Wiggins or Love ?

[Inyatkin]

People are acting like LeBron has an endless shelf life. Wade is only two years older and is on the verge of a breakdown. LeBron has been playing 82 games plus playoffs since he was 18. He's not going to fall off a cliff, but his peak likely won't last well into his 30s, either.

 

[CallMeBruce]

People are acting like LeBron has an endless shelf life. Wade is only two years older and is on the verge of a breakdown. LeBron has been playing 82 games plus playoffs since he was 18. He's not going to fall off a cliff, but his peak likely won't last well into his 30s, either.

LeBron has stayed in MUCH better shape than Wade. Wade's early demise is more likely the result of his lack of condition throughout the middle of his career.

 

[Adios]

I'd keep Wiggins for continuity after LeBron James. Both together cannot be bad.

 

[aceboon]

People are acting like LeBron has an endless shelf life. Wade is only two years older and is on the verge of a breakdown. LeBron has been playing 82 games plus playoffs since he was 18. He's not going to fall off a cliff, but his peak likely won't last well into his 30s, either.

Yes Lebron has alot of mileage but Wade doesn't have a meniscus in one of his knees and suffered other injuries earlier in his career, it was bound to catch up to him given his style of play. Meanwhile Lebron is a decade in and hasn't suffered a single major injury yet, and not even an injury that's caused him to miss even a week's worth of games. Wade and Lebron can't really be compared in regards to health and durability.

 

[James]

People are acting like LeBron has an endless shelf life. Wade is only two years older and is on the verge of a breakdown. LeBron has been playing 82 games plus playoffs since he was 18. He's not going to fall off a cliff, but his peak likely won't last well into his 30s, either.

Wade had his meniscus removed @ Marquette. Lebron is basically Teflon , a specimen that'll be in his physical prime into his mid 30s. Not jump out the gym but reliable

 

[sparky]

Wiggins can defend and Love chooses not too, However love is a double double machine and Wiggins is limited offensively. To win now I say take Love.

 

[Brochacho]

If they trade Wiggins for Love, they would have to package one of their forwards and Waiters for a 2G in my opinion. Waiters already does not get along with Kyrie, and has stated he does not want to come of the bench. Right now he is the 4th best player on that team at best but with a much larger ego. It would be wise for the Cavs to package him and sign Ray Allen maybe to be that backup 2G.

 

[Matrim55]

Wiggins can defend and Love chooses not too, However love is a double double machine and Wiggins is limited offensively. To win now I say take Love.

Also worth noting that Al Jefferson was a disastrous defender before last season. And then they got him into a smart defensive scheme, and they produced a top 5 NBA defense.

If Blatt is as smart as he's supposed to be, he'll understand how to hide Love on that side of the ball. Or even turn him into an asset.

 

[champs99and04]

A few things:

1. People need to stop mentioning Wiggins in the same breath as Scottie Pippen. Wiggins is 19-years-old. In a perfect world, he goes back to Kansas for another 2-3 years and learns how to play the game. He's not ready to be a major impact player anytime soon. Did you watch the NBA finals? Everybody on the court for the Spurs could shoot and pass. Wiggins can currently do neither of those things. Defensively speaking, he has enormous potential, and my guess is he'll be good on that end immediately, but being a great defender in the NBA takes a lot more than athleticism and people who think he's going to be this elite, shutdown guy right away might need to reel in their expectations.

2. Kevin Love isn't the answer to all of Cleveland's problems, either. Between Waiters, James, Irving, and whoever else they manage to get production out of, Cleveland has plenty of offensive firepower. Their problem was, and will continue to be even with the addition of James, defense. Irving is an atrocious defensive player, Waiters is below average, and if you bring in Love, now 60% of your starting lineup can be qualified as either a massive liability or merely below average. James has been a phenomenal defensive player for the majority of his career, and still can be when engaged, but he has a lot of mileage on his body now and I'm not sure if he's capable anymore of single-handedly transforming a defense. I suppose it's possible that with Love, Irving, and LeBron - three of the very best offensive players in the game who can attack you in a multitude of ways - they'll be dominant enough offensively to overcome any of these concerns. But there isn't much precedent for mediocre defensive teams winning titles.

3. If I'm Cleveland, I wait it out. Their primary organizational goal right now should be extending LeBron's window of dominance as long as they possibly can. If that means easing his burden by allowing Irving to be a primary facilitator, Wiggins to defend the opposition's best perimeter player, and Waiters to carry second units, then I think that's what they have to do. In the meantime, they should be floating their abundance of assets - Waiters, Thompson, Bennett, Zeller, their future picks - in an effort to acquire cheap, affordable role players who complement LeBron and can help them on both ends. There are some big holes here, but Cleveland has enough ammo in any trade discussions - even without the inclusion of Wiggins - to patch them up.

