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Did Kelly Olynyk's foul sour Kevin Love on Boston as a free agent destination?

Wojo thinks so.

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

So this is a thing apparently.  Not only does Kevin Love believe that Kelly Olynyk hurt him on purpose with a "bush league" play, but Wojo is indicating that the play may have ruined the Celtics chances at landing Love as a free agent in the offseason.

Did 'bush league' play complicate Love, Celtics' mutual free-agent intrigue? - Yahoo Sports

The Celtics were waiting for July, and the chance to let coach Brad Stevens lay out Love's expanded role in his system. General manager Danny Ainge wanted a chance to sell Love on a vision for surrounding him with complementary talent, on maximizing his popularity as New England's next star. And so, suddenly, maybe everything changed on Sunday. Kelly Olynyk and Love tangled, Love's left shoulder apparently separated and clearly he's beyond furious. He called the play "bush league," and insisted that Olynyk "did it on purpose."

I don't really even know where to start on this.  First of all, I thought Olynyk did lock him up in an act of trying to keep him away from the ball.  That said, I don't buy that he was legitimately trying to hurt Love on purpose.  I'm sure there are a lot of Cleveland fans that disagree with me, but that's not really important.  Right now, apparently the important thing is that Kevin Love believes that he did.

Secondly, it is an interesting step to assume that this will have long term ramifications on Love's free agency decision.  We don't know how badly his shoulder is hurt.  We don't know how far the Cavaliers will go into the playoffs.  We don't know what Love's plans would have been without the injury and how they might change as a result.  He might have really liked Cleveland and was starting to put roots down there anyway.

With all that said, if Love was thinking about Boston and does believe that Olynyk did it on purpose, I can see Wojo's point here.  Maybe the Celtics could still convince him in July that it was all just Kelly bumbling after a loose ball.  Also, if Love enters stage left, you might see Olynyk headed off stage to the right (since his skills would be repetitive anyway).  Time heals all sorts of wounds.

Of course, there are even more variables than that.  Olynyk, along with just about every player under contract, could be had in the right deal anyway. Maybe Love isn't the Celtics first choice after all.  Or maybe someone more suited to our system will become available due to some random circumstances.

Weird things happen (see Rondo, Rajon) and it is really hard to tell exactly what all of it means in the long run.  But this is, at least, an interesting story to follow headed into a critical summer in the Celtics' rebuild process.

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