Andrew Bogut wouldn’t trade his Golden State Warriors team this season for anything or anyone, especially not former All-Star forward Kevin Love.
Before Love was sent to the Cavaliers in a blockbuster deal involving no. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, the Warriors were in talks to trade for Love, which would have likely sent Klay Thompson to Minnesota or elsewhere. Klay eventually worked out his extension. With the Warriors having won a franchise-best 67 games this season and now in the NBA Finals, needless to say there’s no regret that the trade for Love never went down, especially from Warriors center Andrew Bogut, via Grantland’s Zach Lowe:
“I don’t know if that trade would have gotten us to this point. I didn’t think it would be a huge upgrade,” Bogut said. “David Lee provides the same output, besides the 3-point shooting. I thought we could have just found a stretch-4 at the veteran’s minimum — someone like James Jones.”
That’s pretty blatant disrespect towards Love by Bogut, perhaps infused by the fact that their teams are matched up in the Finals. Given the team’s success, it’d only come across as foolish for Bogut to say otherwise. Still, it’s a bit degrading to say someone like James Jones would easily replace someone like Kevin Love.
But Love isn’t a stretch-4, remember?
The most exciting part about envisioning Love with the Warriors was the outlet passes to Stephen Curry. The least appealing part was the thought of splitting up the Splash Brothers. Much like Andrew Bogut, I think NBA fans found great appreciation and excitement in this Warriors team as constructed. Love would have changed the complexion of the team for better or worse, but it’s hard to imagine this Warriors team being any better than they have been this season.
