[Woj] Houston plans to pursue Kevin Love

they play in the east. you can suck and still have home court in the playoffs.

 

And like Love, he knows what it's like to keep missing the playoffs (his team doesn't though), so he can sympathise there too

 

this

he's used to that .500 record and can now make the playoffs

 

Because they're only a couple years removed from being a decent team and Ainge has shown he can put together a contender pretty quickly over there once he's stockpiled enough assets. Add to that the fact that they play in the East which is a joke(and Miami's age is going to catch up to them very soon), and why wouldn't he want to go there?

If you're comparing Boston to us, the Celtics make way more sense. Sure in theory, you could argue that Howard, Harden, and Love is a devastating trio that could and should dominate the league. But at the same time, I would've thought that the Howard/Harden duo should've at least one a single stinking playoff series. Same with the trio of Pippen, Dream, and Barkley(even at their advanced age) back in 1999.

Fact of the matter is the futility of the Rockets franchise could start to weigh on the minds of a lot of free agents and disgruntled stars looking for a trade. I know if it was me, I'd rather go to an organization that's only a few years removed from a championship and at the very least has tasted playoff success more than once in nearly 2 decades.

 

The players more than anyone know that the players win titles, past success has such little influence on them, that is may as well be considered non existent.

No free agent has chosen a team along those lines, because it just doesn't make sense (Dwight even said so, literally). As if the failure of Yao and Tracy or the success of Garnett, Pierce and Allen (why would Allen and Garnett even agreed to it if past success was an issue? The Celtics had been **** for the better part of 20 years) has anything to do with Kevin Love? wtf?!?

I'm also unsure how this Ainge turned it around quickly comes from, according to Wyc Grousbeck, the Garnett plan began in 2004, with the brainchild being their assistant GM (some guy called Darrel Murray or something), it wasn't quick at all.

But at the same time, there's absolutely no doubt in a trade scenario that Boston has way more than what we do.

 

The Celtics had not been sh-t for 20 years. They were 2 wins from the NBA Finals in 2002. They made the Semifinals the following year. And they were in the playoffs each of the next 2 seasons. They only stunk for 2 years after that before the offseason where they landed Allen and KG. And BTW, that was pretty much a deliberate act on Ainge's part. He made the team worse in order to stockpile assets that could be parlayed into those superstars.

Juxtapose that with the Rockets who in the last 15 years have had 2 separate playoff droughts of 4 and 3 consecutive seasons. And in the other 7 years where they did make the postseason, they won only a single series. There's no comparison between the two franchises. The Celtics despite their occasional struggles have been far more successful than the Rockets since the last decade.

 

So by your logic then no players should want to play for the Clippers ,Warriors, Nets or Knicks.

 

I honestly don't know if anyone wants to play for the Knicks. It's kind of a moot point since they've constantly handcuffed themselves with horrible trades that ate up their capspace and gave away valuable draft picks.

The Nets were a joke in the post-Jason Kidd(the player, not the coach) era. Now they're somewhat back to respectability, but don't discount the presence of a billionaire Russian owner who has no hesitation in spending 200 mil on his payroll.

The Clippers are an attractive destination now thanks to the drafting of Blake Griffin and the trade for Chris Paul(well, that and being in Los Angeles). Before that, you're right. They weren't getting any big name free agents to sign there. Funny what winning can do for a franchise.

The Warriors are similar to the Clippers. Aside from that one very brief shining moment in 2007 when they upset the Mavs, they were a joke for nearly 2 decades. They only finally turned things around through the draft. Curry, Thompson, and Barnes were all picks by the Warriors. And they traded for guys like Lee and Jack. And it's not like they haven't had issues keeping guys on their team. Landry and Jack both left last offseason.

 

Looks like we are about to lose K-Love to the Celtics. Everyone is recruiting him over there....he was at a game in Boston and Big Papi, Gronk, Rondo, and pretty much every other athlete in Boston was there trying to get him to come to the Celtics. Oh well...wonder who we are going to try and get now. Celtics are probably going to keep Rondo and I have heard that Melo might re-sign with the Knicks after all. I don't think there are many more big name players that we can go after this summer. Maybe this is for the best, next year we can maybe go get KD.

 

Well, It seems Love going to Boston.

 

Sounds good to me. Send good players east, and actually give LeBron a challenge rather than pretenders like the Pacers or Nets.

 

Aaron Hernandez?

 

KD ain't happening. He's locked up til 2016. Morey cannot sit on all that capspace for 2 more years. And there's no way in hell OKC will trade Durant before then unless the Thunder turn into a very bad team next season(which they won't).

Here's a crazy thought. Why not stop with the 3 superstars obsession and actually fill out the roster with quality role players who will compliment Howard and Harden? I'd much prefer focusing on finding specialists like Troy Daniels who fill a need for this team(in his case, 3-point shooting), don't cost a lot of money, and don't buckle under pressure instead of throwing 20 mil at another 25+ PPG scorer when offense is not exactly the Rockets' weakness.

 

It's still up to Minnesota, and the bidding market, to decide where he goes. In fact, if Love's public display of affection for a city gets too hot and heavy for Minnesota's taste, the Wolves may well decide to send him to the worst possible hell hole (Sacramento, to spend a year with DeMarcus?) if the bidding prices are roughly equivalent.

This is where Milk Hair comes in. He still has a good relationship with Minnesota's owner, Glen Taylor, and President of Bball Operation, Flip Saunders, and have known each other for a long time. Flip was McHale's college roommate and later work with him for years on the Wolves.

If Morey is willing to offer enough assets, McHale would be helpful in swaying Minnesota to deal with Houston as oppose to another team. McHale will also be helpful in retaining Love.

 

Fark KLove. Give Lowry and Millsap. Those two would balance the team much better than Love, adding an element of toughness sorely nneeded in this team. Plan B might turnout much better at the end.

 

Question. If Love gets traded to another team than the Rockets this offseason, what exactly is the rationale for keeping Milk Hair on as coach? If it's as a recruiter, who is he trying to help us get?

 

Love, when he becomes a free agent in 2015.

 

Doubtful. Unless it's a desperate and stupid team like the Kings, I don't see anyone trading for Love unless they think they have a pretty good chance of retaining him.

 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...kend-boston/1mEG5awQsl1I8GRtqVwU7K/story.html

Didn't realize they had so many picks. I don't see how they won't get him unless some other team offers up a promising young player (better than Parsons) or a top 5ish pick in this years draft.

 

17 picks over the next five years? Yeah, I think Boston is the frontrunner. Time for Plan B, Morey. If you have one.