Love is averaging 18 ppg with bad defense. He's not the first option in Cleveland and he won't be here either. He's probably been the most disappointing player in the NBA. He and LeBron were supposed to dominate
I say you have to dance with the girl that brought you IMO you *have* to complete this year with DHoward If you really feel he is in DEEP decline Dwight would be a GOOD HUGE Expiring contract to trade Which you could optimize your return Which is all the reason you will not trade him now I just think he is better for this team I am simply not sold on Love 1. How much better does he make us Offensively 2. How much of a step back to we take defensively [and no . . afterwards you cannot b**** about Ariza or anyone else ball hawking taking chances like they do now] 3. How much improvement do you see in Love? 4. If he is on a Max contract does he not make us an inflexible as Dwight's contract? Rocket River This season is Championship season . . . . I'm telling you
Resident Cavs/Rockets fan here. As a Rockets fan, I definitely wouldn't. As a Cavs fan, I'd consider it but would rather see how things play out. I'm a firm believer you need 2 things to win a chip: 1. Defense 2. Offense In that order. Love has shown no improvement on defense. I'm hoping Mazgov will be enough to cover up his deficiencies in Cleveland
To be completely fair, Love is a better shooter than DMo. But other than that, completely agree. This is a ridiculous idea.
Love is just a better version of Terrance Jones. We will forget Love quickly as soon as Jones comes back to the team.
I'm not the biggest Howard fan but I wouldn't even consider the trade. Him not being able to carry the Cavs with Irving in the eastern conference says a lot about him as a player. Having said that, I'd love to have him next to Howard.
LaMarcus drools at the idea of being guarded by Love for a whole series. DMO - 10.6 pts 5.9 rebs 1.6 asst .5 blks 50.6% Dwight - 17.2 pts 1.4 asst 11.6 Rebs 1.6 blks 58.9% Love- 17.9 Pts 2.4 Asst 10.5 Rebs .5 blks 44.0% ----------------------------------------------------- Love = .7 pts more 1 more assist 1 less rebound and 14.9% less efficient I think DaDakota's numbers are a little off is .7 more points worth a far less efficient player? Rocket River
There is a window for a superstar to be a superstar and Dwight isn't that big, you get picks and you get someone who can become a superstar, that would be Kevin Love, he fits this team perfectly.
While there is no way the Rockets would do it for a variety of reasons, I would do the following: Have to do the second trade separately since the Cavs can't combine Mozgov. I wouldn't do that if I'm the Cavs, although the Love won't resign and/or doesn't fit issue is a legitimate concern of theirs, or should be.... I definitely understand why everyone is saying no way, and the faults they see in Love. I just think, like some of the others, that Dwight is getting older, getting less healthy, and is as bad a FT shooter as he's ever been. Even in his dominating games in the playoffs, it didn't really impact w/l. That one game he came out and scored high teens in the first quarter... I think we lost that first quarter. That's not on Dwight. The playoff loss is on James... BUT that's how the NBA goes these days. Guards/SF have bigger impacts. look at this years win-loss splits. Howard plays perhaps a BIT better in wins than losses. James plays EXCEEDINGLY better in wins. Whether this team wins-losses in the playoffs is certainly about defense, but it's also certainly about Harden's performance. The Rockets go as James goes. So why not help him go some more? Harden and Dwight's games don't seem to mesh amazingly well. They've done their best to mesh it. But Harden creates for everybody really. The bread and butter of efficient offense in half-court sets continues to be about pick and roll. This is as true of the Spurs last year as it is for a team like the Rockets with perhaps a bit more of a dominating single guard player. The Spurs PnR Parker all the time, too. Fact is, whether it's a Dwight choice, a coach choice, a Harden choice, or whatever, the Harden-Dwight pick and roll isn't used as frequently as it should and isn't as deadly as it needs to be. Harden creates for everybody. Nobody creates for Harden even to get him going, even if creating just means helping get him space by setting a pick... Dwight just doesn't do that enough. Kevin Love, theoretically, would be a MUCH better offensive tandem. Defense is completely understandable. But the reason I'd be 55% for a trade like mentioned above, is because, seemingly, the Rockets defensive improvements this year have come "in spite" of Dwight. Meaning the team seemed to play great defense when he was out earlier in the year (strength of schedule does need to be considered) and as importantly, the team also had Dwight last year - and Omer - and they weren't nearly as good defensively. This is not to say definitively you remove Dwight and there will be no impact. But it is to say, WITH Dwight already there, switching out Parsons/Jones for Ariza/DMo and a better defensive scheme seems to be what has driven the defensive improvements. So, IF I am also getting Mozgof as noted in my suggestion above, I'd do this for sure. The frontcourt can be DMo, Love, Mozgof, Jones, Smith.
