The Cleveland Cavaliers altered the NBA landscape when they re-acquired LeBron James earlier this summer and there were rumours that James would be getting help.
[b]China Jerseys For Sale[/b] . Numbers Game breaks down the big trade to bring LeBron a running mate, as the Cavs acquired Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Cavaliers Will Get: PF Kevin Love. Love, 25, is one of the games premier frontcourt players, coming off a season during which he scored a career-high 26.1 points per game, grabbed 12.5 rebounds per game and had a career-best 4.4 assists per game. The 6-foot-10 power forward has averaged double figure rebounds for five straight seasons, joining Dwight Howard as the only players to reach that threshold in each of the past five seasons. Already a dangerous offensive threat because of his ability to pass and score, Love has raised the bar as he increases his shooting range. He attempted a career-high 6.6 three-pointers per game last season (making 2.5) and his 37.6% from beyond the arc was the second-best of his career, leading to the highest effective field-goal percentage (.524) of his career. He has played in three NBA All-Star games and ranked third in the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating (26.9), behind Kevin Durant and LeBron James, last season. Joining forces with LeBron in Cleveland does seem to set Love up for continued success, though there is going to have to be some accomodation made to get players enough touches. For example, Love has had more than 17 field-goal attempts per game for the past three seasons, topping out at a career-high 18.3 per game last season. LeBron has actually seen his shot attempts go down -- last seasons 17.6 per game in Miami was a career-low -- but thats 36 shots per game coming into the Cleveland rotation. How will those shots be allocated while still placating PG Kyrie Irving (17.4 attempts per game last season) and SG Dion Waiters (14.2 attempts per game last season)? Take out Luol Deng (12.7 attempts per game in Cleveland) and Spencer Hawes (11.0 attempts per game) and it becomes a matter of balancing an extra dozen or so attempts per game among the primary shooters. Expect LeBron and Love to be the leaders, so that likely means Irving and especially Waiters, will have to get used to a lesser role offensively. The price to pay if youre going to be a championship contender instead of a 33-win lottery team, but thats going to be a challenge for first-year coach David Blatt to navigate. While hes a tremendous offensive player who should complement the rest of the Cavaliers talent well because hes a real upgrade as a scoring big man, Love hasnt been much of a defender. He doesnt have the hops to block shots (0.5 per game for his career) and while he holds his own against power forwards, Love isnt as effective defensively when hes forced to play in the middle. (There is some trade-off, however, as Love scored an outrageous 41.7 points per 48 minutes while playing centre last season). Love makes more than $15.7-million this season and has a player option worth in excess of $16.7-million for 2015-2016, which he has reportedly agreed not to exercise in order to sign a five-year, $120-million deal with Cleveland. Thats a long-term commitment to play for the Cavaliers, and presumably that means playing with LeBron for those years, but its at least worth noting that James is under contract for 2014-2015 with a player option for 2015-2016. Having accumulated a supporting cast that makes the Cavaliers the front-runner in the Eastern Conference, presumably LeBron will be inclined to stick around, but there are some contract details to get worked out. In any case, Love is the big piece that the Cavaliers need in order to rise up and contend immediately, making the most of their window with LeBron. The Timberwolves Will Get: F Anthony Bennett, SG/SF Andrew Wiggins and a protected 2015 first-round pick. 19-year-old Andrew Wiggins was the first overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft following a freshman season at Kansas when he showed flashes of brilliance, but was also criticized for not producing on a more consistent basis. Consider the end of the season, for example. Wiggins dropped a season-high 41 points on West Virginia in his final regular-season game before scoring 52 points in two games in the Big 12 tournament and 19 in his first NCAA Tournament game before falling flat, scoring four points (on 1-of-6 shooting from the field). Its not the end of the world, by any means, but the contrast over merely a few weeks shows the ups and downs that are part of Wiggins game at this point. Nevertheless, there is still ample reason that he was the number one overall pick in the draft this year. Wiggins has rare athleticism, with tremendous speed when he breaks out in the open floor and spectacular leaping ability when he attacks the rim. Wiggins athleticism should allow him to become a quality defender and, while ball-handling and shooting are areas for improvement, Wiggins has a chance to be great. It should take some time (considering he averaged 15.5 points on 40.5% shooting in NBA Summer League play), but Wiggins has the physical gifts to become a star player in the league and thats an exciting prospect for the Timberwolves, who sacrificed an already-established star in Love. With Wiggins signed for two years, plus two more team option years, on his rookie deal, the Timberwolves have time to watch Wiggins grow. There arent a lot of options in the T-Wolves rotation right now, so Wiggins should start on the wing, alongside veteran shooting guard Kevin Martin. With Love leaving, there will be lots of touches available offensively, and Martin, C Nikola Pekovic and Wiggins figure to be the players getting the most looks. Anthony Bennett, 21, was also the first overall pick, in 2013, but went through a miserable rookie season, finishing with 4.