Love-Wiggins Trade

It's official.  Finally.  The Timberwolves deal Kevin Love to the Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a future first round draft pick (Miami's 2015 first round pick).  The Timberwolves then flip that number one pick, along with Alexey Shved and Luc Mbah a Moute to the 76ers for Thaddeus Young.  The Wolves will also apparently receive a $6.3 million trade exception in the deal.

Don't make any mistake here, Kevin Love is the best player in this deal, and it's really not even close.  This is a great deal for the Cavaliers, they now have a fearsome threesome of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving & Kevin Love.  That's a damn good combination and immediately makes the Cavs the team to beat in the relatively weak NBA Eastern conference.  Being a Timberwolves fan though (and yes, there are a few of us left), I'm ok with this deal, I think it's probably the best the Timberwolves could have done considering that Kevin Love had threatened to leave as a free agent after next season.

The Wolves essentially trade Love before he leaves as a free agent, dump a couple of salaries that were weighing them down and got 3 nice young pieces in Wiggins, Bennett and Young.  Keep in mind, Wiggins & Bennett were the first overall picks in the past 2 NBA drafts.  Wiggins, although still raw, has star potential, he could eventually make the Cavs regret they made this deal.   Bennett, although a bust last year, still has some upside, he looked healthy, in shape and ready to redeem himself in the Las Vegas Summer League last month.  Young is a quality replacement for Love in the Wolves starting lineup and he fits perfectly with Rubio, LaVine & Wiggins.  The biggest downside to Young is that he'll be a free agent next offseason, although I'm guessing the Wolves will make every effort to resign him.  Overall, not a bad return at all in exchange for the Wolves disgruntled big man.

So, as things stand now, the Timberwolves lineup looks like this:

Point Guard:   Ricky Rubio, Mo Williams, J.J. Barea
Off Guard:  Kevin Martin, Chase Budinger, Zach LaVine
Small Forward:  Andrew Wiggins, Corey Brewer, Shabazz Muhammad, Glenn Robinson III
Power Forward:  Thaddeus Young, Anthony Bennett, Robbie Hummel
Center:  Nikola Pekovic, Gorgui Dieng, Ronny Turiaf

That's 16 players so a few tweaks are obviously still forthcoming.  I'm expecting that J.J. Barea is dealt before camp opens (I don't know why they would have signed Mo Williams otherwise).  I suspect that Glen Robinson III will spend plenty of time in the developmental league.  With the large number of wings on the roster I wouldn't be shocked to see one of them dealt too (Martin, Budinger, Brewer or Muhammad).

That's not a bad lineup, I doubt that it's a playoff lineup though, especially in the tough NBA Western conference.  I'm guessing 30-35 wins is within reach, along with another trip to the lottery.  Would that be so bad though?  They could then add another solid young player to their roster in next years draft.  I do really like the Rubio, LaVine, Wiggins, Dieng building blocks (along with Young & Bennett), it's loaded with potential and looks like it could be a team to watch moving forward.  C'mon, admit it, Rubio pushing the ball with Wiggins and LaVine on the wings, that'll be fun to watch too!

Finally, props to Flip Saunders, he's had a nice offseason for the Timberwolves!  I was skeptical, but I've been impressed so far.