What if Kevin Love Went to Golden State?
Golden State Warriors
After another disappointing season, and a quick exit in the playoffs, out went Mark Jackson and in came Steve Kerr. With a starting lineup that looked like this: Steph Curry, Kevin Martin, Harrison Barnes, Kevin Love and Andrew Bogut, the Warriors became an even deadlier offensive team, routinely dropping 120 points a night. The defense leaves a lot to be desired, especially since with David Lee off to Minnesota, Draymond Green never gets a chance to flourish since Kevin Love is firmly planted in the power forward position. Remember that in real life, Green got the starting role after Lee went down with a hamstring injury in the preseason. With Love in the lineup, Green remains a energy guy off the bench. Kevin Martin acts a Klay Thompson lite (but with a lot worse defense) and with him and Love spacing the floor, Curry goes on to win MVP.
Love also flourishes under Steve Kerr’s flowing motion offense, as he averages 24 and 11 for the season. In the playoffs though, the Grit-N-Grind of Memphis is just too much for the Warriors and they fall in the second round of the playoffs (real life, Warriors win series 4-2). The next season provides much of the same, with the Warriors offense being all but unstoppable, while the defense is still sub-par. After breezing through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Durant and Westbrook prove to be too much and win the Western Conference Finals in six games, when Kevin Martin practically shoots them out of the game.
Armed with plenty of cap space in the 2016 offseason, the Warriors bring in Al Horford to help anchor the defense. They let Kevin Martin move on and move Draymond into the starting line up. Finally, everything comes together and the Warriors put together a complete season. It’s still not enough though, as a fresh and healthy Kawhi Leonard is just too much for the Warriors, who for the second-straight year lose in the conference finals.
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