NBA Trade Rumors and Kevin Love: You Can Make This Stuff Up

Dec 29, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) against the Phoenix Suns at the Target Center. The Timberwolves defeated the Suns 111-107. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Deja Vu is: reading Chicago Bulls trade rumors involving the Timberwolves. Sam Smith made a hobby of dreaming up trades that would plant Kevin Garnett back in his adopted home city of Chicago. Going so far as to eventually declare Garnett a loser if he decided to fight it out in Minnesota rather than accepting a trade to the Windy City. Those were the days that never ended, it would seem.

Back then, the trades were built on the foundation of a young Luol Deng and potential-laden pogo stick, Tyrus Thomas. These days? They’re built on the potential of one good 10-game stretch by rookie, Jimmy Butler and the pick they received from the team they actually traded Tyrus Thomas to.

Feeling nostalgic? More from blogabull:

"In fact, when you team Butler with Spanish wunderkind Nikola Mirotic, the Bobcats’ draft pick acquired in the Tyrus Thomas trade and maybe even Taj Gibson, the Bulls would appear to have enough to work with should they to decide to try to trade for a superstar."

And while we’re dreaming out loud, let’s not forget the prize:

"Love, by almost any measure, appears to be the perfect superstar to pair with Derrick Rose. He doesn’t turn 25 years old until September, and put together a thoroughly badass campaign last season, finishing second in the league in rebounding (13.3 per game) while averaging 26 points. His shooting percentage wasn’t great (under 45 percent from the field), but he shot 37 percent from three and hit nearly two three-pointers per game."

Those are dreamy stats, and not for nothing, but they’d also look pretty good on a team with Ricky Rubio, Chase Budinger, Alexey Shved, Andrei Kirilenko, and Nikola Pekovic — but don’t let that stop you.

"Most importantly, Love also has a very tenuous relationship with Timberwolves management. It started last season while negotiating a contract extension. Love was seeking a five-year deal that Minnesota GM David Kahn refused to give him. The entire scenario pissed off Love to no end before he would eventually sign a four-year, $62 million extension that allows him to opt out after the third season. Why the small market Timberwolves didn’t want to lock in their homegrown superstar for as long as possible remains one of the biggest mysteries in recent NBA history, and it’s clearly still on Love’s mind."

Alright, nevermind the ‘homegrown superstar’ part, because we’re all painfully aware that Love is a West Coast Guy. This is the real cost of the Wojnarowski interview — it gets quoted at length throughout the rest of the post. That interview opened the door for so much speculation that it’s impossible for any fan reading it to totally invalidate it as pure speculation, much less think Love is actually sincere when he says ‘thanks to the fans for all of their support’. If this is how a guy thanks his fans, by treating them to the never ending stream of nonsense trade proposals by L.A. and Chicago fanboys.

The flip side, of course, is that Wolves’ management needs to raise the bar in order to satisfy their most expensive asset or risk losing him. If there were a way to paint Love as some kind of consumer advocate fighting the good fight against managerial incompetence (Kahn), nepotism (Moor) and homerism (Taylor) on behalf of Wolves fans everywhere, it would be the perfect deodorant for this whole situation and all of the Windy City trash it kicks up.