Love Starts Summer League Strong

by bucknellbruin on Jul 14, 2008 11:31 PM PDT Comment 9 comments

Kevin Love started his NBA career tonight with, you guessed it, a double-double. We saw a few of those last year, didn't we?

Kevin Love had 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds Monday night in his debut for the Minnesota Timberwolves at the NBA Summer League.

Love finished strongly with 10 second-half points and was the aggressor inside. He had five offensive rebounds.

He had a slow start, getting into foul trouble early, but seemed to just be nervous, which probably was to be expected.

The fifth overall selection in last month's draft, Love started slowly and committed four fouls -- the same number of points he scored -- in the first quarter before settling in. "I had to get the jitters out," Love said. "I was shaking out there a little bit because it hadn't sunk in that I was a NBA player."

Here's the full article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/07/15/bc.bkn.timberwolves.love.ap/index.html

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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Love looks very different

I only saw a couple of highlights, but that quick look showed that Love has definitely dropped a significant amount of weight and he looks very lean. He even seemed to be missing a little of the bulk and possibly strength that made him so effective, but there was no way to tell from the brief clips, and the rebounds tell the story. Didn’t see him run the floor, which would be interesting. He’s going to do well.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 15, 2008 1:27 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I only saw some bits

and defensively it was like watching Love at the beginning of last season. He couldn’t slide his feet quick enough to stay in front of guys and ended up reaching. He had 4 fouls in not an extraordinary amount of time. Hopefully Whittman, the T-Wolves coach, can teach him the nuances of NBA defense and we can see the huge improvements he made over the course of last season adjusting to college defenses under Howland.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jul 15, 2008 6:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Strong second game

18 points and 17 rebounds in his second game, which was a loss to the Lakers—thought that some of BruinLaker fans might have noted this already.

His third game starts at 7pm, with Love going against summer standout Jerryd Bayless and Portland.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 17, 2008 6:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Game #3

26 points and 15 rebounds in a victory. Getting the hang of it.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 17, 2008 11:03 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Still having trouble defensively though

He picked up 4 fouls today and 5 yesterday. He’s having trouble moving laterally and stick with his man, but he also had that trouble early last season so we know he can learn. If he gets good coaching he should be fine, but he’ll have some growing pains defensively.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jul 17, 2008 11:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defense? (Think Jim Mora saying "Playoffs?")

Defense? In the NBA? Maybe if the league honchos decided that the traveling rule that we all lived with since the sixth grade will actually be enforced. Or if the league decided that just because you’re 7’4” and weigh 400 pounds, you still can’t engage in full contact karate under the basket.

I think that if Kevin puts up 26 and 15 on a regular basis, he’ll be fine. And as soon as defense is viewed by the league as being as important as putting up big offensive numbers, I think Kevin will be fine there, too. Remember, he got one year under Coach Howland which is probably the same as a MS in b-ball. If he had had more time, he would be better, but he’s obviously a really smart and motiviated guy.

End of rant, and on to real question. I stopped following b-ball when the NBA heated up. Does the team that drafted Love (the name of which I don’t know and don’t really care about) have anyone who can help Kevin work on his defensive things? My guess is that a pro team would be able to get a seasoned pro to help their big guys work on footwork and all that. But does that guy exist where Kevin is now?

by Fox 71 on Jul 18, 2008 12:26 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fox,

KL’s team-I won’t even bother naming them, dear- traded away their best shot blocker, Theo Ratliff, to Detroit this year. They still have Al Jefferson-who has a great story, you should read it-though, and he is a top-30-ish blocker and rebounder. He’s a great player, who went straight from high school to the NBA, so he knows what it’s like to be very young and playing in the NBA. He is a star, he’s young, and he’s got great feet . They also have a player named Marko Jaric who gets quite a few steals.

Love My Bruins

by Bruingirl83 on Jul 18, 2008 1:53 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jaric part of the trade

Jaric went to Memphis along with OJ Mayo in the trade for KLove. Have to study the Minnesota Timberwolves (no need to be extra coy) roster to see who KL is going to be playing with, but Jefferson is very good—a solid 20/10 guy. The problem is that neither he nor Love is a true center, but they will play very well together, although Love is going to have to get used to losing a lot of games.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 18, 2008 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, zhiv

My dumb mistake..I didn’t realize they’d traded Jaric.

That’s the problem, too, with the teams that get nice high draft picks…they’re losing teams. The ex-Sonics/OKC Whatevers have been so bloody awful the last three years, and they’ve now picked up Kevin Durant and our RW.

I like Jefferson. He worked hard to come back from his injuries, at a young age. The only thing I can think is that he must have had great HS and AAU coaches, because he really seems to have a work ethic. It will be interesting to watch Jefferson and KL play together, I think.

Love My Bruins

by Bruingirl83 on Jul 18, 2008 3:36 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs