Οχι οτι δεν φαινοταν, αλλα να ενα δειγμα του γιατι ο Love στο κλιβελαντ ηταν λαθος κινηση και για τους δυο
Kevin Love is not prepared to say LeBron James is better than Russell Westbrook right now.
While appearing on The Dan Patrick Show, Love was asked whether Westbrook or James was having the better season. Citing time spent on the court, specifically James' two-week sabbatical at the beginning of January, he sided with his former UCLA running mate, Mr. Westbrook.
Per Northeast Ohio Media Group's Joe Vardon:
They're both having an MVP-type season, but I'm going to go with Russell Westbrook because he's, every single night you're looking at his stat sheet, they're fighting for a playoff spot, with Serge Ibaka going down now, Kevin Durant potentially being out the rest of the year and him still going out there and fighting for his team, and winning, and fighting for that seventh or eighth spot in the playoffs. I think Russ is arguably having the better season.
Both Love and James responded to the former's comments from Monday.
“Kev has his own opinion who he believes is MVP,” James said, per the Akron Beacon Journal's Jason Lloyd. “No one should fault him for that.”
It's worth noting that the question Love answered didn't ask him to pick an MVP. Rather, it was about which player is having the better season. The MVP comments were made unsolicited and didn't really come off as him choosing any one player.
“If you choose to get the little three or four second clip of my whole answer, I said LeBron could very well be the MVP, Steph Curry, James Harden,” Love said, per Lloyd. “Those are guys you all talk about and you know very well all of them could be the MVP.”
Translation: Rest easy, Cleveland. Your team isn't about to implode over some misinterpreted comments.
NBA players are nothing if not aware, most of the time.
This is not one of those times.
Though Love, again, preceded his comments by emphasizing time spent on the court, seemingly inoculating his answer against between-the-lines reading, such an approach doesn't fly. Westbrook has appeared in fewer games and logged nearly 400 minutes less than James this season.
Still, this is not big a deal—or rather, it shouldn't be a big deal.
But Love also appeared on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike on Monday and was asked about his relationship with James. His response made it seem like he and James are about as close as Kobe Bryant and 99.9 percent of anyone he's ever played alongside. From ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin:
It's fine. You know, we're not best friends, we're not hanging out every day, but we see each other every day, whether at the practice facility, whether on the road or going to a game. I think our relationship is also evolving. I can say the same with each and every coach, Coach Blatt and each and every player on the team. But that's part of the NBA.
Allow us to sound the alarm on any and all alarm-sounding.
At no point in either of these interviews did Love sound resentful. Patrick even offered him a hypothetical mulligan on leaving the Minnesota Timberwolves for Cleveland, to which Love admitted he would do the "same thing" in the "same way."
More concerning than anything—if there's anything to actually be concerned about—is James' role in this soap opera. As CBS Sports' Matt Moore writes:
James has always been deeply invested in building close relationships with teammates. And he's developed into a phenomenal leader since his time in Miami. But it does seem like, based on Love's body language and the on-going peripheral sense that pervades the conversation about the team, that maybe they could use a clearing of the air between them.
Not that Love's potentially awkward relationship with James is the reason he chose Westbrook.
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