Minnesota Timberwolves superstar forward Kevin Love has never been shy about voicing his displeasure. Armed with a new contract (not quite the 5 years and $80 million he coveted, but $62 million over 4 years), and a positive outlook on his team’s chances, it seemed like Love would be happy this season. He continues to harbor resentment about the way he’s been treated by the front-office in Minny, and it will be very interesting come 2015 when he can opt-out of his current deal. Per Yahoo! Sports: “I don’t know who labels people stars, but even [T’wolves owner] Glen Taylor said: I don’t think Kevin Love is a star, because he hasn’t led us to the playoffs,’ Love said. ‘I mean, it’s not like I had much support out there. That’s a tough pill to swallow.’ Kevin Love isn’t over Taylor and GM David Kahn refusing him what he had earned. He isn’t over Kahn marching into the trainer’s room after a loss and thrusting a contract offer sheet into his hands. Where else does it work that way in the NBA? ‘I’m not the one to always follow professional protocol – but I do know what it is, even at 24 years old,’ Love says. Perhaps those issues wouldn’t still be so raw had the franchise responded differently when Love broke his hand in a preseason workout. In a regimen he’s done most of his life, Love fractured a bone thrusting himself to his feet upon completion of a round of knuckle pushups. He missed a month on the floor, but his ears missed nothing from those in management whispering that maybe the injury didn’t happen the way Love insisted it did. ‘Even people in my own organization were asking if it was a legitimate injury, people calling my honesty and integrity into question,’ Love says. ‘And that’s what really hurt me.’ […] As much as Love believes strongly in the greatness of coach Rick Adelman, Kahn has offered no reason for faith in his own wayward vision. ‘You walk into the locker room every year, and it’s completely turned over,’ Love says. ‘There’s new guys everywhere. And then it happens again and again. You start to wonder: Is there really a plan here? Is there really any kind of a … plan?’ […] In the end, Love never wants to feel like he’s pitted against young point guard Ricky Rubio, because he adores him as a teammate and a talent. Yet, the reality is unmistakable: For all of Kahn’s missed picks, failed signings and flawed trades, Rubio is the player whom the GM can take full credit. Someday, Kahn wants Rubio to be his five-year, max-out star, but will Rubio want to stay in Minnesota should Love walk out the door? ‘It was a projection over a sure thing,’ Love says. ‘There’s no question there was an agenda here. A different agenda … I have a very, very good memory, and I always remember the people who have done right by me, and the people who have done wrong by me,’ he says. ‘It will be embedded in my brain, and something I won’t forget about. There’s no telling what will happen. I would love to compete for a championship in Minnesota, but …’ Between now and his 2015 opt-out, Love wants to be clear: Around him, he doesn’t want merely a playoff team. He wants a team that contends. ‘And that’s on me to do my part, to get us there,’ but the organization has lost the benefit of the doubt with Love. When it’s time for every franchise in the NBA to clear cap space and try to sign him, Love simply understands: ‘I’ll have the leverage.'”
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