Phoenix Suns: How To Trade For Kevin Love
How can the Phoenix Suns acquire Kevin Love?
The Phoenix Suns are in a precarious position — they’re in the No. 8 seed in the West, but are holding on by a thread. They’re holding out hope that the team can continue to jell and players like Alex Len and Markieff Morris can continue to develop, but in a brutal conference, time is not on their side. It’s time to consider a major trade that will change the fortunes of three different teams.
THE TRADE
- Phoenix Suns receive Kevin Love, Dion Waiters, Future 1st Round Pick* (from IND)
- Indiana Pacers receive Goran Dragic, Alex Len
- Cleveland Cavaliers receive Roy Hibbert, Gerald Green, Future 1st Round Pick (from PHX)
*if the Pacers were willing to swap Len for Miles Plumlee, they could hold onto the draft pick
This trade addresses each team’s greatest need right now. The Suns need a defensive rebounder and a power forward who can spread the floor like Channing Frye did for them in 2013-14. The Pacers need a legitimate scoring point guard and will need to replace Hibbert moving forward. The Cavs are in dire need of rim protection and want more scoring punch off the bench.
In the first iteration of this deal, I didn’t include the draft picks, but upon closer consideration, the Pacers giving up Hibbert for Dragic and Len was too one-sided and the Cavs giving up Love (an elite player — don’t fool yourself) was a steep price in return for a non all-NBA center and a bench guy.
WHY PHOENIX DOES IT
The Suns aren’t outwardly worried about Dragic re-signing, despite the fact that he’s made it public knowledge that he will opt-out after the 2014-15 season. It’s more than likely that he simply wants (and has earned) a more lucrative contract, as opposed to the potential that he’ll be pulled away by another franchise.
With that said, although the Suns three-guard lineups are fun (and some believe necessary) and that depth is a great asset, the Suns aren’t going to win a championship with this lineup. It wasn’t too long ago that the Suns were regular season darlings who ran into more complete teams that beat them up come playoff time. That’s what I see with this current squad — they have a 55-win ceiling, but they’re not beating the top-6 teams in the West in a series.
This trade adds an elite rebounder, an above-average shooter and a vastly underrated passer in Love. Waiters is a wild card, but so is Green. I feel like a change of scenery would do both good. The new starting lineup of Bledsoe/Waiters/P.J. Tucker/Love/Plumlee with a bench core of Isaiah Thomas/Markieff Morris/Marcus Morris. It would allow for a clutch lineup of Thomas/Bledsoe/Tucker/Markieff/Love. Not bad, if you ask me. It has more balance and although the rim protection would still lack, they could address it after this season.
The Suns aren’t crippled financially and could still address patching up some holes in the offseason (backup SG, C). Although being traded by your own team twice is a big thing to deal with, it’s even possible they could try to bring Dragic back into the fold.
WHY PHOENIX DOESN’T DO IT
The problem (or is it a blessing) is that Dragic is transforming back into the all-NBA player he was a year ago and Love is going the opposite way. Let’s take a look at each player over their team’s last five contests:
Dragic: 20.6 pts, 3.0 reb, 3.8 ast, 53.9 fg, 45.8 3p, 76.9 ft (team is 4-1)
Love: 16.6 pts, 7.8 reb, 2.2 ast, 39.7 fg, 27.3 3p, 88.5 ft (team is 2-3)
Therein lies the problem. This whole trade is predicated upon the fact that Love is still capable of putting up numbers like he did in 2013-14, when he averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists with a respectable shooting line of .457/.376/.821. That was on a pretty bad Timberwolves team in which he was the No. 1 offensive option.
If Love came to Phoenix, he’d become the go-to guy, though some would argue that the team would be much better off giving Bledsoe all the touches. The way I see it, Love is badly struggling in his role as No. 3 in Cleveland and would find himself much more in the flow of things as a No. 2 or at worst a co-No. 1 next to Bledsoe.
So why doesn’t Phoenix do it? Everything I just said is a projection, an educated guess if you will. The Suns know what they have in Dragic and believe they have a keeper in Len. If Love were playing at his best, they’d make the deal in a heartbeat, but he’s not — nowhere close. The swap of Green for Waiters is a lateral move at best, with Waiters having a higher ceiling overall but he doesn’t bring the same emotional spark that Green does.
COULD IT HAPPEN?
As with any fantasy trade, we can’t get into the heads of the teams involved, but this trade does a lot to shore up each team’s deficiencies without setting anyone back financially. For the Suns, it hinges on the belief in the current squad, whether they think Len can continue his career development and whether Love is still the player he once was.
What do you guys think? Would you pull the trigger here? Do the Suns need to make a trade or should they wait and see?