12:45pm: The Wolves contacted the Bulls within the last 24 hours to tell them that Cleveland’s proposal was their favorite but that it wasn’t enough to convince them to trade Love just yet, a source tells Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. The Bulls responded with their offer, Cowley adds, having heard that Chicago put Gibson, McDermott and a few other assets on the table for the Wolves. Cowley’s source couldn’t confirm whether Mirotic was part of the offer, but regardless, the Wolves are giving the proposal strong consideration, the Sun-Times scribe writes. The Bulls are confident, after reaching out to Love through backchannels, that he will commit to staying in Chicago for the long term, Cowley adds.
11:32am: The Bulls are offering a package of Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott for Kevin Love, as a source confirms to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (on Twitter). Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com was the first to report the offer. Sheridan hears the Wolves like Chicago’s package best among those on the table, but Wolfson contends that Minnesota would prefer a deal that nets them Andrew Wiggins from the Cavs (Twitter link).
Still, there’s confusion around the league about why the Wolves haven’t agreed to a deal with the Cavs if Wiggins is truly available, Grantland’s Zach Lowe tweets. Some close to the situation said prior to the report of Chicago’s offer that Love would likely wind up with the Bulls, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick (on Twitter).
The general belief has been that the Wolves would seek Gibson, Jimmy Butler and other assets from the Bulls, as Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reported Tuesday, and Wolfson noted at the time that the Wolves are high on McDermott, too. Neither McDermott nor Mirotic can officially be traded until the middle of next month, since both signed their rookie contracts in the past few days. That’s true of Mirotic even though he didn’t sign a rookie scale contract. The same complication will exist regarding Wiggins once Cleveland signs him, as expected.
Amick heard yesterday from the Cleveland camp that the Wolves still weren’t showing urgency to complete a deal for Love (Twitter link). In the same vein, the Bulls have continually told Gibson not to worry about trade rumors, as Gibson told reporters today, including K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). Mirotic, while in the midst of finalizing a buyout from Real Madrid of Spain before he signed with Chicago, reportedly sought assurances from the Bulls that they wouldn’t trade him, but it’s unclear if Chicago made any such promise. The Warriors and Nuggets also reportedly remain in the mix for the All-Star power forward as the Wolves seek the involvement of a third team and clubs line up to help make any Love swap a multiteam transaction.
I’m not crazy about the Chicago offer, at least compared to the Cleveland rumors, but Flip is playing this as well as he could. I might have to take back some of the smack I’ve talked about him.
I like this deal a lot but not big on taking back Gibsons contact. It would be Preferable if the Cavs deal of Wiggins, Bennett, a pick or two and some nongauranteed contracts for Love and Barea could be completed.
I don’t like this trade proposal at all. It’s a total slap to the face of Nikola Mirotic after he was just promised that he wouldn’t be traded before he signed with the Bulls.
Pau will be pissed
It’s worth noting that while K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reported a couple of weeks back that Mirotic asked for assurances he wouldn’t be traded, it’s not clear whether the Bulls made any such promise.
–Chuck
so they are going to bench paul .. who they just told would be the starter ?
Pau took less money to play for a contender. I think he would be able to live with the arrangement, seeing as Love improves their chances.
I believe his signing with Chicago had a lot to do with Mirotic.
i think if he knew that love was coming he would of went to spurs instead
From the horse’s mouth: “I turned down bigger offers, and I prioritized being on a championship-caliber team”
do NOT like this deal for the bulls. With Noah and Gasol alreadt at the 4 and the 5, they dont need Love. Theyre better off with a Noah/Gasol/Gibson/Mirotic rotation (that way 1 injury doesnt kill the season, and it keeps guys fresher). Plus trading McDermott, their shooting, leaves them with a VERY unbalanced roster of bigs and no shooting. Thats a HORRIBLE idea.
Well Love can shoot to compensate for the loss of McDermott. Having said that I agree with you that the Bulls are better off keeping their depth…
Please don’t be short sighted. You have an opportunity to get a 25 year old All Star who is a Top 12 player in the league for a role player and 2 rookies. This is a trade you make all day, every day.
So sick of Bulls fans overvaluing their players. Love Taj and Jimmy and McBuckets like the next Bulls fan but when a superstar like Love comes along, you jump.
