Wolves Analysis

Over the next few weeks, we will be presenting our scouting reports of all the Timberwolves players on the roster. First up, Kevin Love.

Height: 6’7.75″ Without Shoes | 6’9.5″ With Shoes       Weight: 260 lbs.

Let’s take a second and talk about Love’s game. First and foremost, Love has one of the best basketball minds in the game and yet he was only a rookie last season. On the court he is very smooth, despite lacking ideal athleticism and size for the NBA. Down low, he makes up for it with very calculated post moves that leaves defenders flying all over the place. Love does an excellent job getting to the foul line with the use of his patented head fakes. He is very patient down low, which is something you have to love in a post player. Shooting wise, we have not seen the best of what Love will bring. He shot well from the FT% this season at 78.9%, but was just average from the field at 45.9%. With more experience Love will develop his mid-range jump shot, which will make his game even scarier. A friend of mine close to Love told me that he is working very hard on developing his jump shot for the 09-10 season. I know Kevin has it in him to be a great shooter in this league. He already has great form on his shot, he just needs the time to develop consistency.

Love was a double-double guy every night last season when given the minutes needed to succeed. A big reason for his slow start last reason was due to the coaching of Randy Wittman. A source close to the Timberwolves told me that Wittman and Love did not have the best relationship and that due largely to Wittman. Love was confused by his lack of playing time and role on the court early in the season under Wittman. Wittman simply did not take the time to develop his rookie, and was not using him on the court as the FO wanted. Essentially Randy Wittman is an idiot. This is something which probably led to him getting fired. It was night and day when we saw Love play under Kevin McHale who allowed Love the freedom to make mistakes and develop his game. That experience and mentoring under McHale, I’m sure has done wonders to Love’s game.

Rebounding wise, Love is one of the best rebounders this league has seen in years. The “Glass Cleaner” has that natural ability to make rebounding look easy. This is the strongest part of his game. In a league dominated by long, athletic big men, Love breaks that stereotype. Love averaged 9.1 rebounds in only 25 minutes of action last season. He positions his body very well despite being outsized in most situations. When rebounding on offense, Love has that natural ticker to know where the ball is going to bounce, like Dennis Rodman did. He is already one of the top offensive rebounders in the league, if not the best.

One part of Love’s game that is very underrated is his natural ability to look for cutters and hit the open man on the fast break. Several times this season, Love hit a wide open teammate for a lay-up on an outlet pass that led to an easy two points. While Love processes the natural ability to pass the ball, his assist numbers were very low, 1.0 a game this year. That is something that needs to be improved on, but I think Kevin has the potential to average 3-4 assists a game.

Defensively, Love does a good job using his body, but he needs to work on his awareness on the court. Sometimes he was caught behind a play or let a play slip by him because of he was not aware of his surroundings. His defensive awareness should improve over time, especially his weak side defense. However, Love will be an average defender in the NBA at best just because of his size and athleticism.

Another area Love can improve upon, but should not be an issue of concern is his conditioning. Love already transformed into a completely different athlete from his time at UCLA to his first season as a Wolf. That progress is a good sign that Love takes his conditioning seriously. It was his first season in the NBA and conditioning should be a problem for any rookie. By spending several hours in the Wolves training facility this off-season, Love should come out next season as a “new” athlete. By becoming more athletic on the court, it will really allow Kevin to accelerate his game and make him even more potent on both ends of the court.

Overall, you really cannot find a rookie in last season’s class with the basketball IQ and rebounding ability that Love possesses. His potential is very high in this league. With the right system and a defensive minded center next to him, Love could be a 20/13 guy in his prime.