hm. interesting development that the kings are actively making a play for kevin love. it's certainly got an NBA 2k14 kinda ring to it, but i'm at a loss for what to think of how that would work, practically speaking...
alongside demarcus cousins, love essentially becomes the most expensive stretch-4 in history, albeit one of the most effective stretch-4's in history with a lethal ability to dominate the boards. the kings would rarely lose the rebounding battle with a frontcourt rotation that features cousins, love, and reggie evans, but defense down low would remain a glaring issue. all of a sudden the onus is on big cuz to develop further and faster on the defensive end. he's certainly made strides already in that department, but we all know there's a much shorter ceiling on cousins' defensive potential than what we expect from his offensive game in years to come...
beyond that, how does rudy gay figure into this plan, considering he's another high usage, ball dominant talent without much defensive presence to throw on the pile with cousins and love? and that's before we even get to isaiah thomas, who is yet another high usage, ball dominant talent without much defensive presence. as always, there's only one ball, and each of those four players will be fighting to own it...
i'm really not sure how bringing love to sacramento works on either end of the court, but i suppose there is a vision for this sorta thing; if rudy opts in, and if the kings re-sign thomas, IT eventually has to revert to his role as a sixth man, otherwise it's just fantasy basketball in the starting unit without the benefit of maximizing the abilities of your core talents. of course, if rudy gay opts out and signs elsewhere in the offseason, then i roll the dice with cousins/love/thomas, and see what happens. otherwise, there is a legitimate pathway to add complementary role players to such a trio by trading rudy gay's expiring deal before the deadline next season...
there's nothing wrong with swinging for the fences, but if the experiment fails spectacularly (and there are a great many reasons to believe that it would--all offense, zero defense being chief among them), then you've just rented kevin love for a season and mortgaged your future in the process (a tremendously risky gambit if, like me, you believe that the clock is ticking on demarcus cousins' patience with this franchise). even if the experiment manages to succeed wildly, there is still no guarantee that kevin love re-signs with the kings, and in either instance you'd better hope and pray that one of the other impact free agents of the 2015 class is willing to sign here instead. otherwise, i'd expect cousins to demand a trade before too long. what incentive does he have to stay in sacramento if the kings can't hold onto a worthy second star to help catapult DMC into the playoff conversation?
