Kevin Love, who has most recently been the power forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers, revealed on the latest podcast with Chris Haynes that it would be special to get the chance to join his hometown team the Portland Trail Blazers and team up with Damian Lillard.
Love was born in LA, but he grew up in Portland. That’s where he attended Lake Oswego High School. Which only happens to be a 13 minute drive to the big city.
“Who wouldn’t want to play with Dame Lillard, first of all,” Love said on “Posted Up.” “Dame, he’s special. He’s amazing. I claim Portland when they ask me where I’m from. It’s where I spent all of my formative years. I grew up in Portland. When people ask where I was born, obviously I say L.A. But Portland is always going to be a special place in my heart. Whether it be at the end of my career, whether it be in six months, or whatever it may be, if I was wearing a Portland jersey, that’s special. That’s playing at home.”
The quote above is from Yahoo Sports
Some Trail Blazers fans may be excited with the news that Love could potentially join up the Trail Blazers. While others, not so much.
How are the Trail Blazers currently doing?
The Trail Blazers are currently 36-29 which is good enough for the seventh seed in the Western Conference. That doesn’t guarantee them a playoff spot anymore. An idea that was introduced in the NBA Bubble, the last four spots in each conference will battle it out in a play-in tournament that will commence at the end of the regular season.
What Does The Blazers Roster Look Like?
Currently, the Trail Blazers have a pretty decent squad with the likes of NBA Superstar Damian Lillard, his running-mate CJ McCollum, Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic, the recent acquired Norman Powell, backup center Enes Kanter and a top-10 scorer in the league all-time in Carmelo Anthony. Though they haven’t made it past the Western Conference Finals in recent years.
But as far as next season, the Blazers will be forking out a combined $74 million to Lillard and McCollum. The only other players that are locked up for next season are Robert Covington, Anfernee Simons, CJ Elleby and Nassir Little. All three of Nurkic, Powell and Derrick Jones Jr. have options in their contract for next year. The hard cap for next year sits at $140 million, and with all of those players guaranteed the Blazers currently sit at $131.5 million. So, in order for them to acquire big-name free agents or bring in a player like Love. The Blazers will either need Lillard to re-negotiate his contract or trade McCollum. Those are the only two viable options if you want to have a competitive team for next season.
Can the current roster lead the Blazers to success?
Trail Blazers fans are growing tired of early exits and with the inconsistency from the team as of late, they has been painful to watch. It looks like the Trail Blazers will part ways with their current coach Terry Stotts who has been with the team since 2012, unless the team makes it deep into the playoffs. Based on the roster, they have a team that should be able to compete. However, the record this season says otherwise.
Would the Blazers benefit from adding Kevin Love?
The Portland Trail Blazers have never really had that true stretch four that K-Love can be. He may not provide multiple 50 point games in one week. But, he would draw away double and triple teams from Lillard and McCollum, which has been another reason why Rip City has seen its team struggle so much this season. When he is healthy, Love could be another star for the Blazers that they so desperately need. But, that might be a problem, dating back to the 2016-17 season Kevin Love has not been able to stay healthy.
If the Blazers could get a healthy Love, it would definitely put the squad in more of a position to compete for a title.
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Northwest Sports Desk 