Now that LeBron James committed to returning to Cleveland, many around the league are waiting patiently to see if the Cavaliers will attempt to add Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love to their roster. Love has been more than vocal about his desire to leave the Timberwolves after his contract expires next summer, so it’s only natural that Wolves’ GM Flip Saunders will attempt to trade Love this season assuring the Wolves at least get something back for their 3-time All-Star.
Undoubtedly, the Cavs have a nice roster filled with young talent, but if they are going to compete with the upper echelon of the NBA in 2014/2015, they’re going to need to add another veteran… And players like Love don’t come cheap. It’s very doubtful that a package centered around Dion Waiters or Anthony Bennett is gonna get it done.
Inevitably, if the Cavs truly want to acquire Love, they’re gonna have to give up their prized possession: The #1 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, Andrew Wiggins. Since landing LeBron (and subsequently making their team infinitely more competitive), many believe the Cavaliers must add Love in order to compete next season. Others believe Andrew Wiggins has simply too much potential to trade him away before he ever plays his first NBA game. Let’s take a look at the reasons for and against this trade.
Should Cavs trade Wiggins for Love?
Obviously Kevin Love is gonna have a better 2014/2015 season than Andrew Wiggins—he could play on Mars and have a bigger impact on his team than Wiggins will. Simply stated, Love is a top three power forward in the NBA (possibly the best) and arguably a top six player in the league. Although most people believe he’s older, Love is only 25 (turns 26 in September). Over his six seasons, K.Love has averaged a double double (19.2 PPG and 12.2) including a particularly impressive streak of 53 games with 10+ points, 10+ rebounds in 2010/11. And by no means is Love’s game limited to cleaning the glass and scoring in the paint. Love has shot an impressive 45.1% from the field over his career and an equally impressive 36.2% from three. In fact, Love’s offensive game is so well rounded that when he tallied 26.1 PPG, 12.5 RPG, and 4.4 APG last season, he became the first player to do so. EVER.
Unarguably, Love is a talented player who brings a skillset to the table that no other player in the league possesses. As most would agree, if the Cavs trade Wiggins in a deal to acquire Love they will be a better team next season and would become an immediate challenger for an NBA championship.
How would LeBron, Love, and Irving stack up?
First of all, I don’t think the Cavs as currently constructed (without Love) are as far away from competing for a chip as others seem to believe. But I would agree that with Love, they will be a much better team next season than without. First, let’s compare this “big three” with the Miami Heat “big three.” Assuming LeBron will be the same player in Cleveland that he was in Miami (yet hopefully playing less minutes and perhaps taking the occasional game off), Miami LBJ and Cleveland LBJ cancel each other out.
Now I love Chris Bosh. When people were taking unfounded shots at him in 2010/11, I thought it was unfair and ill-advised. Some loved to joke that the “big three” was really a “big two” or a “big two and half” and downplayed Bosh’s importance to the Heat. However, by 2014, it became quite apparent that the “big three” is essentially the “big one” and Bosh was Miami’s second best player. Nonetheless, Bosh has averaged an impressive 19.2 PPG over his career (17.3 PPG while he was with the Heat) and 8.7 RPG (7.3 RPG with the Heat). Obviously Bosh made substantial changes in his game coming to Miami from Toronto. With the Raptors, Bosh played far more around the basket and in the paint. He tallied career highs in PPG (24.0 PPG) and RPG (10.8). However, once he joined Wade and LeBron in Miami, the points and rebounds went down but the 3-point shooting went up. But while others may criticize him under the umbrella of declining production, I have to admire the way Bosh contorted his game to fit in with the Miami system.
With that said, Kevin Love is a better player than Chris Bosh. Similar to CB4, Love is a perimeter big who can spread the floor (which is a perfect complement for James) but he’s a better shooter. Love is also a far superior rebounder, and when combined with Tristan Thompson or Anderson Varejao, the Cavs should be an excellent rebounding squad. Neither is a particularly great defender or any type of real shot blocker, so neither player will really wear that crown. Nonetheless, Love is undoubtedly the more effective player right now.
Do we really need to compare Dwyane Wade and Kyrie Irving? Dwyane Wade is one of the best shooting guards in NBA history. Dude has three rings and nothing to prove. With that said, let’s be honest: He’s got nothing left in the tank. In contrast, Irving’s best years are in front of him and he should CERTAINLY benefit greatly from LeBron’s tutelage. However, one statistic I think is interesting is that Kyrie Irving has played in 181 games over the last three seasons while Dwyane Wade has played in 172, only nine less.
Now I’m not willing to go on record and say 2014/2015 James, Love, and Irving is better than 2010/11 James, Bosh, and Wade, but I will say they’re better than 2014/2015 James, Bosh, and Wade would’ve been… And this is the core of a team that went to the last four consecutive Finals. So what makes everyone think that this Cavs team (with Love) couldn’t represent the Eastern Conference in this year’s Finals?
