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Kevin Love Deserves Credit for the New Timberwolves Roster

By Paul Bellesen

Jan 8, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett (21) stand next to each during the second half at Target Center. The Cavaliers won 125-99. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 8, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett (21) stand next to each during the second half at Target Center. The Cavaliers won 125-99. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tonight is Game 1 of the NBA Finals and Minnesota Timberwolves fans should be rooting for our old friend Kevin Love.

Kevin Love seems to have finally found his place on the Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers. He is playing well, and when he plays well, that team is almost untouchable. Love has come a long way from his days in Minnesota.

There are a lot of fans who were left with a bad taste in their mouth after Kevin Love wanted out of town. Just remember that the way it went down, it actually benefitted both teams and did not leave the Timberwolves high and dry.

For a minute, it looked like the Timberwolves would have no leverage in the Love situation. Coming into his last season in Minnesota, Love had one year left on his contract and told Flip Saunders that he planned to opt out of the deal on his player option the next season. If we had not traded him that offseason and waited until the trade deadline, we would have no leverage as teams knew he was going to opt out and would not offer us very much knowing that he was going to leave anyways. This waas the smart move by the Timberwolves.

We have to remember that this was a team that could not make the playoffs for six straight seasons, and Kevin Love wanted more. He gave us some good years and was a top 5 player statistically for multiple seasons before departing.

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By accepting the trade the franchise put together with Cleveland, the Timberwolves were able to acquire freshly drafted number one pick, Andrew Wiggins, and Anthony Bennett. He could have sat that last season, made his money, and left in free agency, in turn leaving the franchise high and dry with nothing in return.

If Love would have played out his last year in Minnesota, we obviously would not have had Andrew Wiggins. In turn, we would have had a pretty similar season to the prior year, in which the Timberwolves had around 40 wins and would have been nowhere near in contention for the number one pick in 2015, which means no Karl-Anthony Towns either. Then he would have just left in free agency, and the Timberwolves would have ended up with a roster with two late lottery picks and Love long gone.

No one can be mad at Love for wanting to achieve more of his personal goals. The front office was not doing the things needed to put a team around him and make Minnesota a contender. As it was when KG left and had success, I will root for him as he was loyal to Minnesota while he was here. He deserves an NBA Championship for surviving the David Kahn era.

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So when you think about it, we might have to thank Kevin Love for wanting out. That series of moves directly contributed to us landing Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. Now this team has more hype than it even did in the Love era. Thank the lord (and Kevin Love)for Wiggins, and Towns.

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