Kevin Love continues to stew over Timberwolves management. Wolves fans want this to go away, quickly, so they don’t find themselves losing another star at the PF position. (Photo Courtesy of hoopeduponline.com)
If you thought the complaints from Kevin Love about Timberwolves management would go silently into the night, think again. Here we are, almost a year after the contentious contract talks, and Love is again publicly complaining about Wolves management. This time, Love spoke with Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski. Those contract negotiations last season ended in a 4-year deal (rather than 5-year deal) with an option for Love to opt-out following the 2014-15 season. Wolves fans were dismayed that management didn’t offer the 5-year max after negotiations completed. Love was clearly dismayed too. (As was his family. His brother voiced his displeasure all over twitter until Love asked him to pipe down. TC Huddle attempted to get an interview with his brother at that time, but were unsuccessful.)
Those feelings of animosity are not going away. He has serious bitterness toward owner Glen Taylor for saying he’s not a star.
“I don’t know who labels people stars, but even [T'wolves owner] Glen Taylor said: I don’t think Kevin Love is a star, because he hasn’t led us to the playoffs,” Love told Yahoo! Sports. “I mean, it’s not like I had much support out there.
“That’s a tough pill to swallow.”
It’s not a good sign if our star player dislikes our owner that much. While these things tend to be blown out of proportion with today’s 24-hour news cycle, it’s more than likely that this is being under-reported, not over-reported. The Yahoo! article continues:
No, Kevin Love isn’t over Taylor and GM David Kahn refusing him what he had earned. He isn’t over Kahn marching into the trainer’s room after a loss and thrusting a contract offer sheet into his hands. Where else does it work that way in the NBA? “I’m not the one to always follow professional protocol – but I do know what it is, even at 24 years old,” Love says.
Perhaps those issues wouldn’t still be so raw had the franchise responded differently when Love broke his hand in a preseason workout. In a regimen he’s done most of his life, Love fractured a bone thrusting himself to his feet upon completion of a round of knuckle pushups. He missed a month on the floor, but his ears missed nothing from those in management whispering that maybe the injury didn’t happen the way Love insisted it did.
“Even people in my own organization were asking if it was a legitimate injury, people calling my honesty and integrity into question,” Love says. “And that’s what really hurt me.”
No one around these parts likes hearing this news. It’s clear, however, that Love is dying for a winner. A winning team and multiple playoff runs will change everything in Minnesota. Right now, the clamoring is loud and difficult for us Minnesotans to hear. Wins, though, will change that.
“I have a very, very good memory, and I always remember the people who have done right by me, and the people who have done wrong by me,” Love finished. “It will be embedded in my brain, and something I won’t forget about. There’s no telling what will happen. I would love to compete for a championship in Minnesota, but …”
Wins better start coming soon.
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