Many GM's Say They Wouldn't Trade Andrew Wiggins For Kevin Love

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hacheman@therx.com
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[h=1]Most GMs wouldn't trade Wiggins[/h][h=3]NBA execs polled say no deal, even for Kevin Love[/h]By Jeff Goodman | ESPN Insider
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New Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt maintains that No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins isn't going anywhere, not even in a package that would return proven All-Star big man Kevin Love.
The 19-year-old Wiggins has tremendous upside, as has been evident in glimpses thus far throughout his two summer league appearances. His young legs and athleticism could be an ideal fit alongside LeBron James, and LBJ also could help him with the killer instinct many feel is lacking in his game.
However, there's little doubt that the 6-foot-10 Love would allow LeBron's Cavs to make a legitimate run at an NBA championship sooner. The skilled big man can score in the post and also beyond the 3-point line, is one of the game's top rebounders and also is one of the elite passing big men.
The 25-year-old Love averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per game last season while Wiggins has yet to play in an official NBA contest.
We posed the question to a dozen NBA folks whether they would move Wiggins in a deal for Love. There would have to be other assets (i.e. Anthony Bennett and Dion Waiters) moved to Minnesota as well as Wiggins, but our focus was Wiggins and Love.
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You'll be surprised by the results -- which worked out to be 7-5 in favor of keeping Wiggins.



[h=3]Wiggins support[/h]
"Love is so overrated. He's never won," one NBA executive said. "I'd wait if I was Cleveland. I wouldn't involve Wiggins in a trade for Love."
"Kevin is a perimeter big," added one coach. "He needs to have the ball on multiple possessions to be really effective. It will be very difficult for a first-year coach to divide possessions between LeBron, Kyrie and Love."
"Wiggins is going to be really good in time," added an NBA general manager. "Right now he can shoot and defend. Playing off LeBron and Kyrie [Irving] will take a lot of the pressure off him in the present. He could become a go-to scorer in a few years."
"Star potential on rookie scale deal for four years," another GM added.
"I feel like Wiggins may only be a year or so away from being a legit contributor," one front-office executive said. "And Wiggins is cheap, so you are able to add more. Love is gonna cost a ton."



[h=3]Love support[/h]
"Why wait on Wiggins when Love makes them better now," one assistant GM said. "And if you don't get Love now, he's going to be a Laker next summer."
"I definitely wouldn't want to, but might have to," one high-ranking NBA executive said. "I wouldn't want to because Wiggins has a chance to be one of the top five players in the league and you could be set for 10 years. However, I might do it because Love helps you win a title in the next couple."
"I know what Love can do. He's a proven commodity, plus his game meshes with LeBron's," one NBA scout said.
"Without a doubt. Cleveland would be a top-five team in the NBA and the top team in the East -- with Chicago and Indiana a close second and third," an NBA exec said.
"Cleveland becomes the favorite to win it all with the trio of LeBron, Kyrie and Love. With Wiggins, it's going to take time. Sure, he'll give you a terrific defender -- but now you have that with LeBron."



[h=3]Young talent[/h]
Wiggins scored 18 points in his summer league debut, a matchup against No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker. Wiggins was 7-of-18 from the field and just 1-of-8 from beyond the arc.
Parker was 5-of-11 from the field, 7-of-11 from the line and finished with 17 points and nine rebounds.
Here were some thoughts from a couple of NBA guys watching from the stands:


On Wiggins:
• Great step-back jumper.
• Very good standstill stroke from 18 feet.
• Crashes the boards like a fiend.
• Decent ballhandling skills, but must improve in that area.
• Overall, very good first showing. Sky's the limit.
"I thought he was aggressive on both ends. He's more ahead defensively than offensively. His handle needs to improve, but he attacked the rim with abandon -- which wasn't always the case this past season in college. His jumper is a work in progress, but was productive. Thought it was a good first game."
On Parker:
• Very good in the post, will be a handful to guard there.
• Was excellent in transition ... made some very difficult finishes at the rim.
• Streaky from the outside ... solid range from 15 to 18.
• Sneaky athleticism ... almost had the free-throw line dunk. I didn't know he could do that.
"He's a scorer. He pressed tonight, but made a couple of 'wow' moves. He played in a bit of a vacuum. He's much better when he's getting in a flow."
 

hacheman@therx.com
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Excuse my language, but I say Bull Sh!t.

Yes, Wiggins COULD become a star, but Kevin Love ALREADY is...guaranteed...no questions asked.

Top 3 scorer in the NBA AND Top 3 Rebounder in the league. Almost unheard of.

If I have the opportunity, I take the sure thing in Love and don't roll the dice....
 

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Given the circumstances I would take Love. Time to win now not later
 

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That might be why you see the same teams in the lottery year after year. These one and dones are highly ranked because of the AAU, and once they get to the pros they show that they arent all that good. Will that happen with Wiggins? Im not sure, but he sure didnt impress me at KU.
 

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I keep wiggins.
He's cheap.

This is not a wiggins or love deal.

This is wiggins plus another high free agent vs love.

If they don't take on Loves big contract this gives them the opportunity to keep wiggins and sign another significant FA.

Plus they get to keep waiters and bennett
 

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Is Love a free agent after this season? Or does he actually have two years left on contract?

Just wondering how desperate Wolves will be to get rid of him now or mid season to avoid losing him and getting nothing in return.
 

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Love is in the final year of his contract but if Cleve gets Love they wont win shit, might not even make an NBA Final with him. He plays zero defense, Irving plays about the same amount of defense, you cant win that way.
 

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I wouldn't give up Wiggins at this point.. Sounds to me like the Cavs and Love have the leverage here.. Love will be a free agent and he eventually wants to play with LeBron.. He can do that after this year anyway.. Why would you give up a major asset when you can probably get him next year anyway ?
 

