Cavs, Computers, Quarterbacks, Contracts and more – WFNY Podcast – 2014-11-11
November 11, 2014Justin Upton won’t be traded to the Indians
November 11, 2014(When you cover Cleveland sports with multiple writers, there’s bound to be some parallel thinking and redundancy. Andrew had his take on Kevin Love and I wrote this one independently.)
On Monday, Scott wrote up a the rumor that Sam Smith put in a post at Bulls.com. Now, I’m not out here to accuse anyone of making anything up, because there’s really not much incentive for Sam Smith to do such. I’m also not all that interested in dissecting his use of the word “indications” to try and figure out if he actually heard anyone say that Kevin Love is considering opting out and heading to the West Coast. In the end, if you start trying to trace the source of this rumor or even attack the reporter who put it in his “NBA NEWS AND NOTES” section, you’re missing the point. The point is that nobody knows what Kevin Love is going to do at the end of this season, including Kevin Love himself.
Nobody knows what Kevin Love is going to do at the end of this season, including Kevin Love himself.
Before losing the Finals 1-4 to the Spurs, the Heat were 12-3 in their playoff run. They swept the Bobcats, beat the Nets 4-1 and Pacers 4-2. But the Heat did lose and LeBron did opt out on June 25. And he did come to the Cavaliers on July 11. And the Cavs did win the lottery and… and… and…
Whoever told Sam Smith that there are indications that Kevin Love will opt out is operating with an unsolvable math equation right now. The Cleveland Cavaliers were off to a rough start in a very young NBA season and Kevin Love is under the biggest, most amplified microscope that he’s ever been under. The rumor mill is more intense than anything he’s ever dealt with as people write about what he’s going to do and how he’s possibly not getting along with his new head coach.
Even the news that doesn’t involve him directly is impacting him. Whether it’s Kyrie and LeBron’s locker room discussions getting talked about or the wacky quotes that Dion Waiters gives that lead to sports talk radio conversations about religion and politics and patriotism, the chatter is at a whole new level. No matter how good you are at basketball, it’s reasonable to assume that it takes a little while to get used to it. Kevin Love isn’t used to being on the team that’s the favorite with the target on their back every night. He’s not used to being in arenas where there could be sellouts every night because he and his teammates happen to be in town.
It’s a game-by-game, week-by-week proposition in all likelihood. The more you get to know about professional athletes and the things they think and things they do, the more you realize they’re more like the rest of us than we’re usually willing to admit. Our jobs aren’t on as big a stage with statistics to measure how our lives are impacting our performance, but we all get affected by relationships with girlfriends, wives, children, parents, etc. Sometimes if a pipe explodes in our kitchen or the furnace goes out it causes us to lose sleep for a night and then our work performance stinks for a few days. Sure, it’s helpful that Kevin Love can afford lots of expensive things including house repairs, but we all get unsettled by different things, even when we can afford them.
I know I’m getting pretty off the path and in the weeds now, but it’s instructive to remember. The Cavaliers have played six games. The Cavaliers and Kevin Love have a lot of experiences to put in the memory banks over the next six or seven months that will shape the decisions that Kevin Love will make this summer.
Will he be back? What are the indications? Nobody knows for sure what Kevin Love will do, almost definitely including Kevin Love himself. Just remember what we learned from LeBron and his interview on CNN. The better the Cavaliers do, the harder it will be for Kevin Love to leave. One thing’s absolutely certain for Cavs fans and that’s that worrying about it won’t help anything.
13 Comments
I guess the concern is that if this is such a clear question mark than why did we trade away Bennett and Wiggins in the first place? I figured the Cavs had some guarantee from Love or they wouldn’t have made the deal, right? Seems pretty dumb to gamble that much talent with no guarantees.
