NBA Playoffs 2015

[jipops]

Well, guys who spent some quality time developing their games in college and Harrison Barnes.

It is somewhat surprising that a guy so athletic with excellent size at his position and with a nice shooting stroke can AT BEST be described as an effective role player. He really lacks a lot of basketball instincts and an effective handle. A great majority of his offensive effectiveness occurs when he's in there as a stretch 4 but when matching up against another small forward he almost can't do anything. I don't think this has anything to do with where he went to "college" but you can be sure that if he were producing the same numbers as a Duke alum many, many more people would be calling him a bust.

[Tom B.]

It is somewhat surprising that a guy so athletic with excellent size at his position and with a nice shooting stroke can AT BEST be described as an effective role player. He really lacks a lot of basketball instincts and an effective handle. A great majority of his offensive effectiveness occurs when he's in there as a stretch 4 but when matching up against another small forward he almost can't do anything. I don't think this has anything to do with where he went to "college" but you can be sure that if he were producing the same numbers as a Duke alum many, many more people would be calling him a bust.

A little bit of irony there -- Barnes' offensive numbers as a pro are fairly comparable to Shane Battier's numbers after his first three years in the league. Battier's defensive stats were better, though.

[juise]

A little bit of irony there -- Barnes' offensive numbers as a pro are fairly comparable to Shane Battier's numbers after his first three years in the league. Battier's defensive stats were better, though.

A comparison so unjust that the term "no-stats all-star" was coined to properly separate the wheat from the chaff.

[dukelifer]

Ummmm...you can say that Lebron is pretty good.

This has got to be one the most impressive individual performances in the history of the NBA playoffs, given that Lebron's top teammates are composed of a one-legged Irving, two Knick throwaways, a springy PF who can't shoot, a Euro bigman who is most famous for getting dunked on by Griffin, one of the biggest one-trick ponies in the NBA (Jones), and an Australian bulldog who wouldn't make the roster of most NBA teams and is instead starting half the games in this last series.

Thank God Lebron didn't go to UNC...

Well if you are going to play that game- the Cavs beat a team who lost their best defender to a nightclub incident - their second best defender was never the same after jamming a knee- and lost their best player for half a game after retaliating against the Australian bulldog who had already taken out their All Star shooter for the series the game before. The Hawks played Shelvin Mack, Dennis Shroder, and Kent Bazemore for long stretches - guys who probably would never have made the UNC roster. While Lebron was impressive - the other team was a shell of itself.-

[CDu]

Ummmm...you can say that Lebron is pretty good.

This has got to be one the most impressive individual performances in the history of the NBA playoffs, given that Lebron's top teammates are composed of a one-legged Irving, two Knick throwaways, a springy PF who can't shoot, a Euro bigman who is most famous for getting dunked on by Griffin, one of the biggest one-trick ponies in the NBA (Jones), and an Australian bulldog who wouldn't make the roster of most NBA teams and is instead starting half the games in this last series.

Thank God Lebron didn't go to UNC...

I think this might be overstating things a bit with regard to how bad Cleveland's roster is. Those two "Knick throwaways" are absolutely starting-caliber wings in the NBA. JR Smith has averaged 13ppg and 37% 3pt shooting throughout his career, and is a very capable defender. Shumpert is an upper-tier defender, an elite athlete, and an okay-but-not-great offensive player. Thompson is indieed a springy PF who can't shoot. He's also the best offensive rebounder in the NBA and an absolute menace inside. And Dellavedova would make most if not all NBA rosters. He just happened to get his tryout with the Cavs, so that is where he ended up. The dude shot 40% from 3pt range this season, had a 3:1 assist:turnover ratio, and is a very pesky, physical defender who never gets cheated on effort. And Mozgov averaged nearly 10 ppg and over 7 rpg in just 25 mpg this season. He's not a star, but he's not a stiff either.

The Cavs with an injured Love and Irving are short on offensive playmakers (just James and Smith), but they are not short on shooters or rebounders. And they are not short on starting-caliber players (Smith, Shumpert, Thompson, and Mozgov are all starting caliber players. And with a guy like James who can draw double teams so consistently, all you need are floor spacers and a rebounder and four guys who play stout defense. Irving is not good defensively (especially when hurt), but he's still a very good shooter even on a bad wheel. And Jones is a tremendous shooter off the bench in limited minutes.

