For the love of everything pure and holy, can the Minnesota Timberwolves do something to end the Kevin Love saga, one way or the other?
Each day, every hour of the day, it seems there’s some new scenario playing out involving Love and his pointed desire to rid himself of his Twin Cities residency. Now, comes word Timberwolves’ owner Glen Taylor’s “preference is that Kevin will come to training camp… and play with the team.”
Taylor went on to add the Wolves will not deal Love unless the team received what he deemed “equal or more value” for him. “We are going to look at everything that makes sense that would make our team better.”
How about starting with distancing yourself from a player who clearly does not want to be part of anything you have in mind for your team and who could easily allow himself to become a locker room pariah to further express to you just how serious he is in his declaration?
The Wolves need to know that Kevin Love will not be playing the role of franchise savior, they have to know that he has no affinity for being the life-long Wolf that leads the team to its first playoff appearance in at least the last seven seasons.
Say what you will about Love, but he’s been totally open and brutally honest in that respect. Earlier this summer, he let it be known he wants a change of scenery and long before then he’s hinted that he will walk the first chance he gets no matter what, even if it means he has to wait until he can become a free agent after the 2015 season.
Initially, all indications were Love was desperate to get back to L.A. and don a Lakers uniform, just the way he always dreamed it would be growing in California as one of the team’s biggest fans. But somewhere between not making the playoffs in his first six NBA seasons and realizing the Lakers don’t have the kind of assets the Wolves covet to readily acquire him, Love, more or less, let it be known he was almost willing to go anywhere that’s not Minnesota.
And still the Wolves continue to play hardball, turning down rumored packages from the Warriors and Cavs respectively that include such player combinations as Harrison Barnes and David Lee and Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters and Anthony Bennett, all for a player it now seems they can’t win with no matter what they do.
Can we just stop the madness?
