Isn't Boston a front runner to land Love if he leaves the Cavs ?

[gpap]

Personally I'd be honored if a player of Love's caliber even thought of playing in Boston for five minutes. This is a team that starts Kelly Olynyk at PF. KELLY OLYNYK.

Lol, tommy point!

[gpap]

Wow, just wow on all the people ready to pass on Love. This is a player that can legitimately give you 26-13-4, shoot 40% from deep, 80% from the line (with 8+ FTA), and there are definitely worse defenders. He's 26 years old and entering his prime. In various years he's thrown up a 20 & 15 with 42% 3PT, 26-13 twice, 4.4 assists last year, high efficiency, low turnovers...

And you wouldn't give him a max deal the summer before the cap rises $30M, when 3-and-D guys like Khris Middleton are in the mix for $10-15M / year deals?

Um yeah, you sign Kevin Love if he's available and interested. Like I said, wow.

watch the awesome defense/effort by Love then reply again . Still the same today.   At least freaking attempt to raise your arms to distract/alter the shots before running for the rebound.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4NwjMP7ydU

Pretty sure there's no one on the Celtics playing better defense right now if last night's debacle vs Miami was any indication.

Marcus Smart, Crowder, Jerebko, Zeller  more than half of the Celtics team plays much better defense than no defensive effort Love.   

I dislike players like Love regardless of what he is capable of doing on the offensive end.  Selfish player just looking out for his best interest/padding stats.

Watching Love play that type of defense would kill me. We talk about KO and his defense, at least Kelly works at it. This guy is one of the worst defender I've ever seen.
Bradley, Smart and Crowder would either kick his ax or say, why are we busting our tail.

No way is my vote.

He does?

[Celts Fan 508]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9lzCrvS8qc


Looks like Dwight Howard in his prime wasn't all that good either defensively, I got proof too, if the internet says it it must be true!

[BleedGreen1989]

I'll take Kevin Love on this team 7 days a week. Flaws and all.

[footey]

So, the big question is, do we want to build around a guy who seemingly cares more about putting up empty stats than he does winning?

Not to mention near 30 yo.

No thank you.

[Celts Fan 508]

So, the big question is, do we want to build around a guy who seemingly cares more about putting up empty stats than he does winning?

Not to mention near 30 yo.

No thank you.

He is 26 so does that mean we need to get rid of Bradley, Sully, and KO in 2 years as they will be entering the ripe old age of 26?  Forget the fact that people don't enter their prime until age 28 by all metrics, Footey wants them gone by 25.

[Tr1boy]

Guess we wouldn't want LeBron, either. This is in the Eastern Conference Finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQw3TVve2K0

You can try to "trick" fools, but we all know Lebron doesn't play defense like that most of the time. Especially when things get stressful

Love consistently on the other hand plays "defense" like that. He might get beat, not block the jump shot but for heavens sake at least try.  Raise your arms.  It is good for the teams "soul" and the provides respect for the rest of the guys busting their tails off

[Celts Fan 508]

Guess we wouldn't want LeBron, either. This is in the Eastern Conference Finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQw3TVve2K0

You can try to "trick" fools, but we all know Lebron doesn't play defense like that most of the time. Especially when things get stressful

Love consistently on the other hand plays "defense" like that. He might get beat, not block the jump shot but for heavens sake at least try.  Raise your arms.  It is good for the teams "soul" and the provides respect for the rest of the guys busting their tails off

Then why do the advanced metrics show that Love is an above average defender?  Why do the teams he plays on outscore their opponents when he is on the court but don't when he is not? 

[More Banners]

I really can't believe this is t unanimous.

Let's take Sully's highest potential, and combine that with KO's highest potential, and actually realize that in one player. That would be Kevin Love at present.

Two years before his prime.

[BornReady]

Love wants to win

Celtics are still early in their rebuild

So chances are love doesn't go with us

Minny look like they have a better future than us with wiggins, Dieng, pekovic, Muhammad, and lavine

[Sixth Man]

I'd rather have a large marshmallow which sprouted arms and legs than Kevin Love.  The marshmallow would provide better man defense and exhibit more toughness and grit.  It also wouldn't whine on a regular basis. 

Have a lovely day...

[rondohondo]

I'd rather have a large marshmallow which sprouted arms and legs than Kevin Love.  The marshmallow would provide better man defense and exhibit more toughness and grit.  It also wouldn't whine on a regular basis. 

Have a lovely day...

we already have a marshmallow man, he is out for the year with a broken foot

[chambers]

I don't think we are front runners, but I'd gladly have him.
He's an absolutely perfect player for Stevens' system.
He's what we've hoped Sully and Olynyk can become 75% of.

His back is obviously hurt at the moment and that's my biggest concern, although you'd think that Lebron would know about the back and wouldn't be tweeting and gossiping etc if it really was the underlying issue, so there may be some attitude problems.

Anyway, I would love to have Kevin Love as a Celtic.

Guys like Love don't come around very often and stretch power forwards thrive in Stevens' system- it would be very hard to guard both Love and Isaiah Thomas in the 4th.

Sure he's got his issues but tell me how we get that offense on this roster without him?

[Rosco917]

Wow another

Guess we wouldn't want LeBron, either. This is in the Eastern Conference Finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQw3TVve2K0

You can try to "trick" fools, but we all know Lebron doesn't play defense like that most of the time. Especially when things get stressful

Love consistently on the other hand plays "defense" like that. He might get beat, not block the jump shot but for heavens sake at least try.  Raise your arms.  It is good for the teams "soul" and the provides respect for the rest of the guys busting their tails off

Then why do the advanced metrics show that Love is an above average defender?  Why do the teams he plays on outscore their opponents when he is on the court but don't when he is not? 

If teams Love plays on outscored their opponents when he is on the court, but didn't when he's is not. Then the teams he plays on would out score the teams he plays against to point that he would win enough games to earn a ring. I mean if he's in the game 80-85% of the minutes, you're telling me his team is out scoring the opponents. He would at least have a playoff appearance.

Why doesn't Love have a ring or even a play off appearance? I'll tell you, Love doesn't make anyone play better, he doesn't lead by example, he skips the intangibles.
Advanced Metrics do not win championships, except in fantasy league basketball. 

[byennie]

Why doesn't Love have a ring or even a play off appearance? I'll tell you, Love doesn't make anyone play better, he doesn't lead by example, he skips the intangibles.
Advanced Metrics do not win championships, except in fantasy league basketball.

Take Kevin Love off of Cleveland, put them in the west, and they would miss the playoffs this year. They are 47-26 in the eastern conference and have been outscored when he's off the court. OKC is 41-31 and in the 8th spot. They would be EASILY 6 games worse in the west, without Love.

Nobody is saying Love = LeBron, or Durant, or Davis. He's not the MVP of the league. However, he's taken arguably the most inept franchise in the league to 40 wins in the west, and the evidence seems to say that LeBron wouldn't do any better on his own. He's no more a failure for his playoff record than KG or anyone else trapped in a bad situation. Any assumption to the contrary is based on the mythical superstar who takes any old team to the playoffs. There have been maybe 5 of those, ever.