A big part of it is that the East (with Wall's injury, with Atlanta losing basically their three best wings, and with Chicago imploding) is very weak, and LeBron is indeed great and completely changes the game, and his supporting cast is solid and very well-suited to playing around him.

[dukelifer]

I think this might be overstating things a bit with regard to how bad Cleveland's roster is. Those two "Knick throwaways" are absolutely starting-caliber wings in the NBA. JR Smith has averaged 13ppg and 37% 3pt shooting throughout his career, and is a very capable defender. Shumpert is an upper-tier defender, an elite athlete, and an okay-but-not-great offensive player. Thompson is indieed a springy PF who can't shoot. He's also the best offensive rebounder in the NBA and an absolute menace inside. And Dellavedova would make most if not all NBA rosters. He just happened to get his tryout with the Cavs, so that is where he ended up. The dude shot 40% from 3pt range this season, had a 3:1 assist:turnover ratio, and is a very pesky, physical defender who never gets cheated on effort. And Mozgov averaged nearly 10 ppg and over 7 rpg in just 25 mpg this season. He's not a star, but he's not a stiff either.

The Cavs with an injured Love and Irving are short on offensive playmakers (just James and Smith), but they are not short on shooters or rebounders. And they are not short on starting-caliber players (Smith, Shumpert, Thompson, and Mozgov are all starting caliber players. And with a guy like James who can draw double teams so consistently, all you need are floor spacers and a rebounder and four guys who play stout defense. Irving is not good defensively (especially when hurt), but he's still a very good shooter even on a bad wheel. And Jones is a tremendous shooter off the bench in limited minutes.

A big part of it is that the East (with Wall's injury, with Atlanta losing basically their three best wings, and with Chicago imploding) is very weak, and LeBron is indeed great and completely changes the game, and his supporting cast is solid and very well-suited to playing around him.

I have been very impressed with the Cavs defensive effort. Their role players know their strengths and weaknesses. This team is solid but they will need Kyrie to have a chance in the finals. He makes it easier for Lebron to take a few plays off. But if you look at the matchups with GS- Cleveland is right there and Lebron is hard to guard for any team. On paper GS looks to have an advantage because of other-worldly shooting-but the Cavs are getting better with this new lineup- particularly on D- and could surprise.

[CDu]

I have been very impressed with the Cavs defensive effort. Their role players know their strengths and weaknesses. This team is solid but they will need Kyrie to have a chance in the finals. He makes it easier for Lebron to take a few plays off. But if you look at the matchups with GS- Cleveland is right there and Lebron is hard to guard for any team. On paper GS looks to have an advantage because of other-worldly shooting-but the Cavs are getting better with this new lineup- particularly on D- and could surprise.

Agreed. I think the Cavs may have stumbled into a good thing in that the injury to Love forced them to play smaller, which has played to their strengths so far. They've yet to face a team capable of punishing them at PF, meaning they can rest LeBron at PF or they can get away with a smaller player guarding the PF spot. That has allowed the Cavs to have a big advantage in floor spacing with no penalty defensively (Love also provides floor spacing, but he's a train wreck defensively).

Shumpert, Smith, and Dellavedova are terrific defensively, and James (when he wants to be) is a lock-down defender. And somehow Tristan Thompson has gone from being a sieve defensively to being a real force inside in these playoffs. Add that to Mozgov's size, and they have a really strong defensive rotation. And they've been able to hide Irving in the playoffs on guys like Dunleavy, who aren't good off the dribble and can't post up.

The matchups in the Finals will be a bit tougher. Golden State will force Irving to guard either Barnes (who can post Irving up) or Curry/Thompson (who eat up pretty much any matchup). Most likely they'll put Irving on Barnes and dare Golden State to go away from their stars to exploit Cleveland's weakness defensively. Shumpert and Smith and Dellavedova will try to guard the Warriors' stars, and they may be able to do a decent job. But Draymond Green presents a problem that Cleveland has not previously faced in these playoffs in that he is a big, physical, versatile PF. So the Cavs won't be able to rest James at PF, and they certainly won't be able to put a wing on Green.

