I really like watching bigs who compete on the boards and Love definitely does that. He does his job and then some. I just can't help but see how there's just something missing in Love. He scores when he can not really when he wants to or when the team needs him to. Some would say he's staying within the offense but let's be honest the great ones don't stay within the offense they are the offense. So, while his stats may align with some of the all time greats, I'm not sure if he'll ever be able to will a team to a great record the way that they did. To win it all he'll probably need to play with at least one other star AND next to a significant complimentary post presence. And, sorry to nit pick an otherwise great post but you don't have to be a stellar athlete to be above average defensively. Sure he won't be Hakeem Olajuwon but guys like Kurt Thomas and Bruce Bowen learned to use what they had to stop opposing players. Defense is about anticipation, preparation, and dedication. Athleticism just allows you to slack off on one or more of those.
His numbers are impressive. but when you team hasn't even won 20 games at this point in the season it call your numbers into question imho. He's been doing this pretty much all season and they still lose......so how good is he really? Great numbers on a bad team = suspect. I think on a good team he's more of a 15/11 or 12 kind of guy.
People who say this crap have NO IDEA how awful everyone else on the Wolves really is. The Wolves are my second team. I can tell you that Love aside, and mayyyyyybbbeeeee Beasley ( and yes, Beasley's maybe - I really don't like him that much), there is not a single player I would want from the Wolves on the Rockets. Even Ridnour and Johnson, I'd rather have Dragic or Budinger. Dead serious. At the same time, I would trade anyone on the Rockets roster to have someone like Love, and I'll be happy when he leaves this joke of a franchise.
As I mentioned on the previous page, Love has a total rebound percentage of 23.8% this season. Rodman topped that for seven straight seasons and peaked at 29.7%!
Just my opinion........but great numbers on terrible teams are suspect. Period. What you just said....simply makes my point stronger imho. His team sucks so bad that a good player (him) has the opportunity to put up gaudy number....but the team still loses.
Their triangle offense looks turrible, but then again that takes time to learn, everyone just looks lost
Love is the best rebounder SINCE rodman. However, Rodman was very likely the best rebounder ever, period. So it is still kind of misleading to say since Rodman. Love could quite possibly be a top 5 rebounder of all time, it's just that Rodman was the best ever. Another thing, it's not smarts that allows love to rebound so much, when people have no explanation for how a guy does something, they attribute it to his intelligence. But rebounding as a skill has less to do with intelligence than it does an innate ability to react the the ball faster than your opponent can. Zach Randolph was asked about Love's ability and he said that Rebounding isn't something that you can be taught (intelligence) you either have it or you don't. It is safe to say that Love has that ability in spades.
Chamberlain was a great rebounder along with Bill Russell, but Rodman did it against better competition. That, shouldn't totally discount what Chamberlain did, but it should put in perspective how GREAT rodman's run was.
Great numbers on a bad team may be suspect, but they aren't necessarily invalid. It just means you have to watch the games before passing judgment. I would tell you to watch the guy play, but I wouldn't suggest anyone watch the T-Wolves games. Kevin Love is a very, very good player. There's something to be said about a guy who can't jump at all, but continues to put in the effort to grab 14-15 boards a game on a team going no where. Love is not the reason his team sucks, not in the least. (By the way, has anyone noticed that he shoots three 3ptrs a game, yet STILL grabs 4.7 offensive rebounds? I'd pretty sure that's never been done.)
Never said he wasn't a good player....but I'm not ready to anoint him as a marquee player. Especially when he can't even lead his team to 25 victories. Just my opinion.
Would you say the same about elvin hayes? Also, when your only argument for not anointing him as you say a marquee player is the unathletic slant, that's pretty weak. I bet everything I own that you see Blake Griffin as a marquee player and his team is terrible as well with FAR MORE talent on it, but oh yeah, griffin is a beast because he is athletic. Griffin doesn't play defense, his team has a losing record, he can't claim better stats than Love, his team has better talent, but yet he is a beast. It's just a dumb argument.
Amazing stats, but I just don't think he changes games that much. He doesn't affect the game defensively, and I don't really see him receiving a lot of defensive attention on offense. He's definitely an anomaly. I'm glad we're not the team that has to pay him the max.
Very good rundown. And now with Case Keenum granted a medical redshirt and coming back, not as upset with your team taking him out anymore. Bruin Ball is back to respectbility Do not want Love going to OKC, bad news for Rox. Since OKC seems to make the right moves, they'll probably get SOMEBODY anyway, still...
