It is ironic 1 team in the finals pulled the trigger on giving up their 2nd best asset for Kevin Love, the other didn't. And now we are here....
I've been saying it for awhile that Cle was not assembled well. I get the logic in not wanting a 19 year old on the team when you've got LeBron with a 3-4 year window. After the 2014 playoffs, I would've thought LeBron would realize that he needs a 2nd elite 2way wing guy to help take the burden off him as he gets older. The right move would've still been to deal Wiggins but for someone that can play both ends. Love had a lot of hype that summer and the Cavs fell for it. Not putting the finals loss solely on him or anything, but they definitely squandered a great trade chip in Wiggins.
Having Kyrie and Love as your 2nd and 3rd guys after LeBron was always a bad idea. Maybe if GS didn't emerge and OKC didn't get their shit together they could've binked a title on talent alone but it was always gonna be tough to beat a truly elite team with that mix. And keep in mind GS hadn't really emerged yet when they made the Love deal so I think LeBron/Cavs knew it wasn't the best fit but they were just trying to strike fast.
Love/Irving still have a lot of trade value though. Will be interesting to see where they go from here.
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LeBitch live ESPN
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Is there a way to breakup love and kyrie?
Clearly this team as constructed can't win a title .
Its just sad seeing everyone blame the one player on that team that's worth a shit. Just the fact he got this mess to the finals is a great acomplishment .
This is an 8 seed at best without him.
Does love still have trade value at this point ?
Cleveland's starting lineup next year (IF LeBron stays)
After game 4
Not as much as Wiggins had 2 years ago but yeah they do. They're still overall good players and both signed to long-term deals. They just both need the ball in their hands to excel and on a LeBron team that isn't happening. They're not good roleplayers but there are a lot of teams just trying to win 50 games, sell some tickets, win some playoff games, etc. You can probably flip them to teams like that.
As bad as they look defensively, a lot of really good players that can't play at a high level on both ends would get "exposed" vs GS. That is what makes them so good is that they find your weakness on D. Steve Nash is a great player, but I can't imagine him trying to play vs this team. Would a team bench Steve Nash? Who knows, but it is definitely unique to have that many guys who can make you pay for playing a bad defensive player. And Cleveland has a lot of bad defensive players.
Mozgov's decline hurt Cleveland more than people think as well. Thompson is a good rebounder but he is average to bad at everything else. Can't rim protect, can't score. Those blocks Bogut is getting have to do with being able to play off Thompson and not have to maintain the same distance for him as he had to for Steven Adams last rd. Even when he catches the ball he can't really gather fast, slow off his feet...
He would be better than Love but he can't really shoot yet, still learning to play team D at the NBA level, etc
For next year he would be really good but for this year he probably would've struggled some. Still better than Love but far from perfect. He was only 20 this year.
At the time they made the trade they weren't really thinking what is best for 3 years from now.
So even though the trade ended up being bad, I do see their logic. They weren't the only team that held Love in high regards then, he was widely considered a top 10 player in the league and they wanted to strike fast.
For next year he would be really good but for this year he probably would've struggled some. Still better than Love but far from perfect. He was only 20 this year.
At the time they made the trade they weren't really thinking what is best for 3 years from now.
So even though the trade ended up being bad, I do see their logic. They weren't the only team that held Love in high regards then, he was widely considered a top 10 player in the league and they wanted to strike fast.
Man I almost forgot all about how GS almost traded Clay for Love.
That just hit me. Wow.
As they say the best trades are the ones you never make.
I do think he would have been a better fit in GS but I don't think they would be making splash brother posters of Love and Curry.
Heck it might have even gone down as a good perceived trade due to the underachievement of the Warriors the year before.
They probably would have won 6 to 10 more games then they did the year before even with love simply due to love being an ok fit and Kerr coming along and the continued improvement of curry and the green and the rest of the team.
But I doubt GS would be playing in this series right now if they would have made the trade.
Cleveland would be playing now, and they probably would not be down 0-2
Tough to say how close they were to making the deal but Jerry West and Kerr both thought it was a bad move. They knew they had something in Green at the time but they didn't really know he would be this good. If they get Love then it would've complicated things. Green may have never emerged the next season because Love/Bogut would've been the starting lineup and then maybe he leaves in free agency, who knows? Or maybe it would've been obvious Green is way better than Love and Love leaves?
It's just tough to say how something like that would work out. He wouldn't have been a good fit at all compared to what the Warriors turned into but considering we would've never known what was behind the other door so to speak, the trade likely wouldn't have gone down as some massive blunder or anything like that.
I will say for the Cavs though, as bad as that deal looks for them, they had a legitimate shot to win the title last year if Kyrie and Love don't get hurt. Do they win? I would lean towards probably not but obviously GS was not quite the team last year that they are this year. And if Cle gets 1 then it is tough to argue with the results. GS is way more of a machine now.
The addition of Jerry West to the Warriors was a Godsend!!
I'm glad to see the West finally get the respect they deserve I always said, "The Cavs romp through the Eastern Playoffs is unimpressive. The Warriors will make that certain come Finals time."
The Warriors bench would be a 5th seed in the weak eastern conference. Maybe now I'm being disrespectful.....to the Warrior bench.