Depth in the playoffs is only 8 deep. Its pointless being 10-12 deep because you can play only 5 at a time. Depth is great for winning regular season games. Talent and stars are better for winning championships.
1. his stats are somewhat inflated on a garbage team. happens ALL the time. Look at Chris Bosh, Kevin garnett, Etc. When tehy went to better teams, their stats decreased. So he may be top 12, but thats because SOMEBODy has to put numbers up, and hes the only one there to accumilate them.
2. If they get him, and he gets hurt, they have nothing. Ever heard the saying “dont put all your eggs in 1 basket”? thats what theyd be doing. that kind of thing can cripple a team, especially when they dumped all the “depth” and “role players” behind him.
3. It doesnt change the fact theyd be trading a guy whod get big minutes from SF to bolster an already strong position. 3 starters for 2 positions, and none of them have the skillset of a SF.
4. Whos going to play SF for chicago then?
5. Id rather other teams have tow orry about the threat of Rose, Mcdermott, Butler, Gasol as scoring threats as opposed to “hey, theyvd got no SF, noah isnt a scorer, so we just have to worry about love and rose”. more players that can do things spreads the floor. howd san Antonio win a title? Not star players, but multiple guys that drew attention and played their roles. Even in MIA, thats what they did (Ray allen, udonis Haslem was big for them, Chris Anderson, etc).
Dont get caught up in star power and make a top heavy roster at an already deep position and end up weakening the rest of it. Id rather teams have to play against 5 guys instead of just 2, basically.
I stopped reading when you insinuated that the greatest post player in 20 years got his numbers in garbage time. That’s a non-starter for…well, anyone who watches basketball.
greatest post player in 20 years? yeah, that Shaq guy was horrible. So
was Mutombo, Shawn kemp, Charles Barkley, KG, karl malone, Tim Duncan,
Kareem, and Hakim.
And as for the garbage time, am i wrong that
players tend to put up better numbers on garbage teams? Even a dull
diamond looks bright when surrounded by coal.
No, you’re absolutely wrong. Advanced statistics account for opportunity potential and Love’s numbers are still trumping those players, and at an age that’s it’s a bigger deal. Love’s PER is with Lebron and Durant, and despite the hype otherwise he’s a fairly descent defender. There’s no one in the current NBA as good at what he does and position scarcity might make him more valuable than Lebron and Durant.
I wanted to add to this because Scott Van Pelten put up an excellent article on just how historically good Kevin Love has been. Other than proving through advanced statistics that Love’s usage hasn’t caused his production to diminish in the least (the true test of the elite), he also points out that Love is one of five players in NBA history to have a WARP over 20 on a losing squad. The other players? Michael Jordan (twice), Charles Barkely, Moses Malone, and Kevin Garnett. Making an argument that Love’s been this good BECAUSE he’s on a losing team might be the most insane argument against a player I’ve ever heard. He’s not this good because of it, he’s this good despite it.
He said garbage teams, not garbage time. Good you stopped reading…for starters.
It’s still an irrelevant argument.
In response:
1. Going after Love is not for statistics, its because of talent. He’s a more talented player and a borderline superstar in the league. He’s a double-double machine on the Wolves, Bulls and on every team. Your examples of Bosh and Garnett work in my favor because both were great on their “garbage teams” but they went to a better team, sacrificed and won championships. Love gives the Bulls a second guy who they can count on to knock down a shot in crunch time. Its invaluable.
2. Putting eggs in one basket is not a smart argument because then you’re saying you wouldn’t trade the same 3 Bulls for LeBron James or Kevin Durant because you know, they could get hurt and you wouldn’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. Love’s injury history has been freak injuries.
3 & 4. Jimmy Butler is best suited to play SF. In fact he’s probably miscast as a SG and better off as a SF. Dunleavy provides an excellent relief at SF if needed. And dont think the Twolves might be trying to unload a Kevin Martin along with K Love in a deal. That would take care of your SG hole.
5. What the Spurs have is hard to replicate. No team has the roster, personnel, or coaching. Bulls have plenty of options inside with Noah, Gasol and Love along with shooting from the outside with Love, Dunleavy, Snell, Butler. Bulls do lack another offensive ball handler/creator but again, there are still guys you can get.