 

[uchuskies14]

The Cavs are going to screw this up again. They should just wait a year until Love is a FA. He wants to play with LeBron. That way they can keep Wiggins and also get Love.

 

[intlzncster]

I've waffled back and forth on this. In my core, I'm not a "win now" kind of person. I like the Bill Belichick model. Never sacrifice the future for the now.

That said, this is Cleveland. That place hasn't had a Championship in forever. A championship would literally be the greatest moment in many people's lives. Winning just one championship would probably tied them over for another 50 years.

Conclusion: do whatever it takes to win one.

 

[RayRay19]

Look at the statistics of every LeBron led team they have never had a problem scoring points. I believe his teams have been consistently top 10 on offense. I keep Wiggins.

 

[James]

Look at the statistics of every LeBron led team they have never had a problem scoring points. I believe his teams have been consistently top 10 on offense. I keep Wiggins.

Yeah they also have kyrie irving, a guy who seriously fills it up. You know Love has great numbers, but his teams have been god awful. KG arguably had less help and his teams would perform remarkably better than any of love's. the cavs offense should be teetering on unstoppable with the combos of Irving/James/Waiters. wiggins gives them a wild card, a guy who wants to be on all defense his rookie year (his words). I agree gotta keep wiggins , let this play out.

 

[CallMeBruce]

KG is probably a top-3 power forward all-time, so I wouldn't necessarily hold Love to that standard, but it's not an unreasonable point that Love's teams have generally failed to do much of anything.

 

[uchuskies14]

KG is probably a top-3 power forward all-time, so I wouldn't necessarily hold Love to that standard, but it's not an unreasonable point that Love's teams have generally failed to do much of anything.

The T-Wolves were literally so bad when KG was on the team that often times he was the one bringing the ball up the court. The closest thing they had around him to real players were Latrell Sprewell and Wally Szczerbiak.

 

[Walker11]

I keep Wiggins and maintain this roster. Especially now hearing that Minny wants more than Wiggins and Bennett. I hear people say the Cavs need Love because Lebron is in win now mode, I think they are forgetting how good Lebron is. The Cavs won 59 games in his last year on a scrub team, and 19 the following year without him. Cleveland won 34 games last year without him and are now adding the #1 pick and Anthony Bennett looks like the guy we thought he was when JC was recruiting him. Irving is the best Cavs Lebron has played with. LBJ is better now. This team already is the favorite in the East

 

[PcketknfNiels]

If you think Love is a huge upgrade over Bosh you're completely ignoring one end of the floor. Also, Bosh was putting up big offensive numbers when he wasn't sharing the ball in TO, lets see what Love's ppg is looking like when he's deferring to a superstar, and another player who demands the ball and shot attempts in Irving. I'd be shocked if Bosh doesn't return back to his Raptors days with a bigger and more diversified role in the Heat's offense without Bron.

Bosh isn't Ibaka or Noah defensively, nor has he ever been the rebounding/passing/shooting force Love is. Love is also only 26, get him now and he's still giving you 8-10 monster years. If LeBron were like 25 you could wait on Wiggins, but at 30 you need to make whatever moves you can to win now. Cleveland would be insane to not make this deal.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

Correct. And if those three superstars are established NBA veterans, and aren't willing to take pay-cuts like the Spurs' Big 3, then "every year" will only last for a handful of seasons.

The Spurs also showed us that a team with quality depth can dismantle a "super team" with 3 stars. Much of the new CBA was to deter "super teams". The Heat weren't going to be able to put quality pieces around the Big 3 this offseason, even if Wade and Bosh took pay-cuts. The key to long sustained success is having some good, young talent on cheap contracts.

The Heat made the finals 4 years in a row and won 2 titles. I'd say that worked out. They'd have been massive favorites to make a 5th straight finals, but if you're Lebron and you can turn an old Wade and a Bosh that doesn't rebound anymore into a young stud like Kyrie and a 26-13 machine in Love then you gotta do it.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

Some of you are forgetting that getting Love now gives the Cavs his bird rights so that they can go over the cap to resign him to a longer term deal next year. They likely won't be able to afford him as an unrestricted free agent unless he is willing to take a major discount... Cleveland currently only has about $1.4 mil in cap room, not including Mike Miller (and possibly Ray Allen's signings - Miller would be getting the room exception and $1.4 mil is still lower than Allen's veteran minimum). They'll probably end up spending that remaining cap space on three year contracts for Dwight Powell or Joe Harris. The only expiring contract on the roster is Varejao's for $9.7 mil.

