Love Remains: Free Agency Day One
This is one of my favorite times of the year (the others being my birthday and Flag Day). The free agent frenzy is in full swing in the NBA, and already after just one day, we have seen some impressive contracts extended to the likes of Avery Bradley and Marcin Gortat who both inked 4 and 5 year deals respectively. Bradley, the 6’2” guard agreed to a 4 year deal to stay with the Boston Celtics, worth $32 million. Marcin Gortat also agreed to a long term deal, receiving a lucrative five year, $60 million for staying in a Wizards uniform. It’s like Christmas in July!
Perhaps, if you have been a good boy or girl, Santa will bring you a shiny new toy like LeBron James, who has kept his cards pretty close if he will stay with the Heat or try his luck elsewhere (cough Cleveland cough) excuse me! Or Carmelo Anthony, who heard the sales pitch of a Bulls team in desperate need for a consistent scorer and continues his free agent tour to LA to meet with the Lakers this Thursday.
For Wolves fans like me, we can only dream of what it would be like to have such pieces, but being a small market team as ours, it’s hard to allure any big time talent to join the ranks of Minnesota. This is a big reason why superstar Kevin Love wants out. Being fed up with losing season after 6 years with the Wolves, there are a number of teams who would love to acquire the services of Love (redundant isn’t he?) All jokes aside, Flip Saunders has a serious decision to make. With multiple teams suiting Love (such as the Celtics, Warriors, Nuggets, Bulls, Rockets, Lakers, Cavaliers, and Suns), he is taking his time to hear the deal that would help the Wolves win now instead of later. Bleacher Report’s Adam Fromal points out that the Wolves shouldn’t be in such a hurry to trade away Love. The Wolves were closer than they have been in the past 10 years, only missing the playoffs by 7 games. With increased playing time from the rookie standouts Gorgui Dieng and Shabazz Muhammad, not to mention the newly drafted and promising Zach LaVine and Glen Robinson III, the Wolves are bound to see improvement if Love stays. As of now, Love is still a member of the Timberwolves, but could that change after day two of free agency? Where do you think Kevin Love will end up?