>We know how good Love is. With Love, the Cavs would be odds-on
>favorites to win the East. They would be championship
>contenders immediately. Not on any unspecified timeline. If
>they don't *win* the title, I don't think LeBron, who stressed
>his patience in the letter, will bail just because of that. If
>they spend the year bowling with the bumpers on because they
>have a bunch of kids, then yes, he will have a wandering eye.
>Your argument is a relativist one and the comparison to Bear
>Stearns is, frankly, really fucking stupid. We are not talking
>about a 31-year-old mercenary with Love, we are talking about
>a guy in his mid 20s who is already balling. It's a fine move
>for the future.

But it's about the roster construction. With two players on long-term MAX and LBJ angling for top dollar, your left with very little flexibility. If that roster, for whatever reason, fails to win the chip ... well then that's your roster the next year, too. With Wiggins as the long-term piece, you can count on his development and still be a player in acquiring rotation pieces. Also, there will be other trade offers you can package a young guy in if you decide that's the right move. I know Love is young, but his presumed contract structure is what locks the roster in, not his age or decline or anything.

>No, the choice is between acquiring Love and contending for a
>title or keeping Wiggins and risking a return to the dark
>ages. In a way, that is an even more dire proposition. I
>really like Wiggins, but a college freshman with some raw
>elements to his game is not the lynchpin of a title team right
>today. They don't have tomorrow to wait for. They have two
>years, and maybe just one.

But this is also where you get to -- is Bennett in the deal? Thompson? Because while I don't expect either to be Kevin Love, they could still show real progression playing alongside LBJ. Wiggins is the center-piece, sure, but that's where you're left with the question of how serious a contender is left once Love arrives. Wiggins backstops LBJ, offers a bridge to the future, Thompson or Bennett COULD make Love less of a dire need. That's part of the flexibility you sacrifice flexibility, too...

>There are but almost ALL the favorable ones include them
>acquiring Love. Love is not a short-term rental, he is a
>cornerstone for a long time. Wiggins might be that, but we
>aren't sure, and he is certainly not that immediately. You're
>trading prospect for proven and small for big. In what fucking
>universe is that a difficult decision???

Kevin Love only plays one side of the floor. Wiggins might be ANYTHING, in what world is trading away supposedly the best draft prospect in years before he even plays a minute anything less than rash?