Should be an interesting series. If Cleveland's role players keep knocking down 3s at an incredible clip, they stand a decent chance. But it will be an uphill battle for sure.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I think this might be overstating things a bit with regard to how bad Cleveland's roster is. Those two "Knick throwaways" are absolutely starting-caliber wings in the NBA. JR Smith has averaged 13ppg and 37% 3pt shooting throughout his career, and is a very capable defender. Shumpert is an upper-tier defender, an elite athlete, and an okay-but-not-great offensive player. Thompson is indieed a springy PF who can't shoot. He's also the best offensive rebounder in the NBA and an absolute menace inside. And Dellavedova would make most if not all NBA rosters. He just happened to get his tryout with the Cavs, so that is where he ended up. The dude shot 40% from 3pt range this season, had a 3:1 assist:turnover ratio, and is a very pesky, physical defender who never gets cheated on effort. And Mozgov averaged nearly 10 ppg and over 7 rpg in just 25 mpg this season. He's not a star, but he's not a stiff either.

The Cavs with an injured Love and Irving are short on offensive playmakers (just James and Smith), but they are not short on shooters or rebounders. And they are not short on starting-caliber players (Smith, Shumpert, Thompson, and Mozgov are all starting caliber players. And with a guy like James who can draw double teams so consistently, all you need are floor spacers and a rebounder and four guys who play stout defense. Irving is not good defensively (especially when hurt), but he's still a very good shooter even on a bad wheel. And Jones is a tremendous shooter off the bench in limited minutes.

A big part of it is that the East (with Wall's injury, with Atlanta losing basically their three best wings, and with Chicago imploding) is very weak, and LeBron is indeed great and completely changes the game, and his supporting cast is solid and very well-suited to playing around him.

Maybe. But look at the players that we commented on:

-JR Smith: he's having his best shooting year since the '10-'11 season and playing with a defensive intensity that is rarely seen from JR. Given, he still does a few "JR Smiths" like his knock on the Celts, but that's what you get when JR Smith plays for your team.
-Iman Shumpert: Doing his Iman Shumpert things. I consider JR Smith and Iman Shumpert "Knick throwaways" cus that's exactly what they are: players who aren't part of the Knicks long-term plans and hence were sold for cents on the dollar to a) get rid of cap space and b) increase chemistry (for JR Smith's case).
-Tristan Thompson: Agreed that he is one of the best offensive rebounders in the league. Very useful skill.
-Matthew Dellavedova: He was undrafted, averaged less than 5 points in his first two seasons but is now averaging 7 ppg in the playoffs.
-Timofey Mozgov: Averaging career highs in points and FG % on the Cavs

All of these players are arguably better with the Cavs this year than last year or early in the year when they were on different teams. The difference is Lebron. For Smith, he's clearly gotten into his head in a positive way. For Thompson, Lebron draws so much attention that Thompson can flourish as the inside presence that he is. Dellavedova is basically a spot shooter that takes advantage of the Lebron double-teams. Timofey Mozgov is so much better with the attention that Lebron gets and because he has a coach that understands him (Blatt). Replace Lebron with any other superstar, and the Hawks-Cavs series turns in favor of the Hawks. It's not that Lebron is so much better, he just makes everyone so much better. These players are okay-to-good, but Lebron either a) makes a certain skillset elite (Thomspon), b) motivates players like no other player can (Smith), c) hides certain negative attributes about a player (Shumpert), d) makes the player that much better (Mozgov). I'm hard pressed to find a player in NBA history who makes his players that much better. There are players with better skillsets than Lebron in NBA history, but the ability to make his teammates better is really spectacular.

[tux]

It's not that Lebron is so much better, he just makes everyone so much better.

I'm hard pressed to find a player in NBA history who makes his players that much better. There are players with better skillsets than Lebron in NBA history, but the ability to make his teammates better is really spectacular.

"(M)akes everyone so much better" is an integral part of being "so much better". That's what separates guys like Magic, Bird, Jordan and Lebron from the other elite players.

[Troublemaker]

A big part of it is that the East (with Wall's injury, with Atlanta losing basically their three best wings, and with Chicago imploding) is very weak, and LeBron is indeed great and completely changes the game, and his supporting cast is solid and very well-suited to playing around him.

Agreed. Lebron is no doubt great, but to me, what he did to win the East falls short of being transcendent just because the conference is so weak.

Or, put another way. I think if Lebron can lead the Cavs to two wins against Golden St in the Finals, I'd find that to be more impressive than his run through the Eastern Conference this postseason.

[CDu]

Maybe. But look at the players that we commented on:

-JR Smith: he's having his best shooting year since the '10-'11 season and playing with a defensive intensity that is rarely seen from JR. Given, he still does a few "JR Smiths" like his knock on the Celts, but that's what you get when JR Smith plays for your team.

