We’ll start to call these Kevin Love rumors “Keeping Up with the Joneses” as it seems more outlets are grabbing onto this mega story and putting out more rumors they dig up. The latest rumors come from Steve Kyler’s NBA AM column where he details the deals of each team, let’s take a look:
The Celtics offer is believed to be centered on its two draft picks this year, the sixth pick and the 17th pick and a choice of either Jared Sullinger or Kelly Olynk. Boston’s offer is also believed to include at least two future first rounders, including the pick the Celtics hold from the Brooklyn Nets deal last summer.
The Golden State Warriors are apparently offer a package built around David Lee and Harrison Barnes and possible future first round draft picks. There has been talk that the Wolves would want star guard Klay Thompson in the deal, which apparently is a no-go for the Warriors.
The Chicago Bulls have a seat at the table with an offer built around Taj Gibson, Tony Snell and or Jimmy Butler and possibly both of their first round picks this year, the 16th pick and the 19th pick.
The Denver Nuggets are reportedly offering forward Kenneth Faried, swing man Wilson Chandler and either their 11th pick or to involve a third team to net the Wolves another veteran in their package. Its possible Danilo Gallinari gets included, however he is several months removed from surgery and still somewhat questionable on whether he’ll be ready for training camp.
Timberwolves President Flip Saunders is apparently more interested in landing established players for his star asset, and believes that the return for Love could go up in the coming days, which is likely why the details of offers are leaking out.
It's interesting to note that Boston and Chicago are offering picks in this year's draft and the Nuggets could possibly send the 11th pick, which the Wolves might be able to use in one of two ways:
1.) Keep the pick and use it.
2.) Try to package the pick to net something in return. What if they packaged 11 and 13 (their own pick)? Could that move them up into the top 10?
Would the Nuggets be able to land a veteran that the Wolves would want in a three team deal involving the 11th pick? Already we've seen Arron Afflalo's name tossed out as a possible get to Minnesota for Denver's 11th pick, but we'll see if any of this comes to fruition.
Nuggets GM Tim Connelly promised his front office team would be very aggressive this offseason and it's looking like he's staying true to his word.
The addition of Love would immediately make the Nuggets a more attractive landing spot for free agents, but it still would be up to Connelly and Co. to make more moves in a hurry to not only get the team in a win-now mode, but to keep Love in Denver. He currently has a player option for the 2015-16 season for $16.7 million that many believe he'll opt out of to choose his destination of choice.
The Nuggets must be careful, if they stay in these sweepstakes, of gutting their team too much. The pursuit of a player like Love should almost come at any cost, well, that’s the belief. But if the Nuggets pull a “Knicks” and give up too much, then there won’t be much of a reason for Love to want to re-sign in Denver. Kyler’s blurb above about Gallo possibly being included in a deal is getting to the “too much” part. Faried, Chandler, the 11th pick (whether it’s AAA or just the pick), and Gallo would put the Nuggets depth in jeopardy and leave Denver without a starting or backup small forward, unless you believe in Anthony Randolph’s development.
If Denver were to acquire Love and somehow keep either Chandler or Gallo, that would go a long way to establishing a very dangerous team in Denver and one that Love might be able to make his first playoff appearance with.
