stay in Cleveland without James and maybe he opts out regardless if the Cavs end up 1 and done in the play-offs. Dwight Howard, at 29 years of age, is still the best rebounding defensive big man in the game. He would give Lebron, who is arguably the best passing player in the league, the best pick and role player in the league. Dwight would instantly upgrade Cleveland’s defense by a lot. Dwight, Lebron and Kyrie would be the best trio in the East and only one of those guys is not a good defender. Dwight is very likely a better fit with Lebron and Kyrie than Love. Dwight, IMO gives Cleveland a better chance to win the East this season. Last, Dwight has carried a team on his shoulders to the NBA Championship while many (not me) view Kevin Love as fools gold and not a true superstar. He couldn’t carry Minnesota by himself and he hasn’t been able to carry the Cavs in Lebron’s absence. Cons for making the trade: Dwight’s health and reports about his knees would be enough to give any GM pause before trading a player like Kevin Love for him. While Dwight is the best defensive big in the game and while he has been dominate in the post he still looks clumsy when the ball is dumped into him. His lack of free throw shooting is also a major issue even going back to last season’s play-offs. Houston pretty much had game one of the Portland series in hand until they started going to hack a Dwight and he simply could not hit a free throw. The Houston Perspective Pros for making the trade: Simply stated, adding Kevin Love to a starting line-up of Harden, Pat, Ariza and DMo makes the Rockets starting offense the best in the league. Kevin Love is a legit 1st option offensive weapon that was the 3rd option in Cleveland. In Houston he would be the 2nd option at worst and would absolutely carry the scoring load of the offense when James is on the bench. He is a perfect offensive fit for DMo. While in the line-up with DMo, there would practically never be a 2nd defender in the post while Love is hanging out at the arc. DMo working one on one in the post is just not fair for the defender, it doesn’t matter if it’s Joakim Noah, Marc Gasol or whoever. Further more, while DMo has turned into one of the better post defenders in the game, he is still just an average rebounder at best. Although Love is a below average defender, he is an elite rebounder. Kevin Love is only 26 years old. James Harden is 25, Donatas Motiejunas is 24 which gives Houston a core of players that can continue to play and grow together for the better part of another decade. Kevin Love would give the Rockets a Power Forward that would force guys like LMA or Blake Griffin to work all game long on the defensive end. Finally, the one item that has eluded Houston is an elite 3 point shooting Power Forward. Not only would Kevin Love create an endless number of one on one opportunities for DMo in the post, but it would open up the post for James Harden to punish the defense even more with his drives to the basket. Offensively speaking Kevin Love helps both James Harden and Donatas Motiejunas better on offense. Cons for making the trade: Kevin Love is not a good defender, there is no getting around that. Donatas Motiejunas has flat out turned into an outstanding defender, but he is not Dwight. When DMo is out of the game I don’t know who the Rockets would rely on for post defense. Kevin Love has a player option at the end of this season unlike Dwight. If for some reason Love decides Houston is not where he wants to be we would all be banging our heads against the wall for trading Dwight. Last, we have all seen how clumsy Dwight looks when we just dump the ball into the him in the post. Having stated that, we also all saw how dominate he was in the post against Portland when he decided he was going to go over, around and through Robin Lopez. With the improvement that the Rockets have made on defense and the improved bench and the play of Donatas Motiejunas,; the Dwight we saw in last seasons play-offs might be all we need for a championship this season. What do you think? Would a trade of Kevin Love for Dwight Howard be a win / win for both the Cavs and Rockets? Or would it be a bad move for either or both teams? What would you do?
DELETED POST. I've rethought things. I still wouldn't do it, though, because I think we'd be toast in the playoffs due to soft defense.
While I agree that the Defense would suffer, DMo is the wrong person to point out here. He has been outstanding on defense this season, even against guys like Gasol and Randolph.
Good post, fun argument. Kevin is younger and healthier, which is why you consider doing it at all. But the Rockets would never do it. The short answer: Rim protection is too damn important -- and too damn rare -- in the NBA. We trade Dwight, we risk the whole defense falling apart. For Christ's sake, the Cavs just traded two potentially decent first round picks for Timofey Mozgov because they needed it so bad.
Not sure what evidence there is that Kevin Love is more valuable to a winning team than Dwight Howard.
Kevin Love has proven he can play winning basketball All I see is empty stats while in Minnesota and 1-8 in the Cavs without Lebron
Maybe he isn't. I think it's a trade off of defense for offense. Kevin is without doubt an elite offensive player while Dwight is not. Of course Dwight is the best defensive big in the game, IMO where as Kevin is clearly a liability.
Star-for-star trades don't make a team better. If the Rockets want to win, they had to trade future value(picks, young talents) for current value, like a 3rd star. Trading Dwight for Love, even if you ignore the human implications, is at best a lateral move. Lateral moves don't win championships. Upward mobility does. Besides, PF isn't even a position of need. Now Dwight for CP3? That I would think about.
No. Dwight Howard anchors our defense. Eliminating Dwight in favor of a non-defending power-forward would be foolish. It would essentially put us back to last year, a good offense, a poor defense. Dwight AND Love would be deadly.
Only because we have Josh Smith now and because Dwight keeps trying to post up and much like when Josh shoots too much from long range it disrupts the chemistry and flow of the game. We were a better team with Dwight out and he looks like he doesn't want to play most nights. I like Dwight Howard but much of his problems come from his own head. You don't have to be Hakeem you can be Joakim Noah or Tyson Chandler set picks and screens get play good defense. He tries to do to much if Smith can change in two weeks Dwight should have changed for awhile now.
Reading cavs forum they would probably do this in a heart beat with the way love is looking and recent comments
He is a terrible defender and we would be forced to move DMo to center which would be an experiment. No thanks.
I assume you mean can't? If so I agree Kevin Love stats are probably the most non-impactful I've seen from a player. His defense is atrocious
Yep, as long as he signed an extension. We already have a good center in DMo - who can fill in for Dwight and Love would be a major upgrade at the PF position. I am afraid that Dwight is declining, and players that have gotten by on athleticism for years tend to fall off rapidly. DD