It’s a negotiation. The idea is to get as much as you can for what you are giving up. Minnesota team president Flip Saunders knows how to play that game in trading Kevin Love — and part of that is sending messages by leaking things to the media.
For example, first you leak something saying, “I haven’t seen anything better than what Boston is offering for Love” in hopes of getting other teams to up their bid. Then you leak that the Boston offer isn’t all that great, hoping Boston ups its bid.
That could be the game for Minnesota (or it could be something else, disagreement about what is a priority to get back within the front office, we’ll get to that).
Either way, the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett is contradicting an earlier report, with sources telling Bulpett that the Celtics’ offer for Kevin Love is not enough to get a deal done.
Sources close to the situation have told the Herald that Boston’s offer of draft picks and players isn’t nearly the best the Timberwolves have received — or expect to receive — for their All-Star forward.
The Celtics are willing to discuss a number of options, but none of them includes the quality of player with NBA experience that Minnesota is seeking or believes it can get elsewhere. One source indicated Denver and Golden State have both made more intriguing offers, and there are other teams very much in the picture, as well.
Denver is a new name, and there would be questions about whether they could retain Love’s services after next season when he can opt out (his people telling Minnesota Love would opt out sparked this trade talk in the first place, it forced the Timberwolves hand). That said the Nuggets have the No. 11 pick in this draft as well as some interesting players they could throw in — Kenneth Faried, Danilo Gallinari, J.J. Hickson and Evan Fournier, among others.
Golden State is potentially the big gun, Love has said he likes them and would re-sign there. With Love that team is a contender. Their offer would have future picks as well as players like David Lee, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes. The debate is over Klay Thompson — if I were Minnesota I would insist on him, but according to Bill Simmons and others the Warriors are resistant. (To me, that is over-valuing your current players, I love Thompson and his game but Love is a much more valuable player and one whose skill set is much harder to replicate. I’d resist at first but if Thompson got the deal done I’d move him.)
Boston’s offer reportedly is the No. 6 and No. 17 pick in this draft as well as a future No. 1 and players such as Jared Sullinger.
What does Minnesota really want back? The conflicting reports on what they feel about what Boston can offer could be a sign of division at the higher levels of the organization? Does Flip Saunders want to focus on picks and owner Glen Taylor want established players? If so, that is another fitting explanation of the conflicting reports.
There’s going to be a lot of smokescreens in the next couple weeks. Teams will intentionally leak conflicting information (and sometimes not intentionally). Boston is certainly in the mix for Kevin Love, but Flip Saunders isn’t near done yet trying to get as much for him as possible. Remember, he doesn’t have to move him before the draft, if Saunders thinks there are better offers he can wait until after July 1 and all the way up to the trade deadline in February if he wants.
