Washington Wizards: Kevin Love Is Wishful Thinking

I’m going to come right out and say it: I think that David Aldridge has most of the Washington Wizards fans captivated with his “what-if” scenarios that he’s put out in a lengthy article. I’ll also draw another assumption, and say that I don’t think many people actually read the short few paragraphs Aldridge wrote about the Wizards in his lengthy NBA.com article.

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For the most part, Aldridge is being paraphrased by other news outlets. Beware of this. With paraphrasing often comes a twisting of words, and can display opinions and “what-ifs” as fact.

Paul Pierce – twisted words

For instance, the entire Paul Pierce wanting to opt out of his contract with Washington fire was initially sparked by Aldridge suggesting that Pierce may want to reunite with head coach Doc Rivers in his hometown. What many of the outlets who reported Aldridge’s statements secondhand failed to mention, was that his statements about the veteran started with the word maybe.

Even the Washington Post twisted things, claiming “Aldridge says that many around the league believe Pierce will opt out of his deal with the Wizards to return home to Los Angeles to finish his career with the Clippers.”

I’ve read through Aldridge’s article several times, and can’t see a single time where Aldridge mentions that anyone but himself has a strong opinion on Pierce’s future at this point.

And yet, plenty of stories are blowing up that plant a misleading seed into Wizards fans heads, that Pierce actually wants to leave Washington. In my eyes, it looks like he wants retirement more than he even wants to go to Los Angeles.

Keep this in mind, though. From the same person who started the “Pierce could head to LA,” discussion, here is the only fact that has been reported.

Paul Pierce says he's not sure at the moment if he'll return next yr. "A lot has to do with my family, talking to my wife, kids, my mother."
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) May 16, 2015

Nowhere does Aldridge mention anything factual about Pierce heading to L.A. Just speculation–which is no fault of Aldridge’s, it’s a fault of the paraphrasing being done to Aldridge’s words.

Kevin Love, off to Washington?

But wait, there’s more! Much more, in fact. Later, in relation to this during his article, Aldridge suggested that the Wizards could take a stab at pursuing Kevin Love to join their squad in Washington.

For reference, I’m going to quote Aldridge’s words about Kevin Love.

"They should attack now, and think big. Washington has $20 million in potential trade bait available. Nene’s contract expires in ’16, and Martell Webster and DeJuan Blair have team options for 2016-17 — in essence, making their contracts expirings for next season as well. So why not take a run at, say, Kevin Love? The Wizards have all their upcoming picks, including their ’15 first-rounder; if they could find a third-team to act as intermediary (Hinkie!!!), a sign-and-trade extravaganza including Nene, Webster, Seraphin — likely to leave, anyway — and picks going in some combination to Cleveland and/or Philly could get things rolling."

A decent start to the argument for Love to leave. But let’s look at how it continues.

"Only Love knows his true level of frustration with the Cavs, but if he wants to leave, and makes that clear to Cleveland, Washington is a familiar and fond destination. His father Stan played for the Baltimore Bullets in the ’70s, and Kevin Love’s middle name, Wesley, is in honor of Wes Unseld, the Hall of Fame Bullets center and Stan Love‘s teammate. If Kevin Love is content in Cleveland or wants to go to Boston, a scenario on which the rumor mill has fixated, the Wizards could make other deals."

Aldridge says nothing but analytical facts in his first paragraph. In fact, he had me on the hook for a little bit with the Love bandwagon. But what a lot of places are leaving out is the second paragraph. The point of view that Love sees, and why Aldridge thinks Love should consider leaving Cleveland.

I’m not completely against the idea that players go to play places that are sentimental to them. Heck, LeBron James wouldn’t have gone back to Cleveland if it wasn’t “home.” But suggesting a player would want to play somewhere because his father spent some time there is nothing that sways me to believe it’s a legitimate scenario.

Love didn’t grow up anywhere near Washington. He was born in California and grew up in Oregon. Let’s stop pretending the two years that Stan Love spent in Baltimore is going to impact Love’s decision.

If we’re using that as a reason, then there should be plenty of news outlets suggesting that Steph Curry will be heading to Toronto when his contract is up because of Dell Curry‘s past with the Toronto Raptors.

Even crazier, let’s stop pretending that Love is going to want to go to Washington because of his middle name.

This was the first flag of it being wishful thinking, but why would Love even want to join Washington?

Yes, he had a rough first year in Cleveland. He was constantly struggling to fit in real well, eerily similar to how Chris Bosh was often left out of the conversation as to why the Heat were winning a few years ago. A season ending injury capped off his disappointing season.

But let’s look at the numbers–16.4 points and about 10 rebounds per game? Not too shabby for a “disappointing” season.

Why in the world would Love want to come to play for the Wizards? For one, as the Washington Post pointed out in that same article, head coach Randy Wittman coached Love for his rookie season, and they had a very tough time getting along.

Secondly, the Wizards aren’t currently contending for a championship. Cleveland is. Wouldn’t he want to stick with the team who has the potential of making it further?

I’m not saying Washington doesn’t have some great starting pieces to contend (Bradley Beal and Otto Porter are some of the best young players in the league), but Cleveland has what it takes to make it to the finals, right now.

Going to Cleveland would be a backtrack for Love, and although he’d be more of a leader, more of a star in Washington, that’s not what he needs. Love was a star for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and gave that up to contend.

It’s all wishful thinking, and speculation at this point. The idea is, if you’re reading someone’s words secondhand, look to where they came from. Paraphrasing can be dangerous, and I don’t believe Aldridge is pleased with the way his words are getting twisted.

Next: 5 Wizards Who Must Play Better Next Season

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