NBA trade rumor via Chad Ford: Wolves are "playing a game" with Kevin Love rumors

Here we go again.  It is one reporter's source against anothers.  One man's opinion of what the source means vs. the surface meaning of the quotes.  Someone's insider connections vs. someone's gut feeling and contradicting insider info.  It is the silly season and I'm not going to take sides.  I'm just going to report the information and let you fine folks do with it as you please.

Since I care and I type fast, here's the full transcribed quote from Chad Ford on Kevin Love and the Boston Celtics. pic.twitter.com/M30qBGqHQo

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) June 19, 2014

That certainly seems plausible and I'm hoping it is true because I want Love in Boston by this time next week.  It is silly season and rumors are running free (real or not) and it kind of behooves the GMs to lie through their teeth if it benefits them.  Add into the mix all the agents in play and their motivations and you can see how messy this will continue to be this week.

I respect both Steve Bulpett and Chad Ford very much.  I think both are doing their job very well.  To an extent they are at the mercy of GMs and agents and other sources that might be lying to them.  On the other hand, they do their homework and ask around the league to get a feeling for what's true and what's hogwash.  If they report something, I generally believe them (or at least respect the process which they went through to deliver the information accurately).

I think it is certainly possible that both are absolutely correct.  The Wolves might be looking for established players and might not be all that happy with the Celtics offer at the moment.  That could change in the blink of an eye.  Saunders could wake up with a change of heart.  He could find out that a deal that he thought was on the table isn't available anymore.  Love could squash a deal if he doesn't like the destination.  An owner (for the Wolves or one of the other teams) could squash a deal.  Lots of crazy stuff happens this time of year and I don't think we hear the half of it.

Which brings me to another point.  I'm sure Bulpett has his sources in the Celtics organization, but my general feeling is that the Boston brass doesn't leak too much (except in response to other information that gets out there that they want to disprove - like in the Doc Rivers saga last year).  So everything we hear (both positive and negative) might just be echo chamber rumblings from other teams' GMs who might only be guessing what Danny Ainge is up to.

Sometimes the Celtics end up doing what was rumored (like Kevin Garnett or the Doc Rivers "trade").  And sometimes they come up with something completely off the radar (like Ray Allen or the Nets draft night trade).  So don't discount the fact that Ainge could go in a completely different direction here.  It is possible that after weeks and months of Kevin Love fascination the Celtics quietly pull of something completely out of left field.  Like trading for Derrick Rose or Steph Curry or something insane like that.  We just don't know till we know.

All of which should make the rest of this week ahead very interesting (or completely mind numbing, depending on your viewpoint).  Enjoy!