While in Manila as a special guest of the Master Game Face All-Star Basketball Challenge, Kevin Love jokingly told the media he would love to play for the San Antonio Spurs. Love, who in six seasons has never been to the NBA Playoffs, has expressed his frustrations with the Timberwolves. According to reports, if Minnesota does not trade him, he will undoubtedly leave next year when he becomes a free agent.
Via Fansided:
“If there’s a way I can jump on that Spurs roster then I can get on that road to the NBA championship. Hopefully it becomes soon, I’m 25 now, maybe when I’m 26.”
Of course this is nothing more than a pipe dream. The Spurs don’t have the players or draft picks that the Timberwolves would require for a trade of this magnitude. Still, no matter how unlikely something like this is, the fact that Love even said this is enough to make you wonder why he doesn’t get the same amount of ridicule other players have gotten for leaving their unsuccessful teams?
For example, when LeBron left an underachieving Cleveland Cavaliers team in 2010 to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, he turned into Public Enemy #1. People looked on with pleasure when they watched him and the rest of the Miami Heat fall four games to two in the 2011 NBA Finals. Also Carmelo Anthony left a subpar Denver Nuggets for the Big Apple in 2011. He was also scorned for teaming up with Amare Stoudemire in hopes of competing for a NBA championship.
Both players were criticized for not being able to win titles by themselves. But it appears that Kevin Love gets a pass for indicating his plans to do the exact same thing. We’re in an era where players are unfairly judged by the amount of rings they have. So it doesn’t make sense for us to ridicule them for putting themselves in the best position to do so.
Kevin Love has been in the NBA since 2008 and he’s never played in a postseason game. He’s given the Timberwolves ample time to surround him with players that can help him make the playoffs and they have failed to do so. It makes all the sense in the world for him to leave Minnesota. I just don’t understand why Love doesn’t receive criticism for not being able to get it done by himself. Sure he’s not on the same level as LeBron. But as we all just witnessed in the NBA Finals, an individual superstar can’t win on his own.
Either deal with the fact that this is a different era and players will put themselves in the best situations to win or slander everybody equally.