Edit: I forgot that Kyrie signed an extension, too, so his salary is jumping from $7mil this year to about $18mil next year.

Dingdingding.

Not possible to get Love or Gasol or any other big free agent next year. Won't have the cap space to sign them without Bird rights.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

Yes Lebron has alot of mileage but Wade doesn't have a meniscus in one of his knees and suffered other injuries earlier in his career, it was bound to catch up to him given his style of play. Meanwhile Lebron is a decade in and hasn't suffered a single major injury yet, and not even an injury that's caused him to miss even a week's worth of games. Wade and Lebron can't really be compared in regards to health and durability.

He doesn't need to be compared to Wade to assume LeBron won't be the best player in the league in 4-5 years just due to the amount of minutes he's already logged in his career (and especially the past 4 years) as well as all his national team commitments.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

Also nobody has mentioned the possibility that if Cleveland doesn't trade for Love somebody else might and he might decide he likes the situation there. Or he gets lured by the Lakers in free agency. Either way, even if the Cavs did have the cap room to offer him close to a max deal next year, it's no sure thing that he's still on the market at that point or chooses Cleveland.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

People are acting like LeBron has an endless shelf life. Wade is only two years older and is on the verge of a breakdown. LeBron has been playing 82 games plus playoffs since he was 18. He's not going to fall off a cliff, but his peak likely won't last well into his 30s, either.

I think he's got a much longer shelf life than most players. Even once he loses a step, he's still big enough to bully through people and IMO, once he's no longer able to play in the backcourt I think he's got plenty of years as a dominant power forward ahead of him.

 

[auror]

Also nobody has mentioned the possibility that if Cleveland doesn't trade for Love somebody else might and he might decide he likes the situation there. Or he gets lured by the Lakers in free agency. Either way, even if the Cavs did have the cap room to offer him close to a max deal next year, it's no sure thing that he's still on the market at that point or chooses Cleveland.

Next man up. Someone's coming to play with Kyrie, Wiggins, and LeBron.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Love is a weird player. He has the best combination of shooting and rebounding of any player in the league, and he's one of the best of all time there. He's also a really good passer.

But it's never led to his team winning. And he was 3rd in win shares last year, so clearly he's a valuable player.

I think he's a perfect 2nd option on a championship team.

 

[Brochacho]

The best the Timberwolves ever did for KG was get him Latrell Spreewell and a washed up Sam Cassell. Minnesota just happens to be the worst drafting team in he league, they've been swaying back and forth from not good enough to not bad enough for 20 years. I wish Minnesota gave KG a good supporting cast, I don't think people realize how truly dominant he was in the early 00's.

 

[intlzncster]

Talk is the Cavs are offering Wiggins, Bennett, and a number 1 next year. Rumor that Minny is that holding out for more. LINK

The Warriors have thus far been unwilling to offer Klay Thompson, and are currently danglingDavid Lee and Harrison Barnes.

At this stage, I'd wait on Love. Even with Klay Thompson (which is unlikely), are the Warriors going to even come up with a comparable package?

If, in addition to his offensive skills, Love was an elite post defender, then I'd do the 2 player + 2 number 1's deal. The Cavs do NOT want for scoring right now.

 

[Rocktheworld]

To paraphrase Stephen A, 26 and 12 doesn't happen by accident

 

[James]

wiggins bennett,.. AND a pick?! Thats a little crazy, flip gotta pull the trigger.

 

[aceboon]

The best the Timberwolves ever did for KG was get him Latrell Spreewell and a washed up Sam Cassell. Minnesota just happens to be the worst drafting team in he league, they've been swaying back and forth from not good enough to not bad enough for 20 years. I wish Minnesota gave KG a good supporting cast, I don't think people realize how truly dominant he was in the early 00's.

washed up Cassell? Cassell averaged 20 & 7 and was 2nd team All NBA his first year there, if he doesn't get hurt in the WCF there's a good chance the TWolves would have beat the Lakers.

 

[aceboon]

@BlakeEllington
Reporter: "Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love they are two max players, they're here." Blatt responds quickly: "Kevin's not a max player yet."

this trade has the potential to go down as one of the WOATs. I was in the keep Wiggins camp from the beginning, now the Cavs have a roster that has zero chance of winning an NBA title this year, and now they're risking alienating Love to the point he doesn't come back and you gave away Wiggins for nothing.