In fact, I believe the Cavs would be the best team in the East. They’re already better than the vastly overrated Pacers (now sans Lance Stephenson, yet still burdened by Roy Hibbert’s albatross-like contract) and a Chicago Bulls team that receives far more credit than they deserve for a team that hasn’t won 50 games in over two years in a horrible Eastern Conference. As much as I like Joakim Noah, I’m not prepared to act like Derrick Rose is the same player he was three years ago the same way others are. So no one can fuck with the Cavs in the East, but how do they stack up with the teams in the West?
No let’s not act like a team filled with mostly players 22 and under who have never played an NBA game together (let alone a season) is going to take out a team like the Spurs who have kept the core of their team together for 10+ seasons and has won four rings. Nor do I believe they can hang with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have been knocking on that Championship door for almost four years and have really seen their nucleus come together, or the Los Angeles Clippers, who not only have two of the top ten players in the NBA, but an excellent core of role players that round out their squad.
So is the goal of this Cavaliers team to go to the Finals or win a chip? Because I think they can get there, but they’re not winning it all. Does LeBron really want to lose his fourth NBA Finals? Doubtful. Perhaps if the Cavs don’t trade Wiggins, they may be better off in the long term.
Should Cavs just keep Wiggins?
Now of course, one could argue that if the Cavs could somehow nab Love without letting Wiggins depart, they would be the ultimate winners. No disagreement there. And let’s be honest, historically, if any team’s front office has displayed extreme ineptitude over the last eight seasons, it’s been Minnesota. So maybe a combination of Waiters/ Thompson/ another vet and some picks gets it done, but it’s doubtful. Sometimes, it can be difficult to assume what a team like the Wolves values. Johnny Flynn, Derrick Williams, Darko Milicic… All of these players have been seen as potential building blocks by Minnesota’s seemingly clueless front office. But in my mind, there are two prevailing reasons why the Cavs shouldn’t make this trade:
1. No other team has been rumored to be offering much more.
The only other “potential superstar” that we’ve heard about in Love trades is Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors. However, the Warriors have steadfastly denied that they would consider packaging Thompson is a deal with Minnesota. So why do the Cavs have to give up Wiggins? To compete with the Celtics’ offer headlined by the Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk? Or the Bulls’ offer of Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler? I’m almost certain that my aforementioned (and completely ficticious) trade offer highlighted by Waiters, Thompson, and a future first is vastly superior to anything the C’s could offer. Is there something I don’t understand about supply and demand? The Cavs don’t have to offer their best package possible, just the best package available. If the Warriors are offering Thompson with Harrison Barnes and a pick, then Wiggins might have to go. But until the actual threat of another team acquiring Love comes to fruition, I wouldn’t feel the need to include Wiggins.
2. Isn’t this approach the same WRONG approach the Miami Heat took?
Let’s be clear: Whatever your opinions towards the “Big Three Heat” era is, it was not a failure. In four years, they made four consecutive finals and won two. But the team took a huge step backwards last season when they began cost-cutting, shedding veterans and salary to get below the luxury tax threshold. Nevertheless, the real problem was building a team around three players all making close to $20M a year essentially leaving the Heat with no money to spend in the free market. Last season in particular, it became quite evident that the Heat’s lack of depth would not only prevent them from competing with San Antonio, but also teams such as Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers. Make no mistake, there was more than one reason James left Miami in favor of Cleveland this summer, but undoubtedly the Heat’s lack of salary space played an integral role in his departure.
The Cavs have already went out and signed Mike Miller and James Jones; and they’ve allegedly been courting Ray Allen as well. Are we getting the band back together? The second worst plan the Cavs could follow is the Miami Heat 2010-2014 blueprint, second only to the plans the Cavs laid out from 2003-2010 which included landing second bananas like Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison. How about this? BUILD AROUND YOUR YOUNG, TALENTED, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, INEXPENSIVE prospects!! You don’t have to give 85% of your money to three players, and divvy the rest up amongst scrubs (no disrespect, Dexter Pittman). You are allowed to make moves in the interest of flexibility. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Dion Waiters signs an offer sheet in the summer of 2016 and leaves? The Cavs will be okay. Listen, you already have LeBron; people will come. Dudes want to play with this guy (including Kevin Love). Some might say, “Well if you don’t trade for Love now, he might go play with the Lakers next summer.” Fine. Kevin Love’s a good player but acquiring him at any cost may not be the best thing for the Cavs’ future.
The Bottom Line
Kevin Love would make the Cavs a better team in 2014/15, and assuming he would sign an extension, he would also make the squad better in 2015/16 than they could ever be without him. However, by 2016/17, a more mature and developed Andrew Wiggins could emerge. Consider the fact that Wiggins would make approximately $6.5M that year in comparison to the $20M Love could be making by that time. Also consider all of the pieces that can remain with Wiggins but would have to depart in a trade for Love. By 2016/17, Tristan Thompson would be entering his sixth season, Waiters his fifth, and Anthony Bennett would be in his fourth. Doesn’t that sound better than just Kevin Love and one of those four guys?
Ultimately, the Cavs are just giving up too much in this proposed trade. Yeah, it makes them better but for how long? If they make this deal, they need to start winning championships tomorrow because if it takes any longer than two years, they’ll certainly regret trading Wiggins, depleting their young core, and erasing any flexibility they may have had through 2020, the year when James turns 36.
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