Kevin Love

Kyler’s Latest: Brand, Love, Lin, Anthony

Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld fielded questions from his followers on Twitter this morning, focusing on everyone's favorite topics — Jeremy Lin and Dwight Howard. In addition to his morning tweets, Kyler also has an NBA AM piece up at HoopsWorld that includes a few interesting tidbits. Here are some of the highlights:

  • 76ers forward Elton Brand has an early termination option for 2012/13 worth about $18.16MM which will almost certainly be picked up. He intends to keep playing well past next season though, if his body allows it: "Everything hurts now but I still love playing the game and it's a joy coming out and competing against the best guys every night and having some success with the team, it feels good."
  • Kevin Love says the presence of Rick Adelman is a big reason why he signed a long-term extension with the Timberwolves: "He's allowed me to play with a lot of confidence and he's a coach that I enjoy playing for and I think everyone will say that in this locker room."
  • Addressing some Knicks trade speculation that has arisen since Lin's emergence, Kyler says it's way too early to talk about trading either Lin or Carmelo Anthony. While Kyler acknowledges that Carmelo is a tradable asset, he says the Knicks need to see the two players on the court together before jumping to any conclusions. I think this goes without saying — I don't expect we'll see Anthony leaving the Knicks anytime soon. I'm betting he and Lin will co-exist better that people are anticipating.

Anderson Shows Off For Potential Suitors

There's plenty going on in Orlando this winter, with the All-Star game coming to town and the daily Dwight Howard rumors. Much less attention has been paid to power forward Ryan Anderson, whose 16.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG and 43% three-point shooting are all career highs. His 74 three-pointers made coming into Friday led the league. He'll be a restricted free agent at season's end.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel takes a look at the development of the 6-foot-10 power forward in his fourth season.

He'll be showing off his long-distance shooting in the three-point contest at All-Star weekend, but Schmitz notes how he, at the behest of coach Stan Van Gundy, has become more of an all-around player.

Van Gundy laments not playing him more last season, when Anderson split time with Brandon Bass.

"We didn't have any doubts that he could do what he's doing offensively. He's exceptional," the coach said. "The only other guy in the league that can stretch a defense and grab offensive rebounds like that is Kevin Love. Ryan has some unique abilities."

Anderson, making $2.24MM this season, would be unlikely to accept a qualifying offer of $3.23 million from the Magic this summer. It's more likely the Magic, who opted against signing Anderson to an extension before last month's deadline, will have to shell out significantly more to keep him. According to Basketball Reference, his career numbers coming into the season (which exclude his hot start this year) were similar to those of Al Jefferson, who's making $14MM this year, and Anderson Varejao, who's earning $7.7MM. Love, to whom Van Gundy compared Anderson, recently signed a four-year extension worth a total of more than $60MM.

Regardless of his precise market value, it's clear Anderson will be at or near the top of the list of free-agent power forwards come July.

Poll: Will Love Face Suspension After Stomping?

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love seemingly retaliated Saturday night against Houston Rockets big Luis Scola after an incident earlier in the week left Love writhing with pain. After getting rebound after rebound over Scola and finally netting a basket, Love appeared to have fouled Scola on the other end of court, causing the fifth-year player to drop to the floor. Love quickly turned to head back down the court and stepped on Scola’s chest and face with his size 19 left sneaker. Talking heads from around the NBA having varying opinions on what actually transpired at the Target Center.