Warriors are willing to include Klay Thompson in a trade for Kevin Love

There are few factors to remember in understanding the Wolves:

1. Mediocrity would be an improvement for this team. They have not finished even at .500 for nearly a decade. Their last playoff team was the KG-Sprewell-Cassell squad.

They've experienced "rebuilding" for quite some time, and gotten plenty of high picks-- Foye, Corey Brewer, Love, Rubio, Flynn, Wes Johnson, Derrick Williams... It hasn't been fun and didn't exactly go anywhere.

2. Some owners, particularly those in the poorer markets, are happy with a team that is just respectable on the court and turning a profit. They likely don't think that their team will ever contend for a title absent some extraordinary luck (because, among other things, they have virtually no chance of landing the elite free agents). For example, the Bucks' former owner, Herb Kohl, was that way and said so publicly.

3. The Wolves owner Glent Taylor is 73 years old, not on his death bed or anything, but he's gotta be feeling his own mortality and he hasn't had a .500 team since 2005. So, rather than going for a 4-5 year plan of tanking for a shot to build a title team that he may never live to see even if they succeed (again, remember, they already tried the tanking/high picks route), getting an 8th seed team while he is still alive may look good to Mr. Taylor.

 

Great points. Can't dispute any of that.

Not a great situation to be in but hey, what are ya gonna do?


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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Warriors source disputes the idea that Klay Thompson has &quot;been made available&quot; to Minnesota in Kevin Love talks. Not GSWs' style, anyway...</p>&mdash; Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) <a href="https://twitter.com/timkawakami/statuses/479811491659395072">June 20, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sounds like names are being suggested and crossed out and raised again in new combinations. I'm sure Thompson is in that mix. Very fluid.</p>&mdash; Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) <a href="https://twitter.com/timkawakami/statuses/479811841816674304">June 20, 2014</a></blockquote>
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I agree that being a mediocre, first round fodder would be an improvement and possibly even welcomed by the fans and owner- but I think trading Love for any of the guys that have been floated around puts Minnesota in an even worse spot. They'd be bad enough to not make the western playoffs, but still decent enough that they wouldn't be picking that high in the draft. Imagine if the Rockets, during that 2 or 3 year stretch after the Ron Artest season, were perennially picking 9th or 10th instead of 14th. That's what Minnesota would be dealing with.

 

I think the Wolves will try to get good vets in return for Love, and then tank anyway. Maybe that's why Flip decided to take the HC job, it's going to take real experience to get a team with decent players to lose enough for a top 3 pick. They spend this year focusing heavily on individual player development: work on Pek's defense, Rubio's shot, Dieng's fundamentals, Brewer's offense, Klay's ballhandling skills, give Shabazz Muhammad a shot, Dante Cunningham's overall game. Bring Dubljevic into the team and see if he has what it takes to make it in the NBA. With Rubio running the show, they should be fun to watch if they decide to run n gun.

So in the summer of 2015 they have a core of Rubio, Dieng and Pek, plus they can match any offer that comes at Klay, plus a high lottery pick and David Lee's expiring contract. Some other decent pieces as well.

Is that really much worse than taking expiring contracts and unpredictable picks? Which of those teams is going to take Kevin Love and return a good draft pick to the Wolves? Maybe the Cavs pick this year, but that's about it.

I don't think they're under the delusion that they will make this trade and break .500 this coming season. If they couldn't do it with Adelman and Love, they are certainly not doing it with Saunders, Thompson and Lee.

 

I'm not sure that was by choice though. I think at the time Melo only had the Knicks on his list, with the Nets kind of as a backup threat.

 

Given how deep the west is, the odds that Klay Thompson and Ricky Rubio are going to take them into the 1st round is pretty minimal. There's at least a chance that one of Boston's picks may turn out to be a stud. Or at least, they're cheap assets so Minnesota can trade in the future.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Celtics still after Love. But Rondo, Green could be gone if they don't get him. Tomorrow's Herald column tonight: <a href="http://t.co/H2rUOGad9Q">http://t.co/H2rUOGad9Q</a></p>&mdash; Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveBHoop/statuses/479834404844761088">June 20, 2014</a></blockquote>
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The Warriors is the one team I don't want him to end up on. Get it done, Boston!

 

Never happening. So many better packages out there. Namely, Boston and Phoenix.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...s-add-klay-thompson-possible-kevin-love-trade

 

if he refuses to resign with Phoenix, then they won't trade for him. All of these trades are strictly dependent on if he commits to resigning with them in the offseason.

 

I'm doing this as quickly as possible if I'm Golden State. They've reached their ceiling with their team, the way it's currently constructed. How you can pass up on a Love + Curry pick and roll (two of the league's ten best players, and top five shooters) is beyond me.

 

So, GSW gets Love, we get Melo. Who averages more points? Jesus, that would be an awesome game to watch. No defense at all, but you'd be pushing 140 pts each way...

 

This is the second most lopsided trade after the Harden trade and scrub ass Kevin Martin is a part of both of them. :grin:

 

Lol.
That would be a hilarious trade. Both Rondo and Love would just be swapping places and will still end up with inferior teams. :grin:

 

So Kevin Martin and Kevin Martin 2.0 for the best PF in the game? Not buying it, smells like Minny is trying to leverage another team (cough, cough) to up their offer.

 

He's not even as good as Martin was 2-3 years ago. Martin was more efficient and could draw fouls. Klay's defense is a bit better, though.

 

if it doesn't come from woj it's not true

also when was the last time broussard's multiple sources gave us anything of relevance. I fondly remember when he said that dwight was still considering the lakers several hours after espn reported that he chose the rockets...

 

How do the Wolves "win" big time by this? They let their two best assets in Klove (23 year old star) and 13th lottery pick for Kmart 1.25 (seeking a max deal btw) and a horrible contract in David Lee? And why the hell is Minny losing a 13th pick when they are the ones trading Kevin Love?

 

Steph Curry and Kevin Martin as your starting back court, man, Iggy is going to get run into the ground trying to cope with that.