That was last year, but has been great this year. We can really only focus on this season so if he is traded what makes you think he will magically change? Love would be best NEXT to D12, not traded for him. But either way we have no chance to trade for him. They just gave up the #1 pick in the most hyped draft ever to get him. I doubt 1/2 a season is enough for them to abandon ship.
I think the disconnect is the term superstar, I do not consider Dwight Howard or Kevin Love to be superstars, but rather star players. And I also do not believe that Defense wins championships, I think balance does, and right now we are too far off balance to the defensive side of the equation. DD
I'm not sure. The Cavs have, or should have, MEANINGFUL issues regarding resignability with him. Underperofming season and fit, real defensive struggles, it being Cleveland and all. If I'm Kevin Love, and I'm going to get roasted for not being a "winner" in a small market when I'm the star, and I'm going to get roasted for not being a "winner" in a larger but still small market, ostensibly for not being a "winner" - I guess not playing enough defense - then there really isn't much to keep me from saying, I might as well go "home" to LA and play in a city I know and love and for an organization that at least historically has had a lot of good luck, and where anything better than a dleague talent will be welcomed with wide open arms. And the move to LA, while he'd still take a huge hit, the hit would be lessened, because if Lebron is applauded for "coming home", how could someone really fault Love for doing that? (well I guess home is technically Portland, but same idea). AND, factor in that Dwight truly IS a better fit for the Cavs. They're 9th in offensive rating, 24th in defensive rating. I think a straight up trade the Cavs would definitely do. getting rid of Love AND Mozgof, as I proposed, I'm not so sure about.
Kind of my thing . .. seems it does more to help the Cavs than the Rockets I am a Rockets fan . . not a Cav's fan Even to THINK of the trade .. . you'd need KLove to sign a long term deal and I just am not feeling being hamstrung to KLove at this point Rocket River
For once I agree with DD. Generally 9/10 champion are top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating. I think the 2010 Lakers were 11th in offensive rating.. one off, not meaningful. The 03/04 Pistons were 18th in offensive rating... but of course great defensively... 2nd. The 00/01 Lakers were the opposite - 21st defensively, but 2nd offensively. The cruised in the playoffs 16-1. Also consider the rest of the NBA was horrible then. There are a couple of other outliers. At 3rd in defensive rating and 15th in offensive rating, the Rockets are close enough to that standard. They need to get better offensively... BUT they are so good defensively you might argue that it is overcome-able. I'd argue that their defensive rating is likely to decline. I'd argue that the NBA is so good now, principally in the West, that the lack of balance should come back to hurt you. The upside is that even if your defense slips a bit, there's the hope that you can get better offensively. You were better earlier in the season, and the bench upgrades have come so recently, you should get better. I don't think there is a wrong response to this question. If I'm betting whether the Harden/Howard combo win a championship, my bet currently is no. There seem to be too many ways the team could falter in the playoffs - Dwight free throws, Harden gets locked down, none of the role players are hitting from three, Josh Smith shoots way too much. If there's a positive, it's that aside from Smith (wasn't here), all of those were true last year, too, and last year the team didn't have the one thing this team does, which is a defense that can win them a game a series by itself potentially. Anyway, fun question, as legitimate a "star" for "star" hypothetical as you could find.
