Kevin Love will return to Minnesota for the first time since being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers during the offseason in which promises to be an awkward night. Timberwolves PR released a hilarious video in which they completely ignored Kevin Love and focused instead in the return of Mike Miller, which illustrates the disdain the franchise feels for their former star.
Kevin Love will probably be booed in Minnesota, but he shouldn’t be
While Love’s exit was anything but elegant, it has allowed the Timberwolves to finally made a necessary change in direction.
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Love will probably be booed because he didn't leave on great terms but there's a case to be made that he shouldn't be. He obviously wasn't solely responsible for the years of bad basketball in Minnesota, and while he didn't handle his exit from the franchise well, he did produce a great return. Andrew Wiggins looks like a potential star and thanks to Love's departure. Thanks to some bad injury luck this season, Timberwolves could also have the first pick in the upcoming draft.
“Part of our organization, when we made that trade with Love, it was Wiggins,” Flip Saunders told Britt Robson of the MinnPost in an interview recently. “This might sound stupid, based on our record, but someone asked me, ‘Are you closer to a championship today than you were a year ago?‘ and I said ‘Yeah.’ Because there was no way - there was not as much upside with the team last year.”
While thinking about championships is beyond premature in Minnesota, that’s undeniably true. The core the Timberwolves had in place simply wasn’t good enough.
It’s even possible to say that Love got the raw end of the deal. Love forced his way to Cleveland only to see the scrutiny increase significantly, with everyone focusing on his flaws. That would have been a worthy trade-off for a championship but the Cavaliers might not be ready for that yet despite a recent surge. Love went from making the All-Star game as a starter last season to not making it at all this year. His reputation has taken a huge hit. The boos won’t be anything compared to the amount of vitriol casual fans are directing at him.
It’s impossible to know how things will go in the future but at this point it seems Minnesota did OK on the Kevin Love trade. That won’t stop fans from booing, of course, but it’s still worth remembering.
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