Chad Ford: "strong signals" that Boston is "trying hard" for Love

Here is the latest from Chad Ford on Kevin Love rumors. pic.twitter.com/CVSATgI5hC

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) June 17, 2014

It's pretty much everything we've been hearing before.  Even though the Celtics have hosted a bunch of players in workouts and several have stuck out, if a deal for Kevin Love looks realistic, all that work will be for naught.  A rumor surfaced a few days ago that Flip Saunders would make a deal before draft night and he's taken shots at his star player publicly, but this could all be GM gamesmanship and Love could start the season in Minnesota despite his obvious overtures that Boston is a destination that he'd certainly consider.

Let's shelve the idea of Love-to-Boston and the possible/eventual dominoes that could fall after that (Houston gifting us Omer Asik to make room for Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley's restricted free agency, etc.) for a moment and look at the potential deal.  Ford suggests it could take both 2014 picks plus young talent in Jared Sullinger and/or Kelly Olynyk plus future first rounders and that Boston has the best package to offer the Timberwolves, but is too much to give up for a 25-year-old Love?

Yesterday, Stevens gushed at the way the Spurs played during the Finals.  He talked about their depth at every position and everybody being ready to play when called upon:

"I just think everybody is so locked in to their role and trying to be the best teammate they can be," said Stevens. "You see some games where those guys play, some games where they don't play. They're very supportive of one another. They're clearly on one mission. Against us, they didn't have three of their starters the second time they came here and they drilled us. I think that's who they've been all year. They've been able to sit guys, rest guys, do all that stuff and never miss a beat. The way that they played and the way that their young guys have increased their roles and the way that their old guys have continued to play great and accept those young guys -- at the end of the day, it's been a great thing to emulate."

A Love trade would bring another superstar to pair with Rajon Rondo in Boston but in my humble opinion, that seems more Miami and less San Antonio.  With the depth in this draft and Brad Stevens taking such a hands-on approach to finding players that he wants to coach, I'm not so sure mortgaging so much of the future on one player is worth it.  Admittedly, I'm a prisoner of intrigue.  It's why Dante Exum looks so appealing and the multiple first rounders in the next five years give us hope.  However, hope doesn't win championships and Danny Ainge is all about hanging banners in the rafters.  But let's remember that in the vaunted 17-year run San Antonio been on under Greg Popovich, I can't remember a single moment when they had to "pull the trigger."  They just kept finding players that fit their system and molded them into Spurs.  They've made small moves to grab players that they love (like trading George Hill for Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard), but for the most part, patience has been one of their biggest virtues.