Kevin Love might have enjoyed his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but now he is focused on winning. The forward joins the newly stacked roster of the Cleveland Cavaliers that is already penciled in to be at the top of the Eastern Conference standings come playoff time. The Timberwolves had no choice but to trade Love after he announced his intentions to test free agency. Now Minnesota owner Glen Taylor is speaking out about the forward's departure.
Taylor went on ESPN Radio to say that Love's weaknesses as a player will get exposed when he plays for the Cavaliers. According to Taylor, Love will struggle and end up being the escape goat for Cleveland if their plans for the postseason do not work out.
"I think where maybe he got away with some stuff not playing defense on our team, I'm not sure that's how it's going to work in Cleveland," Taylor said, via ESPN Radio 1500 AM. "I would guess they're going to ask him to play more defense and he's foul prone. I question Kevin if this is going to be the best deal for him because I think he's going to be the third player on the team. I don't think he's going to get a lot of credit if they do really well. I think he'll get blame if they don't do well. He's around a couple guys that are awful good."
Love caught wind of Taylor's words and his message for his former boss is simple, "Worry about your own team." After getting introduced to the media on Tuesday, Love went on ESPN's "Mike & Mike" to discuss his transition to Cleveland. He recalled a phone call from James saying that he was re-signing with the Cavaliers and that pushed Love to agree to the trade. He admits he was disappointed with how Taylor handled the whole thing.
"I think emotions are definitely running high right now," Love said." "For Glen to say that, I just think that he should be focusing on the players that he just received. I mean, he has two of the No. 1 picks in the last two drafts: Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett. He has another guy who can really play in Thaddeus Young. I think he got a lot for me. So I'd be focusing even more on that. More than anything, I'm just excited to start my time in Cleveland, get to work with my new teammates, and start with this new family here."
The Timberwolves have a roster that can compete, but right now Cleveland's is better. Minnesota did everything they could to replace their former franchise star and now they must focus on the members of the current roster and not the ones from the past.
