Where does Kevin Love rank among current power forwards?

[FireDavidKahn]

So just wondering what makes Love the better scorer? Better shooter sure. Ray Allen is a better shooter than Kobe... but is he the better scorer? Griffin can take over games with his scoring. He's a first option, not a second. Prior to last night he was averaging 28 ppg... now he's at 26. So explain why Love is a superior scorer?

Griffin scored more last year and so far he's right behind Love, despite last night where he only took 11 shots and finished with 20 points. Is Love a more versatile scorer? Sure. Is he better at scoring consistently? Hell no. Griffin is much better at playing to his strengths which is why last year he led the league in points in the paint for most of the season till Dwight won by a small margin.

Not to nitpick but Love is VERY consistent when it comes to scoring.

ALso, what do you mean "Griffin is better playing to his strengths"? Love is amazing at that as well.

[MK2V1GP]

So just wondering what makes Love the better scorer? Better shooter sure. Ray Allen is a better shooter than Kobe... but is he the better scorer? Griffin can take over games with his scoring. He's a first option, not a second. Prior to last night he was averaging 28 ppg... now he's at 26. So explain why Love is a superior scorer?

Griffin scored more last year and so far he's right behind Love, despite last night where he only took 11 shots and finished with 20 points. Is Love a more versatile scorer? Sure. Is he better at scoring consistently? Hell no. Griffin is much better at playing to his strengths which is why last year he led the league in points in the paint for most of the season till Dwight won by a small margin.

Maybe Love is just a more versatile scorer. But if I had to pick out of the two, I'd rather choose Love. Most of Griffin's points seem to come from lay-ups, dunks and free throws. It's painful watching him shoot a jumpshot and sometimes watching him work one-on-one in the post. Sometimes he makes some good moves, but he's not consistent in his low-post game, but neither is Love. But Griffin can't even make a 10-foot jumper.

I'm just saying my personal preference. If I had to choose one player as a pure basketball player, I'd take Love.

And I actually LIKE Blake Griffin, a lot. So I'm not hating on him. I just see Love as a better, more rounded and skilled player than Griffin.

[Clippersfan86]

Not to nitpick but Love is VERY consistent when it comes to scoring.

Yup. Very consistent... but not as consistent as Griffin. Go look at how many 25+ point games each had last year. Griffin had the longest 20+10 streak since Shaq. Reality here is I don't like people running with 4 game samples and acting like all the sudden Love is better in every single way. I've watched 3 Wolves games this year and I LOVE what they are doing and LOVE their players.

That being said.... people are too hyped right now on pure statistics. Griffin can't do what Love does.. and Love can't do what Griffin does. I have no problem with people preferring Love or saying he's better. What I don't like is people going off a couple games and saying "Love is a gazillion times better passer" and stupid sh** like that.

[Clippersfan86]

Maybe Love is just a more versatile scorer. But if I had to pick out of the two, I'd rather choose Love. Most of Griffin's points seem to come from lay-ups, dunks and free throws. It's painful watching him shoot a jumpshot and sometimes watching him work one-on-one in the post. Sometimes he makes some good moves, but he's not consistent in his low-post game, but neither is Love. But Griffin can't even make a 10-foot jumper.

I'm just saying my personal preference. If I had to choose one player as a pure basketball player, I'd take Love.

And I actually LIKE Blake Griffin, a lot. So I'm not hating on him. I just see Love as a better, more rounded and skilled player than Griffin.

Take a couple minutes of your time and watch this real quick. This was from other day. Griffin dropped 34 with Noah guarding him all game. Tell me this is the same Griffin you saw last year. Or that it's all dunks and free throws. Also you can see Griffin leading a fastbreak fullcourt here and finishing with the brilliant pass. I've honestly never seen this from Love. Griffin does this a few times every game. This is a guy that's dropped spin moves and crossovers on Kobe, Rose etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRNf1MOmSOE

[FireDavidKahn]

Yup. Very consistent... but not as consistent as Griffin. Go look at how many 25+ point games each had last year. Griffin had the longest 20+10 streak since Shaq. Reality here is I don't like people running with 4 game samples and acting like all the sudden Love is better in every single way. I've watched 3 Wolves games this year and I LOVE what they are doing and LOVE their players.

That being said.... people are too hyped right now on pure statistics. Griffin can't do what Love does.. and Love can't do what Griffin does. I have no problem with people preferring Love or saying he's better. What I don't like is people going off a couple games and saying "Love is a gazillion times better passer" and stupid sh** like that.

Fair enough.

[Clippersfan86]

Wolves are my second team right now. I'm extremely proud of what they are doing/building. Rubio+Love are amazing to me. Adelman rocks. The fans have been great. I even made a thread praising the Wolves last night.