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Clevelan isn't stupid enough to trade Wiggins for Love unless they get really desperate for some reason. Like someone said above its Wiggins plus a free agent for the same cost as Love. Since Wiggins is so cheap. Love is a star player and all but for a bad team, there is a huge difference between a 26/12 star player of a crappy team and a 26/12 star player of a championship team, as of now Love is the former. Lots of players who put up huge numbers become just role players on title contenders.
 

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Love will be a free agent and he eventually wants to play with LeBron.. He can do that after this year anyway.. Why would you give up a major asset when you can probably get him next year anyway ?

I didn't even consider this....holy crap....

lebron, irving, wiggins, bennet & waiters this year (probably jesus shuttlesworth and a few more too) might do some damage in the NBA

next year same cast + love would be absolutely insane.
 

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Clevelan isn't stupid enough to trade Wiggins for Love unless they get really desperate for some reason. Like someone said above its Wiggins plus a free agent for the same cost as Love. Since Wiggins is so cheap. Love is a star player and all but for a bad team, there is a huge difference between a 26/12 star player of a crappy team and a 26/12 star player of a championship team, as of now Love is the former. Lots of players who put up huge numbers become just role players on title contenders.

i have a hard time trying to remember but i believe Bosh was pretty bad ass on the shitty raptors. He was still good but not as elite when on the heat with 2 other big dawgs. In Love's defense, I think he is a little more bad ass than Bosh was with the Raptors
 

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Love doesn't play defense. Wiggins does. Wiggins is going to be MUCH cheaper. It's not really about Wiggins vs. Love (I'll take Wiggins straight up anyway) but it's about Love versus Wiggins AND guys like Mike Miller, Ray Allen, etc since they'll have more cap space this way.
 

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A few things....

1. It couldn't just be Wiggins because he has no salary right now and once he gets a salary he can't be dealt for 3 months. So they gotta send 15m back and that would be either Varejao and 2 of Waiters/TT/Bennett with Wiggins or all 3 of them with Wiggins. Cleveland isn't gonna gut their entire team to get Love when he is a FA after the year. You take a year to evaluate all these young guys and after the season if they wanna jettison Bennett/Waiters/Tristan then they will have the cap room to be able to sign Love outright (provided they maintain their flexibility and don't manage their team the way they did the first 7 years they had LeBron)

So any talk of Wiggins for Love straightup isn't really factual.

2. I think you gotta like Wiggins chances to atleast develop into 1 of the best perimeter defenders in the league, this is gonna really help LeBron age as he doesn't have to guard the best perimeter scorer on the other team regardless of position every night. It just isn't feasible to expect his all around workload to be the same the next 5 years as it was the last 5 years (he turns 30 in Dec and has already registered 40k minutes which is insane)

3. All these dudes like Bennett/Waiters/TT just were coached by Mike Brown on a bad team. None of them have really looked very good in the NBA but all have varying levels of promise. Their values right now are all pretty much as low as they could be. As we've seen, LeBron is kinda sorta good at making his teammates better so I'd give them some time to see who fits well with him, who can be a solid piece going forward and who to get rid of.

Just dealing every piece you have for Love and forming a big 3 with Kyrie/LeBron/Love isn't the way to play this. They can do a lot better if they play their cards right and stay patient.
 

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i have a hard time trying to remember but i believe Bosh was pretty bad ass on the shitty raptors. He was still good but not as elite when on the heat with 2 other big dawgs. In Love's defense, I think he is a little more bad ass than Bosh was with the Raptors


You are right, Bosh is a star caliber player and played his role just fine with the Heat. Same with Keven Garnett when he joined the Celtics, went from being the big fish to a lesser role. I'm not saying love won't thrive with the Cavs or that he isn't a star. I just think people get way ahead of themselves calling him a superstar or a top 5 player. When you can pull off those kind of numbers and be the big cheese on a title contender like Lebron, Durant, Kobe. Then you are a superstar.
I also think people are underestimating Wiggins value, he might not be a sure thing but he is the #1 overall pick in a loaded draft. This isn't Michael Bennett, a reach #1 in a horrible draft.
 

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If Wiggins gets traded to Wolves he will just stay there until his contract is up and join a winning team. If you stay in Minny they are never going to build a championship contender around your. Only once in their 25 year existence have they made it out of first round. No playoff appearances in 10 years. If you take away that one great season where they won 58 games your stuck in mediocrity. If you have Lebron mentoring Wiggins he has a chance to become a franchise player. Wiggins is probably staying awake at nights in fear of a trade.
 

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You trade Love for Wiggins 6 days a week and twice on Sundays if you are Cleveland. He may become MJ or he may become Harrison Barnes. You make the move in a heart beat.
 

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You trade Love for Wiggins 6 days a week and twice on Sundays if you are Cleveland. He may become MJ or he may become Harrison Barnes. You make the move in a heart beat.

If it was as simply as that, perhaps it would be a no brainer. However there is a huge $$ difference between what Love would be demanding and what Wiggins Rookie salary would be. Add Love"s salary to the Cavs cap and there isn't any wiggle room. Besides Love will be a free agent next year anyway and has expressed a big interest in playing in Cleveland along side LeBron. Time is on Cleveland's side.
 

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If they made the same amount of $ and you maintained the same amount of flexibility then yeah I'd do Wiggins for Love instantly. That isn't really the situation to the Cavs though.

I'm not sure if Cle will be able to sign Love after the year when LAL/NYK and even possibly GS are gonna have cap room to sign him but they should be able to get a good player or two with their cap and possibly make some good deals if TT/Waiters/Bennett can increase their value this season.

Ahh who are we kidding, it is the Cavs they'll screw it up...
 

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