Major fans of major league sports hate July in Oregon.
It means waiting for NFL training camps, waiting for college football to explode.
Again.
If you’re not waiting, you probably checked on the NBA Summer League. The players make you believe greatness is in them until you notice third year players on the Portland Trail Blazers roster.
Sure, Meyers Leonard needs court time to refine his game, to learn better court sense. Summer League is the time and place unless Leonard turns out to be a player with size and potential who can’t connect the NBA dots like Kevin Love.
July is when the last of the big NBA free agent deals get done. The last one waiting is Kevin Love.
This is K-Love from Lake Oswego, UCLA, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, a high basketball-IQ player who learned the NBA ropes by taking care of business close to home.
Instead of building on the weight he carried out of college, instead of bulking up liker Greg Oden, Love went the other direction and dropped weight.
Men’s Fitness jumped in with a K-Love piece that explains how he did it.
“I’ve been moving towards more of a plant-based diet, which for me has been great,” said Love, who recently signed on with sports drink BODYARMOR. “I’ve been doing mostly fish, some chicken, and occasionally steak. (I’m trying) pescetarian, where it’s mostly fish. That’s what I’ve tried to take to heart as much as possible with my body type.”
Somehow Love learned the benefits of diet and exercise. Instead of letting his pro athlete lifestyle guide him toward three hundred pounds and a career shortened by chronic leg injuries and chasing new remedies, Love took a pro-active approach.
The interest he draws from other teams shows he’s not scheduled to be old and fat before his time and out of the league by thirty. The right food and workout schedule will keep him on track toward basketball’s Hall of Fame when he retires. This is a player to believe in.
The Timberwolves believe in this Kevin the way they did the last big man named Kevin, Kevin Garnett. Like Garnett, Love now believes that anything isn’t possible in Minnesota. It took the Boston Celtics run from worst to first to show Garnett. Expect another team to rise with Love.
Eventually players will flag Minnesota the way NFL players, at least Eli Manning, shunned the San Diego Chargers. Winners want to win, not look good and build nice stats. If Garnett and Love couldn’t turn the corner on the Timberwolves’ teams of their respective eras, the T-Wolves need to avoid players named Kevin, or follow the direction of the NBA champs in one horse town San Antonio.
Minnesota is a big sports state with big dreams, but also big problems. Their best NBA team packed up and moved to LA. Their hockey team moved to Dallas. Their baseball team used to be the Washington Senators. The Vikings have been to the Super Bowl four times and each time came away losers.
Being surrounded by less than great teams while playing on the Timberwolves year after year has to make someone like Kevin Love yearn for more.
It also makes fans in one horse major league towns like San Antonio and Portland glad to focus on one team rising. It must hurt Love to see the Blazers moving up while his team drops.
Wherever Love lands, pencil his new team in for a playoff run. He’s got the attitude and discipline needed to lift the O’Brien Trophy after at least one season.
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