As i mentioned, depth in the playoffs is useless. You need only 8 solid and contributing players in the playoffs. Even the Spurs had Parker, Manu, Mills, Green, Kawhi, Duncan, Diaw and Splitter. They’re not 10-12 deep. The other thing people keep forgetting is the Spurs have to be deep because of their age. They can’t play Duncan, Manu, and Parker 40 min a game. And these stars are willing to play less knowing the big picture. It doesn’t work like that on most teams.
Bottomline ask yourself – is Taj, Mirotic, or McDermott an All-Star or top 12 player in the league? Not likely and No. Are any of those 3 the guy who is the last piece to put you over the top and win you a championship? No. Is Love? Yes, Yes and very well could be. When you get the best player in a trade, you win the trade 9 out of 10 times and he’s still only 25 years old. This is simple folks…Case closed.
1. Whats to say hes a Double double machine on every team? Noah is going to really cut into Loves Numbers as far as rebounds, especially on the defensive end. My point with Bosh and Garnett was that they werent the same level they were when they were on the initial garbage teams. contrary to your arguement, there is a difference between meaningful numbers and hollow numbers. if love is so great, why hasnt minnesota been halfway decent? He should single handedly be able to carry them to at least an 8th seed, since hes the top player ever apparently. And in that crunch time, they double up Love, now what? with nobody else to open it up, it decreases his chance to make the shot and makes it more predictable. BALANCE.
2. Lebron and KD, if they go down, you mean to say Cleveland and OKC wouldnt be screwed? For all we know mirotic could be the next Dirk, but if he got hurt or taj got hurt, there’d still be the one that didnt. the bulls, as structured, have been more of a depth team. When was their best year recently? when they had the bench mob. Look at what happened when rose went down and Nate robinson stepped up.
3. Moving jimmy butler just opens the hole to SG. Even kevin Martin doesnt really fill that. Would you rather have mcdermott or kevin martin? theres a reason they cant dump his salary anywhere.
You cant play Love, noah, and Gasol all at once, so its redundant to acquire ANOTHER starting big man. Keep mirotic and see how he develops, Taj can play Defense, and mcdermott can put up some points. Role players are more suited when they already have starters, especially when SG and SF are HUGE holes already.
And the “best player in the trade 9 out of 10 times wins” is false. how many instances have young players been traded for vets who were at the time ‘the best player in the trade?” And we dont know what mirotic or mcdermott is yet. cant say theyre not the best players in the trade, because we dont know.
this should tell you all you need to know about what MIN is doing. they wanted a bidding war…smart of them. MIN is gonna get the best deal they want now that multiple teams are involved
Or this is all just BS. Wiggins has supposedly been on the table for a month now, reports are that Klay goes back and forth, now this randomly appears? I don’t believe any of it. If Wiggins was put on the table with Bennett and a 1st why didn’t the Wolves say yes? It’s all BS
Because if they haven’t signed Wiggins yet, they need to find some salary to make the trade work. And if they sign Wiggins, they won’t be able to complete the deal for 30 days. These trade offers seem pretty simple, but there are lots of moving parts that need to be figured out before they can go through.
They could have signed Wiggins two-three weeks ago when supposedly the Wig/Bennett/1st offer was first put on a table. They’d be in line to complete the deal in about a week with less extra parts.
Supposedly they only started offering Wiggins over this past weekend. Training camp doesn’t even start for nearly three months. This can wait if it needs to.
LMAO. The over-valuing of players is hysterical. You don’t trade Lebron or Kevin Durant for Love. ANYONE else in the NBA is a lesser player than Kevin Love. Any combination of any players not mentioned before is less than Kevin Love. Finding room for him to play is not an issue on any roster because he’s the best player on all but two NBA rosters.
I don’t think I’d do Anthony Davis for Love, but that’s more because you won’t have to really pay Davis within the next year or two. Agree that if you have the chance to get him, you do it. Golden State will be kicking itself for holding onto Thompson.
I love Anthony Davis, but he’s never going to be as good as Kevin Love. I see your point on salary, and if I was rebuilding I might take him instead. For a team winning now, all you need is Love.
This is how low the value is for Kevin Love, every time a rumor is linked to a team, that team’s fans come out of the woodwork and say how they hate that trade idea. Well everyone except for the Boston rumors because those players are just scraps.