Love probably hasn’t even thought much about it yet, so who knows where anybody is getting intel on the issue, but there are a few things we do know. First, whether or not Love opts out with intent to stay has everything to do with where the cap is going and when it’s going there. Nobody knows that outcome yet. Second, the Cavs will be able to pay him more than anybody else whenever he does opt out. Doesn’t guarantee he’ll stay, but it sure doesn’t hurt. Third, the Cavs will probably be a more attractive basketball destination than LA next year. The Lakers will have money to spend finally, but they have few quality young players and almost no trade assets. They won’t be able to do what the Cavs did this past summer. If the stars align and the cap goes up enough that they can sign two max guys it might become a more attractive place, but Kobe is probably done after next year so there is some uncertainty there.
Bottom line: If the Cavs get everything together and feel like a legitimate championship contender, then Love will almost certainly stay. He’ll have his best chance of winning AND the most money. He’s not giving both of those up over climate or college affiliations. If the Cavs first year of the big three is a dud (I define dud as struggling with chemistry all year and not advancing past the first round of the playoffs) he’ll have some tough decisions to make.
We certainly knew there was a chance he’d leave. Remember Carlos Boozer? Main reason I was and am still against the trade.
Not even remotely close to what happened with Boozer besides plenty of people are sick of waiting on immature talent to develop in Cleveland. If it even develops. So far Wiggins and Bennett haven’t shown much in Minnesota.
If my memory serves me, Sam Smith put his money behind Lebron going to the Lakers and when the Bulls hired Jim Paxson, he penned another article advocating the hire because of how Jim was able to surround Lebron with so many quality players (like Gooden, Snow and Newble). I think Sam grasp on reality comes and goes.
” …if you start trying to trace the source of this rumor or even attack the reporter who put it in his “NBA NEWS AND NOTES” section, you’re missing the point. The point is that nobody knows what Kevin Love is going to do at the end of this season, including Kevin Love himself.”
No, Craig, that may be your point, not mine. I knew your point before WFNY carried Smith’s babble. My point is that guys like Smith are promoters of the new sports sensationalism and should be called to account for attention-seeking nonsense carefully couched in responsible reporting-type words. You’re saying: you can’t stop these stories, so just relax and ignore. Nope. I’d rather give my hits to Woj and Lowe and guys who are relatively responsible, relatively “journalists.” And I wish everyone else would too. Journalism becomes more or less responsible according to the buyers’ tastes. I’m encouraging the start of the backlash to this age of exploding sports news nonsense.
(Dang, no idea who slid me this soapbox)
Different situation. Cavs were limited in how much they could offer Boozer. This time that is not the case. A better comparison would be Dwight leaving the Lakers. But it brings up a whole other point. If Dwight couldn’t get away from the dumpster fire that is the Lakers fast enough, why would Love want to sign there long term?
http://f.ptcdn.info/864/012/000/1386005390-tumblrlhz0-o.gif
Honestly they only gave up Wiggins. Talent and Bennett don’t go together in my opinion.
We’re 6 games in and this is seriously a relevant media discussion point? Typically articles like these are meant to stir the pot and for big city writers (and by extension their big city readers) to virtually male mount smaller city fans by appealing to their presumed inferiority complex.
Not going to work this time. Maybe Kevin Love leaves and maybe he doesn’t. Given that he was the virtual GM and driving advocate for the trade it’s a botch on Lebron’s resume if he can’t make it work. It’s also a scar on Kevin Love if he can’t make it work. With or without KL the Cavs will be in better shape than they were May 18th 2014.
http://youtu.be/IvulaROLsfg
Didn’t Sam Smith also say Kyrie is absolutely leaving. Screw that guy.
“Whoever told Sam Smith that there are indications that Kevin Love will opt out”
My money is on somebody who’s trying to increase how much the Cavs do to keep Kevin Love. Those most likely to want that are:
– Kevin Love
– Kevin Love’s agent
– any other GM who wants the Cavs to mis-spend their money
I really don’t put much stock in rumor reporting like this in sports. Players and teams are going to sign the contracts they’re going to sign, players will return from injury when they can, but the only thing that’s actually interesting to me is how the team that we have plays the game.