Kevin Love's Not Sayin'....He's Just Sayin'

Now that the NBA Finals are over, pro basketball fans in Minnesota can turn their attention to an annual rite of passage: waiting for the next inglorious moment in the history of the hapless Timberwolves.

This particular moment, a few years in the making and for many easy to predict, is now coming to fruition. Over the pasts several weeks it's become abundantly clear that talented power forward Kevin Love wants to be as far away from Minnesota as possible. It's a familiar template. Player signs a lucrative contract, players fails to bring his team success, player suggests that he may not be happy with his current situation, player ultimately tells the team and the media that he wants to be elsewhere. It's one of the more distasteful elements of modern professional athletics. And for Minnesotans, it's a painful reminder of the Kevin Garnett saga.

For awhile, Love seemed to be trying to play it a little differently. He spoke little about his future during the season. When the season ended, he initially stayed out of the spotlight and let his agent do the talking for him. Then he made a rather suspicious trip (with his agent) to Boston, where he took in a Red Sox game and chatted with current members of the Boston Celtics, a team with a storied history and 16 championships. And in one particular media appearance last week, he spoke of the frustation of not making the playoffs, referred to the the Timberwolves as "they," suggested that he needed to get better teammates, and said he hopes "everything works out for all the parties involved." Translation: "I hope they get a good deal for me."

Notice that he never said he wants to be traded. Because what's clear is that while Love wants everyone to know that he doesn't want to be here anymore, he doesn't want to actually come out and say it. As others have pointed out, it's classic Minnesota passive aggressive. It might make him feel like less of a prima donna, but the effect is just the same. Just tell us you don't love us anymore, Kevin.

You knew it was going to come to this. Ever since Love signed a four year extension in 2011, a deal that allowed him to opt out after three years, you just knew that he wasn't going to be in a Timberwolves uniform for too much longer. For starters, from the moment he signed the contract, he complained about not getting the maximum deal allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. (While that was one of former GM David Kahn's most egregious mistakes, I've always wondered if it helped Love build a straw-man argument for leaving; the oft-used "they didn't appreciate me enough" line, intended to imply that he's been slaving away for an organization that never really respected his talent.)

The bigger reason is that despite the efforts of current GM and coach Flip Saunders, the Timberwolves are a long way from being a playoff team, let alone a team that can compete for a championship. I don't doubt that Love wants to be on a team that wins and has success in the playoffs. That's what every professional athlete wants, with a few notable exceptions. I just can't help but wonder if part of it is a desire to be seen as a winner, as someone who puts team before his own numbers.

My feelings about the impending loss of Love are mixed. He's arguably one of the ten best players in the NBA, and he seemingly gets better every year. His offensive game has expanded exponentially since his rookie season, when he appeared too small to be a productive power forward, and his second year, when columnist Pat Reusse derided him as nothing more than a "garbage-time stats collector." His combination of three-point shooting, low-post moves, and deft passing makes him extremely hard to defend. He plays hard, and he might be the most intuitive rebounder in the league. Does he play defense? No, not very well. But his attributes far outweigh his deficiencies. And the Timberwolves are unlikely to get equal value in return.

But as good as Kevin Love is, trading him doesn't have to be a devastating blow for the Timberwolves. While it's certainly not all his fault, Minnesota has never made the playoffs with him. In a season where the team finally had the talent to be truly competitive, he couldn't get them into the playoffs. That's what great players, transcendent players, do, no matter what their supporting cast lacks. Sure, Love put up great offensive numbers and seemed to do everything he could to help the team win, but truly great players do things that don't show always up on the stat sheet. Sometimes it's instilling a belief in teammates, or setting a tone that losing (or lack of effort) is unacceptable. Love hasn't succeeded on that level.

So yes, Kevin Love will likely be leaving Minnesota soon, and yes, it's unfortunate. He's a pleasure to watch. But we'll get over it. We'll find another player who embraces the cold as much as he embraces the challenge of resurrecting a franchise that hasn't seen too many good times. And then he'll probably want to leave, too.