Smith is shooting about the same as he did for the Knicks in 2014. He is just a streaky player. Of all the players on the Cavs, he's the one least affected by the presence of LeBron. He just does what he does. Sometimes, what he does is good; sometimes what he does is bad. But on average, he's a very good player and absolutely capable of taking over games. That was true in New York as it is true in Cleveland. He was a "throwaway" from the Knicks only because him hanging out in New York City on a struggling Knicks team was a bad thing for him and for the Knicks. On just about any other productive team outside of New York City, he's this JR Smith (with the risk that he'll do something mindnumbingly dumb like he did in the Boston series).

-Iman Shumpert: Doing his Iman Shumpert things. I consider JR Smith and Iman Shumpert "Knick throwaways" cus that's exactly what they are: players who aren't part of the Knicks long-term plans and hence were sold for cents on the dollar to a) get rid of cap space and b) increase chemistry (for JR Smith's case).

Yes, they were throwaways for the Knicks but only from a financial perspective. You presented it in a way as to suggest that they were garbage. They are very capable players that just didn't happen to fit the direction that the Knicks wanted to go. And aside from Smith being a headcase that needs to not hang out in his old neighborhood haunts, it was a bad decision by the Knicks. Most teams would love to have Shumpert, and most teams would love to have Smith's skills.

[QUOTE=flyingdutchdevil;811036]-Tristan Thompson: Agreed that he is one of the best offensive rebounders in the league. Very useful skill.

-Matthew Dellavedova: He was undrafted, averaged less than 5 points in his first two seasons but is now averaging 7 ppg in the playoffs.

He is averaging 7ppg versus 4.8 ppg in part because he is playing 1.3 more minutes per game and in part because he is shooting 1.3 more shots per game. He's not dramatically more efficient now than he was in the regular season. He is actually shooting much worse from 3pt range than he did in the regular season.

And my point was that he is a player that was going to land a job no matter where he tried out. He was indeed undrafted. That does not mean he is not a capable player. Lots of role players went undrafted in college. He very quickly won a spot with the Cavs, and I suspect he would have done the same just about anywhere. The Bulls, for example, would absolutely love a guy like him to replace Hinrich on the bench.

-Timofey Mozgov: Averaging career highs in points and FG % on the Cavs

In large part because he is playing more minutes than ever before. His points and rebounds per 36 minutes aren't noticeably better than they were in Denver.

All of these players are arguably better with the Cavs this year than last year or early in the year when they were on different teams. The difference is Lebron.

Oh I absolutely disagree that LeBron makes guys around him better. In fact, I've said as much in this thread. My point was that the way you presented it made it seem like he was doing this with a bunch of bums. He is indeed making them better, but (a) they are much better than the way you seemed to be presenting them and (b) they haven't exactly been beating any great teams in these Playoffs.

[duke09hms]

All these "East is so weak" comments REALLY remind me of those "Duke had an easy road to the Final Four" comments. The 60-win Hawks went something like 13-3 against Western playoff teams. What Blatt and the Cavs have done, revamping the roster on the fly and transforming their style of play, is really quite amazing.

[flyingdutchdevil]

[QUOTE=CDu;811061]Smith is shooting about the same as he did for the Knicks in 2014. He is just a streaky player. Of all the players on the Cavs, he's the one least affected by the presence of LeBron. He just does what he does. Sometimes, what he does is good; sometimes what he does is bad. But on average, he's a very good player and absolutely capable of taking over games. That was true in New York as it is true in Cleveland. He was a "throwaway" from the Knicks only because him hanging out in New York City on a struggling Knicks team was a bad thing for him and for the Knicks. On just about any other productive team outside of New York City, he's this JR Smith (with the risk that he'll do something mindnumbingly dumb like he did in the Boston series).




Yes, they were throwaways for the Knicks but only from a financial perspective. You presented it in a way as to suggest that they were garbage. They are very capable players that just didn't happen to fit the direction that the Knicks wanted to go. And aside from Smith being a headcase that needs to not hang out in his old neighborhood haunts, it was a bad decision by the Knicks. Most teams would love to have Shumpert, and most teams would love to have Smith's skills.

-Tristan Thompson: Agreed that he is one of the best offensive rebounders in the league. Very useful skill.



