[Sports Tears In Our BeersParticipant]

He is surprisingly close statistically to KG’s best season ever and it’s only his fourth year.  I ain’t saying but I am just saying…the Love may very well end up being the best player to put on a Wolves uniform by the time his career is over.

Am I overreacting? —

When Kevin Love was drafted it was the same summer of 2008 that Kevin Garnett won his one and currently only NBA Championship with his new team, the Boston Celtics.  Garnett had been "The Man" in Minnesota for the previous 12 seasons, now he was celebrating in the streets of Boston just one year after being subjected to a long losing season in Minnesota.  Wolves fans were watching the confetti fall, some bitter and angry at Garnett for the divorce between him and Minnesota, others felt happy for a guy that had provided so many good nights in cold Minnesota winters. 

 

I personally liked Garnett, but had a lot of complaints with his game.  I thought the move to Boston and the need for Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to help Garnett get his title only proved that my main complaint about Garnett was completely true.  He didn’t want to be "The Man".  He may not say it, he may say something completely different, but deep down in his heart it was all to obvious to those who watched him shy away from ball in the big spot of too many games in his career.  Everyone, including myself, loved his defensive intensity and effort, but to me he was a very flawed NBA superstar. 

 

Flawed as he may have been, he was the best player to take the court for the Minnesota Timberwolves ever, until this year. 

 

Kevin Love is near, if not on, the same level as Kevin Garnett, in Garnett’s best year of his illustrious 16 year career.  To the stats provided by basketball-reference.com that prove it:

 

Kevin Love through 54 games in his 4th season –

 

Totals																		Shooting			Per Game
G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS	FG%	3P%	FT%	PTS	TRB	AST
54	54	2137	474	1054	105	282	379	460	223	507	730	111	47	28	128	152	1432	.450	.372	.824	26.5	13.5	2.1

Current PER – 25.6

 

 

Kevin Garnett through 54 games in his MVP season 2003/04 –

Totals																		Shooting			Per Game
G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS	FG%	3P%	FT%	PTS	TRB	AST
54	54	2144	554	1119	6	27	227	298	170	595	765	267	73	123	142	136	1341	.495	.222	.762	24.8	14.2	4.9

Entire Season PER – 29.6

If you had to give an edge on pure numbers, the edge would be to Garnett, no doubt.  The thing that is interesting to me though, is that this was Garnett’s 9th year and he was 27 and in the absolute prime of his career, with the best team he had played on up to that point around him.  Love is truly the only real offensive option for the Wolves most nights, surrounded by rookies, and boneheaded youth.  Garnett had Cassell and Sprewell to take some of the defensive focus off of him each night.  Love doesn’t have that luxury. 

 

An impressive stat in which Love dominates Garnett in this comparison is the free throw shooting.  This shows to me again one of my biggest complaints about Garnett.  Even in his best scoring season, he wasn’t aggressive in the way he got the points and that lack of aggressiveness shows in his lack of free throw attempts.  Kevin Love is just as much, if not more of, a jump (set) shooter than Garnett is but even with that finds ways to get to the line.  Getting to the free throw line is a true sign of a star.  

 

Need proof that free throws attempts are a gauge of a star?  Check out the all time leaders in free throw attempts in NBA history:

 

Rank	Player	FTA
1.	Karl Malone*	13188
2.	Wilt Chamberlain*	11862
3.	Shaquille O’Neal	11252
4.	Moses Malone*	11090
5.	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar*	9304
6.	Oscar Robertson*	9185
7.	Kobe Bryant	8831
8.	Jerry West*	8801
9.	Michael Jordan*	8772
10.	Charles Barkley*	8643

and it continues on….

 

[Sports Tears In Our BeersParticipant]

sorry…the stats didn’t align very well….

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