Kevin Wesley Love (born September 7, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A top-ranked prospect from Lake Oswego High School , Love played one season of college basketball for the UCLA Bruins , and led the team to a Final Four appearance in the 2008 NCAA Tournament . He was named the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year and consensus First Team All-American following the season. Love chose not to complete his three remaining years of college eligibility and declared for the 2008 NBA Draft .[1] He was taken fifth overall by the Memphis Grizzlies , and was traded to the Timberwolves for the third overall selection, O. J. Mayo , in an eight-player deal.[2] Love is currently one of the top rebounders in the NBA, and he is also known for his outlet passing. Love was a member of the gold medal-winning United States men's national basketball team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey .
Early years
Kevin Love was born in Santa Monica , California , he was the second of three children to Karen and former NBA forward Stan Love . A year later, Love's family moved to Lake Oswego , Oregon . Growing up, Stan passed on his interest in basketball by showing Love tapes of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry . In addition, Love studied tapes of all-time great passing centers in Wes Unseld and Bill Walton , along with instructional tapes from Hall of Famers such as Hakeem Olajuwon , David Robinson , Charles Barkley , and Michael Jordan . For hand and wrist strength, Stan would push Love to do fingertip push-ups as well as other upper body exercises.
High school career
Love had a successful high school career with the Lake Oswego Lakers. In his sophomore year, Love averaged 25.3 ppg , 15.4 rpg , 3.7 apg , and led the Lakers to the 2005 Oregon state high school basketball championship game, where they lost to Jesuit High School 57–53. That summer, Love was the center of controversy when Nike removed him from its Portland Elite Legends AAU team because he had chosen to participate in the Reebok ABCD Camp against other top recruits. Love went on to play for the Southern California All-Stars, where the team compiled an unprecedented 46–0 record as he garnered three MVP awards.
In 2006, Love averaged 28.0 ppg, 16.1 rpg, and dished out 3.5 apg as the Lakers returned to the Oregon state championship game. With Love's 24 points and 9 rebounds, the Lakers defeated South Medford and fellow star recruit Kyle Singler , 59-57. In Love's final year at Lake Oswego, he put up 33.9 ppg, 17.0 rpg, and 4.0 apg as the team finished 26-2. Earlier that year, in a game against Rex Putnam High School , Love shattered the backboard on a breakaway dunk. Love and Singler met again for the 2007 championship, this time however, Singler and South Medford defeated Lake Oswego 58–54, overcoming Love's 37 points and 15 rebounds. After the season, Love was named the 2007 Men's Basketball Gatorade National Player of the Year .
Love finished his high school career as the all-time leading scorer in Oregon boys' basketball history with 2,628 points. The previous record had stood for 50 years. The Lakers went 92-21 in four seasons with Love, and made three straight state championship games, winning once.
College career
Love was ranked as one of the top players in the nation from the class of 2007. In July 2006, Love verbally committed to play college basketball for coach Ben Howland at UCLA . He had also considered playing for University of North Carolina . Love, who had worn number 42 for a majority of his basketball career, received permission from Walt Hazzard to wear the same number with UCLA, even though the school had retired the number for Hazzard in 1996. Since arriving at UCLA, Love had also regularly sought out retired Bruins legends Bill Walton and the late John Wooden for advice.
Love's decision to play at UCLA brought animosity from fans of the University of Oregon , his father's alma mater , where it was expected he would play. Prior to a game at Oregon, Ducks fans obtained Love's cell phone number and left obscene messages as well as death threats; the fans also subjected Love's family to obscenities and threw garbage at them during the game. This event, along with similar events directed at other players, has prompted a discussion of whether abuse by college basketball fans is becoming too extreme. Love finished game with 26 points and 18 rebounds in a 80-75 win.
In the 2008 Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament , the Bruins defeated the USC Trojans , featuring O. J. Mayo, in the semi-finals. Both Mayo and Love were nominated to the All Pac-10 tournament team. Later, Love guided UCLA to the regular season Pac-10 conference championship, the conference tournament championship, and a #1 seed in the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament . Love helped the Bruins to the Final Four of the tournament, where they lost to the Memphis Tigers . At the end of the 2007–08 regular season, Love was named first-team All-American, Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, and Pac-10 Player of the Year. He led the Bruins with 17.5 ppg, 10.6 rpg, and 23 double-doubles .
NBA career
2008 NBA Draft
In a press conference on April 17, 2008, Love announced his intention to leave UCLA to enter the 2008 NBA Draft . He was taken fifth overall by the Memphis Grizzlies , right after his teammate at UCLA, Russell Westbrook . Following the draft, Love was traded along with Mike Miller , Brian Cardinal , and Jason Collins to the Minnesota Timberwolves , with the third overall pick O. J. Mayo , Antoine Walker , Marko Jaric , and Greg Buckner going to the Grizzlies.
Rookie season
Love went on to play in the 2008 NBA Summer League and led all players in rebounding. In his NBA debut on October 30, Love came off the bench to contribute 12 points and nine rebounds in a 98-96 win over the Sacramento Kings . The Timberwolves struggled early on losing 15 of their first 19 games, prompting the dismissal of head coach Randy Wittman . Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale , a Hall of Famer who acquired Love in the trade, took over as head coach and they developed a close relationship. Under McHale, the Timberwolves improved their play in January by going 10-4, with Love averaging a double-double. Love was not selected to the NBA All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge , to the surprise of his teammates and coaches. After team's leading scorer Al Jefferson was sidelined for the rest of the season with a torn ACL in February, Love's minutes increased, and he was named NBA Rookie of the Month for March.
Love finished the season ninth in the league in rebounding, first among rookies, and ranked third in total offensive rebounds. Love also led all first-years with 29 double-doubles, the most by a Timberwolves rookie in franchise history. He was named to the 2009 NBA All-Rookie Second Team and finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting.
2009–10 season
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for United States | ||
| FIBA World Championship | ||
| Gold | 2010 Turkey | Team competition |
In the off-season, Love was invited to participate in the USA National Team mini-camp that was conducted from July 22–25 in Las Vegas. Love also generated attention from his Twitter account (since deleted), when he broke the story that Kevin McHale wasn't returning to coach the Timberwolves fo
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Kevin Wesley Love (born September 7, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Read the rest
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