He is averaging 7ppg versus 4.8 ppg in part because he is playing 1.3 more minutes per game and in part because he is shooting 1.3 more shots per game. He's not dramatically more efficient now than he was in the regular season. He is actually shooting much worse from 3pt range than he did in the regular season.

And my point was that he is a player that was going to land a job no matter where he tried out. He was indeed undrafted. That does not mean he is not a capable player. Lots of role players went undrafted in college. He very quickly won a spot with the Cavs, and I suspect he would have done the same just about anywhere. The Bulls, for example, would absolutely love a guy like him to replace Hinrich on the bench.



In large part because he is playing more minutes than ever before. His points and rebounds per 36 minutes aren't noticeably better than they were in Denver.



Oh I absolutely disagree that LeBron makes guys around him better. In fact, I've said as much in this thread. My point was that the way you presented it made it seem like he was doing this with a bunch of bums. He is indeed making them better, but (a) they are much better than the way you seemed to be presenting them and (b) they haven't exactly been beating any great teams in these Playoffs.

I think you and I are going to have to agree to disagree then. In the playoffs, outside of Lebron, I don't think it's much of a roster (NOTE: I said in the playoffs. Kyrie has been a shell of himself and Olynyk decided to become a baker and make a pretzel out of Love's arm). To me, this team is a bunch of bench players, an injured Kyrie, and the best player since Jordan.

[theAlaskanBear]

All these "East is so weak" comments REALLY remind me of those "Duke had an easy road to the Final Four" comments. The 60-win Hawks went something like 13-3 against Western playoff teams. What Blatt and the Cavs have done, revamping the roster on the fly and transforming their style of play, is really quite amazing.

The 60-win Hawks went 22-8 against the West overall (not just playoff teams), and the Cavaliers went 18-12 and only had a losing record against the Rockets (0-2). So both these teams performed quite well vs the Western Conference. Even the Bulls went 17-13 and didnt have a losing record to anyone in the West. No one will argue against the fact that the West is deeper, but the top teams in the east can go toe-to-toe with the top teams in the West.

Golden State deserves the advantage, they have a great team, better depth than the Cavs, and home court. It should be a battle either way, but I would say Cavs don't have the bodies to win a drawn out series. They need to shock GS with an early win and sweep them at home. The key for the Cavs will be to dominate the boards (and defend the 3, clearly).

[flyingdutchdevil]

All these "East is so weak" comments REALLY remind me of those "Duke had an easy road to the Final Four" comments. The 60-win Hawks went something like 13-3 against Western playoff teams. What Blatt and the Cavs have done, revamping the roster on the fly and transforming their style of play, is really quite amazing.

Is this Blatt? Or is this Lebron and David Griffin? I think you can argue that Blatt really wanted Mozgov, but I see the JR Smith/Shumpert to be Griffin with LBJ's input. But I agree - pretty amazing what they have done.

In hindsight, I do think that Lebron and Griffin kinda messed up with the Wiggins trade (and not because Love has been injured). Thompson as the starting PF has been incredible in the playoffs. Also, Wiggins is looking like he's gonna be a beast in the NBA. Could have been the new alpha in Cleveland in a few years when Lebron's on the wrong side of 30.

[flyingdutchdevil]

The 60-win Hawks went 22-8 against the West overall (not just playoff teams), and the Cavaliers went 18-12 and only had a losing record against the Rockets (0-2). So both these teams performed quite well vs the Western Conference. Even the Bulls went 17-13 and didnt have a losing record to anyone in the West. No one will argue against the fact that the West is deeper, but the top teams in the east can go toe-to-toe with the top teams in the West.

Golden State deserves the advantage, they have a great team, better depth than the Cavs, and home court. It should be a battle either way, but I would say Cavs don't have the bodies to win a drawn out series. They need to shock GS with an early win and sweep them at home.

Yeah. I tend to agree. GS is better than the Cavs at four of the five positions with a deeper bench and a better coach. However, the Cavs will have the best player (and I'd argue best player by far) on the floor. And, as CDu has said plenty of times, you cannot discount any team that has Lebron on its side.

I'm guessing GS in 6.

[rhcpflea99]

In hindsight, I do think that Lebron and Griffin kinda messed up with the Wiggins trade (and not because Love has been injured). Thompson as the starting PF has been incredible in the playoffs. Also, Wiggins is looking like he's gonna be a beast in the NBA. Could have been the new alpha in Cleveland in a few years when Lebron's on the wrong side of 30.[/QUOTE]

The problem with Wiggins is he is just not ready now. In a few years maybe but the Cavs are trying to win now. I don't think Wiggins would be knocking the shots down that Smith and Shumpert have been in the playoffs.

