Kevin Love Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Cavs Notes: Love, Kerr, Gilbert

June 5th, 2015 at 4:20pm CST by Eddie Scarito

After watching Game 1 of the Finals on Thursday night, Kevin Love reiterated his desire to return to the Cavs. When asked by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com if he wanted to be back in Cleveland next season, Love said, “Yes. I want to win.” Speculation has swirled all year long about what Love might do, but the big man isn’t concerned about that. “It’s just the way the world works now. People talk so much and might tell themselves a lie so much they start to believe it. From there, the narrative starts to change. I haven’t changed my narrative. I’m going to keep supporting these guys, and we’ll be talking to Cleveland after the season,” said Love.

Here’s more out of Cleveland:

While Warriors coach Steve Kerr offered nothing but praise for the fans and culture of Cleveland, he admitted that he understands why free agents might be deterred from signing with the Cavs because of the the weather and less glamorous feel of the city, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group transcribes.
Tristan Thompson credits LeBron James and his work ethic for helping turn around the Cavs’ culture, and sparked Thompson to work harder to improve himself as a player, Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun writes. “He was the first one in the gym, had a full, dripping sweat and we were just walking in, getting ready to start,” Thompson said. “I think that first encounter really changed the whole culture of the franchise. When your best player, arguably one of the best players to ever play this game, is in the gym at 9 a.m., on Labor Day, that says a lot. It says how serious he is about being great and bringing us back to the promised land, which is being in the Finals.“
Team owner Dan Gilbert has now rebuilt the Cavaliers as a franchise twice, with both instances sparked by the arrival of James, Bob Wojnowski of The Detroit News writes in his profile of Gilbert. “It’s not vindication, it just feels good, and now we gotta take advantage and finish the job,” Gilbert said. “I just feel so good that we all got a second bite of the apple, LeBron, us, the city, the franchise. Everybody.”

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Central Notes: Hoiberg, Pacers, Martin

June 2nd, 2015 at 6:43pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the Bulls‘ current lack of financial flexibility, changing coaches was the best way for the franchise to shake things up after a disappointing playoff run, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com writes in his breakdown of what Fred Hoiberg brings to the team on both the offensive and defensive ends of the hardwood. Doolittle also opines that it would serve the team well if Hoiberg were to retain assistant coaches Ed Pinckney and Adrian Griffin, both of whom could maintain the roster’s defensive focus while Hoiberg revamps the offense.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

Kansas swingman Kelly Oubre will work out for the Pacers today, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops tweets. You can view our full prospect profile for Oubre here.
Also scheduled to work out for the Pacers today are Anthony Brown (Stanford), Cady Lalanne (UMass), Luis Montero (Westchester Community College), Jon Octeus (Purdue), and Gabe Olaseni (Iowa), the team announced.
Cartier Martin‘s teammates on the Pistons encouraged him to swallow his pride and exercise his player option worth nearly $1.271MM for next season, Terry Foster of The Detroit News writes. The forward was unhappy with his playing time this past season, having only appeared in 23 contests for Detroit.
The solid play of Tristan Thompson and the Cavs‘ success in the playoffs this season has changed the narrative regarding Kevin Love‘s player option for 2015/16, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com writes. Instead of wondering if Love would return, talk now centers around whether the team needs or wants him to return next season, Berger notes.

Latest on Kevin Love

May 31st, 2015 at 3:53pm CST by Zachary Links

It wasn’t quite a definitive announcement of his plans, but Cavs forward Kevin Love sounds like someone who is intent on returning to Cleveland next season, as Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal writes. When asked if he’d be back with Cleveland, Love said, “No, I truly haven’t even thought about it, but as I mentioned, I expect to be suiting up by Game 1 of next year.” When asked if that game would be with the Cavs, he responded in the affirmative. Love has read the speculation about where he might bolt to next season, but he says that he hasn’t let that affect him.

“That’s something that I guess comes with the territory,” he said. “Anybody that has pending free agency coming up in the summer, I feel like that’s going to happen. I try to not pay attention to it. I mentioned earlier in the season I learned how to just, kind of took out my Twitter, forgot looking at any kind of social media kind of stuff. Maybe Instagram here and there, but that was really it. That’s kind of been put on the back burner for me.”

Love has a player option for next season worth more than $16.744MM. In January, he told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group that he planned to opt in and remain a Cavalier.

