Howlin' T-Wolf

Kevin Love is the best rebounder in the NBA. He has range out to the perimeter, a skill that comes rare to American big men. His post moves are adequate enough to get by, but still could use some polishing.

Oh, and he’s the best rebounder in the NBA.

So far in the World Championships in Turkey, the USA squad has pummeled four opponents and squeaked by another. The chemistry is slowly developing on this mixed roster of all-stars and youngsters. It doesn’t hurt that the team is stacked in some areas though. Kevin Durant’s one of the best in the world at what he does: scoring. Rondo is a wonderful one-on-one defender because his lateral quickness just can’t be matched. Oh, and Kevin Love is the best rebounder in the NBA.

Despite averaging just over ten minutes a ball game, Love manages to grab 6.6 boards a game. Whether that’s his pure rebounding instinct or inferior foreign big men play, that’s still one rebound almost every one and a half minutes. The first two games the US played in Turkey, Love played 13 minutes and grabbed 11 and ten rebounds respectively. The next three, well, his minutes decreased and so did his rebounds, but in game four he did lead the team to victory by putting up 14 points in their win over Iran.

Numbers have proven themselves throughout Love’s career that if he doesn’t get minutes, you won’t get production — although isn’t that true with almost any player? Even last year, fans and analysts grew frustrated with Kurt Rambis’ lineups because they seemed to be lacking a little something: Love.

This year cannot be the same. Love’s entering his third year in the league and is ready to make an impact. He’s shown glimpses that he can be a bruising force on the glass and a serious mismatch to many power forwards on offense. There’s no doubt in my mind that Love could be a 20-10 guy for the Wolves this season, and hopefully many more to come. This should be the year that everyone, including coach Rambis, realize that Love has All-star potential but needs his shot to prove it. He’s shown it in Turkey thus far.

Some say that he’s played so well in Turkey because he has all these All-stars around him which in turn just elevate his game that much more. But are they the ones blocking everyone out for Love to grab all these rebounds? Have they turned his mediocre post skills to that of an actually adequate game down low? No. It helps that he’s playing with better players for two reason: 1) He’s now learning his true role as a basketball player and will know what he needs to do in the NBA this season. 2) After playing with this All-star team is finished, it’s time to go back to reality, and Love’s a smart guy who knows this. He has to return to Minnesota to play with arguably the worst team in the NBA and literally put them on his back and walk to the end of this season. After that, help should be on its way, but anyway, I digress.

Anyways, this is Love’s season and we need to trust in him — That might be all he needs to really showcase what he’s got. It’s bizarre to think that just six months ago, we were arguing about who the Wolves should keep on the roster for next season as our starting power forward — Big Al or Love. I was back and forth the whole year because I believed in Al’s low-post game and was hesitant about Love’s lack of one and inexperience. But in the end we have Love and he’s “the guy” this year. He may be against the world in his fight to carry one of the NBA’s biggest loser franchises, but I believe he’s up for the challenge.