Kevin Love is looking very likely to be a Cavalier. (USATSI)
More Offseason Analysis: Coaching changes, news | Free Agency | Draft
Before the NBA Draft, Kevin Love was the hot commodity on the trade market with five or six teams looking to acquire him. After the draft and LeBron James' big decision this summer, it looks like the Cleveland Cavaliers are the only team left in the mix to deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Teams are seemingly dropping out of the momentum of the trade negotiations being leaked and the Cavaliers are reportedly trumping all offers.
ESPN.com is reporting the trade is more of a "when" than an "if" when it comes to a deal getting completed. The Cavs' potential offer involving No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins is enticing the Wolves more than any other offers, and it's causing the rest of the league to feel pessimistic about being able to trade for the All-NBA power forward.
The Minnesota Timberwolves presently are engaged in serious Kevin Love trade talks with no teams other than the Cleveland Cavaliers, which only adds to the growing belief around the league that Love teaming up with LeBron James is inevitable, according to sources briefed on the situation.
After ESPN.com reported last week that the Cavaliers remain the front-runners to acquire Love in a trade co-headlined by No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins, sources this week have described the Cavs as the only team currently in contention for Love. Sources say the Chicago Bulls are increasingly pessimistic about their chances of trumping Cleveland's offer, while theGolden State Warriors remain unwilling to bend on their longstanding refusal to surrender Klay Thompson in a deal for Love.
The Golden State Warriors have seemingly been unwilling to include Klay Thompson in a deal for Love. This was the deal Wolves' president was reportedly most interested in for quite some time because it would have brought in Thompson, David Lee, and possibly Harrison Barnes. The Wolves believed the deal would have kept them competitive enough to challenge for a playoff spot in the highly competitive Western Conference playoffs. The Chicago Bulls reportedly had a trade package including Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic, and Taj Gibson, but it's not as enticing to the Wolves as getting Wiggins, by these accounts.
Wiggins would give the Wolves the exciting young star to galvanize a mostly apathetic fan base for a franchise that has spent the last decade in the lottery. While it wouldn't get the Wolves back into the playoffs right away, they could build around a young core involving Wiggins, Ricky Rubio, Gorgui Dieng, and Zach LaVine. Anthony Bennett has also been rumored to be included in the deal. With Wiggins signing his rookie contract earlier this month, a deal wouldn't be able to be completed before Aug. 23.
Basketball Hot News
Derrick Rose was aggressive in pursuit of free agent Pau Gasol. Recruiting Carmelo Anthony? Not so much.
There’s a weird tension building between Derrick Rose and the Bulls front office, and it’s obviously (at least partially) related to his injury history when compared to his contract.
With Rose being injured and unavailable for the majority of the last three seasons (playing just 49 games in total), the least he could be doing in the eyes of the franchise would be to help lure free agents to sign in Chicago in order to bolster the roster.
But Rose has been historically reluctant to engage in that activity, and that was apparently a sore spot in the Carmelo Anthony meetings this summer — especially when considering that Rose was much more aggressive in getting involved with trying to recruit free agent Pau Gasol.
From Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
Multiple sources in the organization say tension was mounting because Rose allowed his own camp to take shots at the franchise. Gradually, there seemed to be less communication between the Bulls and their biggest star. And tensions hit a peak when Rose, who has a five-year, $94.8 million contract, seemed to blatantly resist helping build the roster in a new NBA where stars increasingly double as recruiters. …
Looking back, it’s clear Rose wasn’t all that interested in teaming with Anthony, who chose to return to the New York Knicks. Rose was much more aggressive in the Bulls’ pursuit of free agent Pau Gasol, not only asking for the veteran’s phone number, but giving a hard sell to the big man on joining the Bulls.
So why Gasol and not Anthony?
“That’s someone that I knew I could play with,’’ Rose said of Gasol. “You think about Pau, him now being in the East, what he’ll be able to achieve with the way we play, the way we dump the ball in the post a lot. It could be great.’’
There’s more in that piece about the particulars of Rose’s involvement (or lack thereof) with Anthony’s free agent visit to Chicago, and the tensions that may exist between Rose’s “camp” and the front office.
But once Rose returns to action, all of this will be in the rearview mirror. Neither Rose nor the Bulls are going to be in the best of spirits while he’s sidelined due to injury, and that’s the only time when this off-court stuff will creep into the headlines and onto the surface.
Rose is there to help the Bulls win games, pure and simple. All indications are that he’s ready to do that once next season begins, and as soon as that happens again, the dissection of what he did or did not do during the offseason will immediately cease to exist.
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