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, shooting 35.6% from the field. Those numbers were undeniably terrible, but he doesnt have to be a lost cause altogether. He was out of shape at the start of last season, as he recoverd from shoulder surgery and, following the season, had surgery to help with his sleep apnea. A healthier, leaner Bennett put up 13.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, shooting 42.6% from the field in NBA Summer League play. Thats a far cry from being ready to start, or fill a rotation spot in the NBA, but thats still an opportunity that is available to Bennett in Minnesota because, frankly, the Timberwolves dont have much in the frontcourt. Those who will battle for time at power forward in Minnesota include Bennett, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Robbie Hummel and perhaps some minutes to bigs Gorgui Deng and Ronny Turiaf, but thats not much competition if Bennett can get back on track. It should also be noted that he did start to come around a little bit, late in his rookie season, averaging 6.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game from February through the end of the season. With the T-Wolves a long way from contending, they can afford to give Bennett the reps he needs to improve and its kind of important that he does because, after the 2014-2015 season, Minnesota will have to decide what they are going to do about the team options on Bennetts contract. The first-round pick, reportedly Miamis, is protected. If its a pick that ends up in the bottom 10 of the first round, it provides a little value, but is no difference-maker. From the 2003-2012 Drafts, picks 21-30 yielded, give or take a bit in each category, maybe two stars (Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, David Lee?), 18 starters and 31 rotation players. That results in at least a rotation player slightly better than half (51) the time. If Bennett turns out to be a solid NBA player and Wiggins is an above-average starter (with star potential), then the Timberwolves get an adequate return for a player that they were potentially going to lose for nothing following next season. Its never ideal giving up the marquee player in an NBA trade, but rolling the dice on the potential of Wiggins and, to a lesser degree, Bennett, is a fair approach for Minnesota under the circumstances. The hard truth, though, is that its nearly impossible to win an NBA trade that sends a star player away, so doing their best under the circumstances still leaves the T-Wolves in a worse spot. Scott Cullen can be reached at
Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook.
[b]China Jerseys Replica[/b] .C. -- Benn Ferrieros familiar with scoring important goals, just not in back-to-back games.
[b]China Jerseys Knockoff[/b] . The South Africa international, who rejoined the club last month on loan from Tottenham, opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a powerful shot into the roof of the net.Winnipeg, MB (SportsNetwork.com) - Frans Nielsen scored two goals and collected one assist as the New York Islanders kicked off a seven-game road trip with a 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Ryan Strome finished with a goal and three assists for the Islanders, who got 21 saves from Jaroslav Halak. Anders Lee and Josh Bailey also scored for New York, which has won six of its last eight games. A couple of the bounces went our way, said Lee. You know, you get rewarded when you work hard and you create those opportunities. Tonight, thats what happened. Andrew Ladd had two goals and Ondrej Pavelec stopped 28-of-32 shots in the Jets second straight loss. I thought our compete in that game changed, it got stronger as the game went on, Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. Honestly, thats all we value here now, so the results we cant spend a whole lot of time worrying about. The Islanders benefited from favorable breaks in the first period. Jets defenseman Adam Pardy whacked the puck out of the air during a scramble around Pavelec and it wound up going in off Strome at the 10:04 mark. Nielsen made it 2-0 on a 5-on-3 power play.
[b]China Jerseys Outlet[/b]. Johnny Boychuks stick broke on a slap shot from the top of the left circle and the puck went right to Nielsen, who scored into an open net on a shot from below the right circle with 1:44 remaining. Ladd put the Jets on the board just as a power play ended, scoring off a give- and-go with Blake Wheeler at 4:41 of the second period. Nielsen one-timed in a return feed from Strome to restore the Islanders two- goal lead with 4:33 left in the second. Winnipeg opened the third period on a power play and trimmed its deficit to 3-2 on Ladds goal 47 seconds in. Mathieu Perreault made a nice move around an Islanders player before dishing to Ladd in the slot. Lee banged in the puck at the right post to give New York a 4-2 lead at 11:35. Bailey added an empty-net goal with 32 seconds to play. Game Notes The Jets suffered their first regulation loss this season to a team from the Metropolitan Division (6-1-3) ... The Islanders improved to 5-0-1 in Winnipeg since the Jets relocated there for the 2011-12 season. ' ' '
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