But the decision to stay in Cleveland may not be entirely up to Love, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. If the Cavaliers want Tristan Thompson to be their power forward of the future and decide to reward him with a maximum contract, they may free up money by moving Love somewhere. One option could be a sign-and-trade deal that sends him to New York and brings back the Knicks’ No. 4 draft pick as part of the package, Berman speculates. Thompson and LeBron James share the same agent in Rich Paul, and James recently said that Thompson “should probably be a Cavalier for his whole career.”

Love also said Sunday that he and Boston’s Kelly Olynyk are back on good terms, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Love suffered the shoulder injury that knocked him out of the playoffs as he and Olynyk were chasing a loose ball during a first-round game. The Celtics had been mentioned as a possible destination for Love if he decides to pursue free agency, but there were rumors that the Olynyk incident may have removed Boston from Love’s list. That apparently is no longer a concern.

Arthur Hill contributed to this post.

Atlantic Notes: Russell, Sixers, Nets

May 18th, 2015 at 9:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

D’Angelo Russell could wind up as a top-two pick if the Knicks or Sixers are that position after the results of the draft lottery on Tuesday, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. While it’s widely assumed that Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor will go 1-2 in the draft, there was some speculation by rival executives at the draft combine that Philadelphia or New York may opt instead to transform to its backcourt with the Ohio State guard, Berger reports.

In other news around the Atlantic Division:

Michael Qualls (Arkansas), Keifer Sykes (Wisconsin-Green Bay), Ryan Boatright (Connecticut) and Terry Rozier (Louisville) are scheduled to work out with the Sixers on Tuesday, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Philadelphia brought in Julian Washburn (Texas-El Paso), Seth Tuttle (Northern Iowa), Terran Petteway (Nebraska), Marcus Thornton (Georgia), Stanton Kidd (Colorado State), Juwan Staten (West Virginia) and Shannon Scott (Ohio State) for workouts on Monday, Pompey adds.
Mike Conley and Kevin Love, if he does not opt out this summer, are potential free agent targets for the Nets in 2016, according to NetsDaily.com. The Nets will undergo many changes this offseason as they try to get under the luxury tax but they need to remain a playoff-caliber team to attract future free agents, the story adds.
A shakeup of Dwane Casey’s staff is underway as the Raptors parted with assistants Bill Bayno and Tom Sterner today, sources told Berger (Twitter links).

Atlantic Notes: Love, Celtics, Nets, D-Will

May 11th, 2015 at 10:42pm CST by Charlie Adams

Kevin Love harbors no long-lasting ill-will toward Kelly Olynyk or the Celtics, a source “authoritatively” told TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Love recently insisted he had moved on from the injury Olynyk caused him, and there’s apparently been legitimate fear in the Cavs front office that the soon-to-be free agent will sign a new deal with a different team this summer, perhaps even Boston. As we wait to see if Love moves on from Cleveland, there’s more to pass along from Aldridge in tonight’s look around the Atlantic:

The Nets are not interested in reaching a buyout deal with Deron Williams, Aldridge writes in the same piece, explaining that management is not interested in paying D-Will while he doesn’t play for the team. Instead, Aldridge speculates Brooklyn will likely try to find a suitor for Joe Johnson’s hefty contract in order to lighten the team’s payroll.
There’s “genuine uncertainty” about whether or not Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young will exercise their player options this summer, as Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes in his offseason outlook of the Nets. Although Lopez’s option figure is much higher than Young’s, both decisions will ultimately affect Brooklyn’s approach to free agency. Rumor has it Lopez will opt out in search of a bigger deal.
Sports Illustrated’s Phil Taylor examines how Celtics coach Brad Stevens and Thunder coach Billy Donovan might be opening up the door for other college coaches to be hired by pro clubs, suggesting that previous failed NCAA-to-NBA hires were a result of big egos and/or poor organizational fits.
Earlier today, we heard the Knicks are likely to sign Thanasis Antetokounmpo this summer.

Cavs Fear Kevin Love Will Leave In Free Agency

May 7th, 2015 at 8:28am CST by Chuck Myron

8:28am: Love acknowledged not having returned any of Olynyk’s calls, as Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group wrote after a one-on-one with the Cavs power forward, Love is saving the conversation with Olynyk for later, but Love insists that he’s moved past the incident, Haynes writes.

“Oh yeah. I’m over it,” Love said. “I’m just trying to get healthy.”

