Denver Stiffs - Kevin Love to the Nuggets trade rumors galore

Are the Nugs really interested in Kevin Love?

2014-06-20T16:44:28-06:00

Kenneth Faried and Kevin Love | Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sport

There's been a plethora of rumors this week involving potential Kevin Love trades. Are the Nuggets truly among the suitors?

When the Nuggets were suddenly thrust into the mix for Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love ... it, quite frankly, made everyone in Denver and likely throughout the league do a double take. The Nuggets? Really? It's not that the Nuggets would trade that confused people, it's just that the Nuggets were rumored to be involved in the ever increasing size of what I like to call the "Love Boat".

Problem is, none of us know if the Nuggets are genuinely involved or are being used as leverage by other teams to up their offers, or to keep other teams off the trail on this trade. It's certainly ... perplexing. All we know is that the Nuggets name suddenly coming up in the Love discussion came out of nowhere and raised eyebrows all around.

Naturally this causes people to speculate about what exactly the Nuggets would offer. There have been rumors that the Nuggets "offered" Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried and (weirdly) Arron Afflalo (how they would acquire him hasn't been exactly extrapolated). Additionally there have been more rumors of the team adding the 11th pick in the draft. I must stress, however, these are rumors.

Rumors are great for people to speculate, and Lord knows it gets people to talk. Yet ...

The circumstances and the sheer randomness of the Nuggets name suddenly appearing in Boston-centric media circles indicates to me that the Nuggets (if they are interested) may be caught up in the leverage game. Most of the rumors have centered around the Celtics and the Warriors, and that has continued throughout the process. The Nuggets may have interest in Love, but the way this information has been disseminated has been highly suspect. Sometimes teams will leak names to get other teams to increase offers, we are aware of this from the circumstances of the Carmelo Anthony trade of three years ago (cough ... Nets ... cough)

So a this point we just sit back, wait for more rumors to come down the pike while we prepare for the 2014 NBA Draft next week. Which should be fun. Who knows what will happen? I guess that part is the fun of this.

Place your thoughts below on thread number 10,050 on the subject in the last 2 days.

How much is too much for Love?

2014-06-19T09:01:05-06:00

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.

Faried and Chandler in packaged deal for Love?

2014-06-18T21:19:37-06:00

Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE

Earlier today the Boston Herald published a piece about the Nuggets being in the mix for Kevin Love, well now details of the Nuggets rumored offer have been published.

Steve Bulpett covers the Boston Celtics for the Boston Herald (and the NBA in general) and had a very interesting tweet this evening. A report earlier today had the Nuggets being in the mix for Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love. We wondered what type of deal could be offered and now, with Bulpett's help, we have some names (who knows how accurate this actually is ...):

Sources: in addition to Wilson Chandler and Kenneth Faried, Denver offering Minnesota a player they would acquire (Arron Afflalo) for Love.
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) June 19, 2014

Note: Denver's pick (No. 11) NOT included in what I've heard Minnesota can get. Tweets attributing that to me are incorrect.
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) June 19, 2014

Well, we'll see if there are any legs to this offer in the coming week. I can tell you one thing: the Nuggets front office would want the media to be the last people to know about an impending deal, so it's a little hard to believe that this deal will come to fruition.

And how does Arron Afflalo get in the mix? Would the Nuggets deal the 11th pick and something else to Orlando in this deal? That's a lot of moving parts and whenever a third team gets involved, things get sticky and tricky.

Acquiring Love would be a big move for the Nuggets and a step towards building a contender that team president Josh Kroenke so badly wants. We'll see if anything actually happens as rumor season is well under way.

What would you think about the possibility of teaming up Love, Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari, and Timofey Mozgov?

Update:

This is only going to get weirder, friends... Several sources saying more teams will bid for Love and offers will be altered.
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) June 19, 2014

This is a Tweet that basically tells you all you need to know about these rumors ... it ain't happening. The "offers will be altered" part basically says to me that this rumor is just a rumor and that nobody really knows what is actually going on and what is actually true.

There is a reason that a Boston reporter is leaking these names and rumors. And those reasons are likely using the Nuggets to pump up some part of a deal between the Wolves, Celtics, and some unknown team.

Nuggets in the mix for Kevin Love

2014-06-18T14:15:27-06:00

Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota power forward could be on the move ... could the Nuggets really be a landing spot for him?

Timberwolves forward Kevin Love has one year left on his deal for $15.7 million. Then the gambling begins as Love has a player option for $16.4 million for the 2014-15 season. Any team willing to deal for Love might have to do so without assurances that he'll stay in the city long-term. But teams are not afraid to gamble as the Boston Globe points out ...

Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald first reported this afternoon that the Timberwolves are not impressed with the Boston's latest trade offer for Love. In fact, Bulpett notes that sources tell him the Wolves already have received multiple proposals from teams that trump what Boston can offer.

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

Celtics beat writer Baxter Holmes also had this Tweet a little earlier today:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>After talking to league sources, my new top-three potential destinations for Kevin Love: 1. GSW. 2. Chicago. 3. Denver.</p>— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) <a href="https://twitter.com/BaxterHolmes/statuses/479313184000466944">June 18, 2014</a></blockquote>

Just what do the Nuggets have to offer the Wolves? Well, quite a bit when you consider the following players and assets:

-Kenneth Faried

-Danilo Gallinari

-Ty Lawson

-Wilson Chandler

-Timofey Mozgov

-11th pick in the 2014 draft

-Denver's 2015 first?

-Denver's right to swap picks with the Knicks in 2016?

We'll see if anything more substantial comes with these talks as things should heat up next week with the draft coming on June 26th.