[paintingshade]

What are we going by though? Griffin easily took the assist edge last year. Even the percentages such as assist rates etc point to Griffin being the superior passer/playmaker. The only thing I can think of is that people are only looking at the 4 games to start this season where Griffin is still adapting to 3 new starters. He still hasn't figured out where to find these new players but it's improving.

As for defense... I think at worst they are identical. I agree that Griffin is more of a first option and has that "it" factor.

I think in terms of ability griffin is definitely better, I was taking turnovers into consideration more here. Actually love has taken a dip in that regard this year.. But last year he was fantastic at taking care of the ball.

Griffin is really starting to show more this year too.. His turnaround jumper looks really nice.

I thought he was going to add a 3 pointer to his arsenal this year? If he can do that without becoming like rose and relying on it, he'd be incredibly dangerous

[JohnnyWall]

Going into this season, I'd probably put their individual rankings like so...

[LIST=1][*]Kevin Love[*]Blake Griffin[*]Pau Gasol[*]Dirk Nowitzki[*]LaMarcus Aldridge[/LIST]

With the #1 and #2 positions being very close and likely to change.

[Hernando]

No doubt Amare is the best PF in the league. I would say love is top 10, not top 5. That means he would have to be better than amare, larmarcus aldridge, dirk, Gasol, Kevin Garnet, blake griffin,

[Clippersfan86]

I think in terms of ability griffin is definitely better, I was taking turnovers into consideration more here. Actually love has taken a dip in that regard this year.. But last year he was fantastic at taking care of the ball.

Griffin is really starting to show more this year too.. His turnaround jumper looks really nice.

I thought he was going to add a 3 pointer to his arsenal this year? If he can do that without becoming like rose and relying on it, he'd be incredibly dangerous

Griffin actually has 3 point range. Not like Love where he can actually hit it consistently but more like Bosh and Amare where if you need a bailout 3 he CAN hit it. I'm much happier with Griffin sticking to his strengths than implementing a 3 like Love. Love is a natural lights out shooter, Griffin isn't.

I can't wait till Clips play Wolves because I love watching these PF's go at it. Last year Griffin killed him in the matchup with the Clips going 3-1 including two blowouts... but this year it definitely will be more of a challenge. Wolves and Clippers might be most exciting game of the year .

[Clippersfan86]

What's more important here is that while Love and Griffin are dominating (as I predicted) Aldridge has become an afterthought. This offseason and last year I said Love>Aldridge going forward and everybody laughed at me... even Wolves fans called me crazy. Aldridge has reverted back to the Aldridge of 2 years ago where all he does is shoot 18 foot jumpers.

Where are all the Aldridge fans that thought Griffin and Love weren't going to be better? Aldridge is a good player... but I think he went from being extremely underrated to extremely overrated last year. People act like he's the premier PF.

[RaininTwos]

Based only on this year's play, you can't really put Bosh, Dirk or Amar'e up there.

Man wtf, we are in week two of the season how in the hell are we going to base it off this year????

PF's better than Love:
Griffin
Bosh
LA
Dirk
Amare

I feel like I'm forgetting someone....

[RintjeRitsma]

What's more important here is that while Love and Griffin are dominating (as I predicted) Aldridge has become an afterthought. This offseason and last year I said Love>Aldridge going forward and everybody laughed at me... even Wolves fans called me crazy. Aldridge has reverted back to the Aldridge of 2 years ago where all he does is shoot 18 foot jumpers.

Where are all the Aldridge fans that thought Griffin and Love weren't going to be better? Aldridge is a good player... but I think he went from being extremely underrated to extremely overrated last year. People act like he's the premier PF.

Aldridge has had no trainingcamp this year. Great post.

[Whoah10115]

I strongly disagree on Griffin's defense. I think he's flat out bad. Love is not a good defender but he plays within a team defense and Blake gets isolated much more often and I disagree that his man defense is good. He has better defensive potential tho, at least as a 1v1 guy.


Griffin is better making plays, because he can take people on. But Love is a better pure passer and does a good job of facilitating thru the post, I feel. Griffin could move into the top 5 this season. Same with Love. But if I had to list, I still have Dirk, then Pau (who somehow is declining, due to a bad playoffs, when really he just looks like he needs to be moved cuz he looks great), Amare, Z-Bo, Bosh.

[04mzwach]

It seems like Griffin has decided to do the opposite with his offensive game. He's going more inside than outside. I've seen him turn down 18 footers quite a bit. Love has developed a sweet step back jumper on the other hand. Love can shoot, so it just makes sense. I don't think Griffin will ever be as good of a shooter as Love. Griffin has that gorilla mentality so it's probably better suiting to his style that he gets in the paint as much as possible. Love is going to have a better all around style of offense. Griffin might step out to the three every now and then but not as often as Love. That's what makes Love so effective on offense. I don't think he'd be much of a player without his jumper. Griffin would probably still be able to be the player he is for the most part because of his good post up game. IMO