What's been bugging me the most recently is all this talk/hype about the Kevin Love/Andrew Wiggins trade talks. The main reason is because of all this chatter about if Kevin Love is enough for the Cav's to trade Wiggins. Seriously, Kevin Love: emerging All-Star with the skills and ability to grow into a Superstar of this league: isn't enough of a return for Andrew Wiggins: a highly athletic young player who averaged under 18 points per game in college where he couldn't even get his team out of the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament? Yeah seems pretty un-even.
Another thing that's bugging me is how little the Wolves are looking at getting out of this trade. With current rumors of them receiving Wiggins, Anthony Bennett (Minnesota would then trade Bennett to Philadelphia for Thaddeus Young) & a future protected 1st Rounder, that seems like the team is banking on a lot of "potential" rather than getting "proven" talent. This trade reminds me when the Denver Nugguts traded Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks. They got a deal that has helped set them up for immediate success by getting proven NBA talent along with prospects and picks. In the three years since trading Melo, they have made the NBA Playoffs twice, and have been a highly competitive team in the much stronger Western Conference. in my opinion, Love is better than what Melo was when he was traded.
To further support my idea that the Wolves deserve a Melo equivalent deal, let go to the stats. Below are Kevin Love's career stats (brown) compared along side Melo's stats (Green) while in Denver.
*Removed Kevin Love's '12-'13 season - only played 18 games due to injury
Not only does Love surpass Melo in many of statistical categories, just take a look at the progression throughout the years. Melo (to his credit) has been a consistent shooter, but has not improved significantly in any one category. On the other hand, the continuous progression of Kevin Love's offensive and defensive production show that we may not have seen the best of his playing ability yet. With this comparison in mind, the Wolves should be looking for deals that not just give the fan base hope for the future, but allow them to remain competitive in the current NBA landscape. Also, I just don't think Wiggins is going to turn into the All-Star player everyone has anointed him to be.
Unfortunately I know this will never come to be since the Timber Pups have been arguably one of the worst run sports franchise in the world and now that LeBron is in Cleveland, the NBA will do whatever it can to get him what he wants. But that's for another rant, another time.
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