8:21am: The Cavs have “a legitimate fear” that Kevin Love will leave the team in free agency this summer, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports said in an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show (video link; transcription via Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk.com). That’s in spite of his his repeated insistence that he plans to remain in Cleveland, a January proclamation that he would opt in, and shoulder injury that threatens to keep him out for training camp next season. Still, rumors have persisted, and before the injury, people around the Cavs and the rest of the league believed the All-Star power forward wouldn’t hesitate to leave Cleveland, as Wojnarowski wrote last month.

The Celtics had closed the gap on the Lakers as a preferred destination for Love before the injury, Wojnarowski reported then, but Sean Deveney of The Sporting News wrote this week that the Lakers are well out in front among non-Cavs alternatives. Celtics forward/center Kelly Olynyk caused the injury when he hooked Love’s arm as the two were chasing a loose ball, and Olynyk and his camp have continually reached out to Love and his people in hopes of arranging a chance for Olynyk to apologize to Love in private, Wojnarowski writes in a full story. Love, who had a “legitimate loathing” of the Celtics in the immediate wake of the injury, has turned away the effort so far, according to Wojnarowski.

Love has a player option worth more than $16.744MM for next season, but he would earn an estimated $18.96MM in 2015/16 if he opts out and signs a maximum-salary deal. Hitting free agency in 2016 would let him take advantage of a salary cap that preliminary projections show zooming from $67.1MM to $89MM, but those same projections indicate that another giant leap, to $108MM, is due in 2017. That summer of 2017 is complicated by the specter of the mutual option the league and the players union possess to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement, and there are no guarantees that the structure of the contracts that Love and anyone else could sign would be the same.

Thus, it might behoove the Jeff Schwartz client to either opt in this summer or sign a new contract that allows him an out after one season. If he becomes a free agent this year with the intention of doing so again in 2016, there would be no greater financial advantage to signing with the Cavs this summer as opposed to another team with the capacity to give him the max. The NBA’s built-in edge for incumbent teams applies to raises on multiyear deals and the length of contracts, neither of which would be factors in a single-season arrangement.

Atlantic Notes: Love, Sullinger, Tax, Jackson

May 6th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Kevin Love would be much more likely to sign with the Lakers this summer if he were to leave the Cavs than to sign with the Celtics, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. It’s unclear if hard feelings over Kelly Olynyk‘s role in Love’s injury are at the root of a change or if Deveney is simply hearing different chatter than what Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports heard when he wrote last month that the C’s had closed the gap on the Lakers for Love. In any case, the C’s pursuit of Love last summer made it clear to Boston that a trade package centered around Jared Sullinger won’t be enough to land a star, as Deveney also writes in his look at the Celtics offseason. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

The Nets have no interest in paying the luxury tax next season, when they would be in line for harsh repeat offender penalties if they did, league sources have long insisted to Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. That’s in contrast to owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s insistence a month ago that the team would pay the tax. In any case, avoiding the tax would almost certainly entail a trade of Deron Williams or, more likely, Joe Johnson, if Brook Lopez re-signs as expected, Bontemps writes.
In the same piece, Bontemps looks at ways for the Nets to add quickness at the point and more shooting, two areas Lionel Hollins singled out for improvement in his season-ending press conference this past weekend.
The decision Knicks owner James Dolan made to hire Isiah Thomas as president of the New York Liberty, Dolan’s WNBA team, raises questions about how the dynamic will affect Knicks president Phil Jackson, asserts Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. That’s in spite of the insistence of Thomas that he’ll have no role with the Knicks, whom he used to serve as coach and executive. Harvey Araton of The New York Times thinks it could only be a positive for Jackson, given Dolan’s strong financial commitment to the Zen Master and the notion that Dolan’s insertion of Thomas into the dynamic would absolve Jackson of some of the blame if the Knicks fail to pull out of their tailspin (Twitter links).

Eastern Rumors: Love, Raptors, Stevens

May 3rd, 2015 at 4:22pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kevin Love has a complicated relationship with LeBron James but there’s a good chance that he will remain with the Cavaliers even if he opts out of the final year of his contract this summer, according to Bob Finnan of The News-Herald. James has not spoken to Love about his future plans but said that Love is focused on recovering from shoulder surgery rather than his free-agency options, Finnan adds. Early indications are that Love wants to remain in Cleveland, though Love would draw significant offers on the market despite the injury he suffered during the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Finnan contends. Love has already proven his quality and his potential suitors will look at that rather than being overly concerned about his recovery, Finnan adds.