[Duvall]

Yeah. I tend to agree. GS is better than the Cavs at four of the five positions with a deeper bench and a better coach.

I mean, this might well be true, and probably is true, but with one year of NBA coaching for each how could you tell?

[Des Esseintes]

Maybe. But look at the players that we commented on:

-JR Smith: he's having his best shooting year since [his last contract drive] and playing with a defensive intensity that is rarely seen from JR [except during contract drives]. Given, he still does a few "JR Smiths" like his knock on the Celts, but that's what you get when JR Smith plays for your team.
-Iman Shumpert: Doing his Iman Shumpert things. I consider JR Smith and Iman Shumpert "Knick throwaways" [to be an inaccurate term] cus [the Knicks are a disaster franchise years away from being anything of a contender and even young quality veterans ought to be moved in the name of draft picks and financial flexibility].
-Tristan Thompson: Agreed that he is one of the best offensive rebounders in the league. Very useful skill. [Not as useful as sharing an agent with LeBron, but definitely useful.]
-Matthew Dellavedova: He was undrafted, averaged less than 5 points in his first two seasons but is now averaging 7 ppg [and 2.3 capg (crippling attacks per game)] in the playoffs.
-Timofey Mozgov: [Playing more minutes in these playoffs on a shallow roster, and performing in line with his recent career.]

All of these players are [performing in line with reasonable expectations or simply shooting unsustainably well]. The difference is [very likely statistical variance]. For Smith, he's clearly [on a contract drive]. For Thompson, Lebron draws so much attention that Thompson can [get the massively excessive contract extension sharing an agent with LeBron will "earn" you]. Dellavedova is basically [Jeff Gillooly with an Australian accent and a jump shot]. Timofey Mozgov is [producting a PER and win shares/48 almost exactly in line with his numbers in Denver last year]. Replace Lebron with any other superstar, and the Hawks-Cavs series turns in favor of the Hawks [because LeBron is the best player in basketball]. It's [definitely] that Lebron is so much better, [although Cleveland has been outperforming teams regularly these playoffs with LeBron on the bench. Mike Prada has commented about his phenomenon several times lately]. These players are okay-to-good, but [the East was a weaker conference to begin with and has been decimated by injuries to everyone else, usually because Matt Dellavedova assaulted their knees]. I'm hard pressed to find a [more dispiriting run of injuries to important players in one conference in recent history]. There are [no] players with better skillsets than Lebron in NBA history[; he is actually as close to a perfect basketball player as has ever existed. None of that will matter, though, because Golden State is physically whole and much, much the better team as long as they can get at least three games out of Curry before Dellavedova powerdives into his ACL].

Fixed it for you.

[CDu]

In hindsight, I do think that Lebron and Griffin kinda messed up with the Wiggins trade (and not because Love has been injured). Thompson as the starting PF has been incredible in the playoffs. Also, Wiggins is looking like he's gonna be a beast in the NBA. Could have been the new alpha in Cleveland in a few years when Lebron's on the wrong side of 30.

The problem with Wiggins is he is just not ready now. In a few years maybe but the Cavs are trying to win now. I don't think Wiggins would be knocking the shots down that Smith and Shumpert have been in the playoffs.[/QUOTE]

I think it was a worthwhile gamble for exactly the bolded. The idea is that Wiggins MIGHT eventually be better than Love (or at least close enough that trading additional assets would not be worthwhile). But nobody would suggest that Wiggins would help as much as Love for the next few years. And the next few years are critical, as eventually LeBron will break down physically and not dominate the way he is doing right now. So the idea was to maximize the chances of winning for the next few years. And barring something outlandish, Love provides the clear edge over Wiggins/Bennett/late-1st round pick(s).

Furthermore, by the time LeBron ages out of stardom, Irving and Love would be comfortably in their primes. So if LeBron becomes a PF in his later years, Love moves to C, and you still have a dynamic and versatile big-3 in place. It's easier to find "3-and-D" guys to fill in at SG and SF than it is to find capable inside-out scorers and rebounders like Love.

Now, hindsight being 20/20, had we known that Love would get hurt and that Thompson would take a huge leap this year, maybe the equation is different. But at the time, I think it was the right decision.