In other news around the Eastern Conference:

Trail Blazers guard Wesley Matthews would be a good fit for the Raptors, Doug Smith of the Toronto Sun opines in his weekly mailbag. Matthews, an unrestricted free agent this summer, averaged 15.9 points this season until he suffered a season-ending Achilles’ tendon injury. Toronto should not overspend this summer on the market, even though it also needs help in the frontcourt as well as the wing positions, because it will need plenty of salary-cap room in the summer of 2016, Smith continues. The Raptors should also be patient with center Jonas Valanciunas, Smith argues, pointing out that other top-caliber centers such as Joakim Noah, Roy Hibbert, Tyson Chandler and Marc Gasol need time to develop.
Brad Stevens has made such a strong impression in his first two seasons with the Celtics that other teams are looking at college coaches much differently when shopping for a new head coach, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reports. Stevens’ poised, professional approach to the job, as well as the way he has bonded with younger players and built relationships with veterans, has made it more palatable for NBA teams to look at top-level college coaches, Washburn continues. It paved the way for the Thunder to hire Florida’s Billy Donovan and strongly consider Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie even though the team is in a win-now mode, Washburn adds. Stevens had the benefit of being handed a younger club without many older players to challenge him in the locker room but his transition to the pros has still been an eye-opener, Washburn concludes.

Central Notes: Middleton, Love, Butler

May 2nd, 2015 at 10:59am CST by Eddie Scarito

Bucks‘ swingman Khris Middleton wishes to return to Milwaukee next season, Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel relays (Twitter links). “I hope to be back here,” Middleton said. “I feel we have a great young team, going in the right direction.” The 23-year-old can become a restricted free agent this offseason provided the Bucks tender him a qualifying offer worth $2,725,003. Middleton also noted that he wouldn’t want negotiations between he and Milwaukee to become drawn out, and referenced Eric Bledsoe and the Suns’ dealings from last summer, Gardner adds. “That’s a terrible situation,” said Middleton. “It worked out for him but it’s something I’d rather not be in.”

Here’s more out of the Central Division:

The dislocated shoulder that knocked Kevin Love out of action for four to six months also ruined his chance at redeeming what the forward termed a “so-so” first season with the Cavs, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group writes.
Bulls‘ swingman Jimmy Butler‘s uncanny ability to accept criticism from his coaches without reacting emotionally is a major reason that the 25-year-old has matured into a star player in the NBA, Eric Weiss and Kevin O’Connor of DraftExpress write in their profile of player. Butler will become a restricted free agent this summer if Chicago tenders him a qualifying offer of $4,433,683.
The Cavs have already begun recruiting Love to remain in Cleveland with their statements about how much the big man will be missed now that he is out for the remainder of the playoffs, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes. The scribe cites comments like ones made by guard Kyrie Irving, who said, “When one of your brothers goes down, there’s a piece of us that went with him.”

Central Notes: Love, Bucks, Cavs

April 30th, 2015 at 8:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There’s little doubt that the Cavs would offer a maximum-salary deal to Kevin Love if he were to opt out this summer, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. That’s in spite of Love’s shoulder injury and a report in March from ESPN colleague Chris Broussard, who said that rival executives had begun to question whether Cleveland would shell out the max for the power forward.

Here’s the latest from the NBA’s Central Division:

The Bucks‘ hard-nosed defensive style is a direct reflection on coach Jason Kidd‘s influence and personality, Teddy Greenstein of The Chicago Tribune writes. Not only has Milwaukee upped its win total by 26 from the previous season, the team improved from last in the league in defensive efficiency in 2013/14 to second overall this season, Greenstein notes. “He [Kidd] came in with the philosophy of: If you don’t play defense, you won’t play,” forward Jared Dudley said.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said he would step into negotiations personally with the intent of getting a deal done fairly quickly to finance a new downtown Milwaukee arena for the Bucks, Don Walker of The Journal Sentinel writes. “We appreciate the governor’s leadership and commitment to taxpayers throughout this process and look forward to further progress,” said Bucks President Peter Feigin.
The loss of Love for the remainder of the playoffs removes much of the pressure for the Cavs and LeBron James to bring an NBA title to Cleveland this season, Michael Lee of The Washington Post writes.
If the Cavs are able to advance deep into the playoffs without Love in the lineup it could alter the franchise’s bargaining stance with the forward, Tom Ziller of SBNation writes. The reverse will also hold true, and if the franchise struggles mightily it will serve to reinforce Love’s value to the squad as a floor-stretcher and rebounder, Ziller adds.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.