Imagine you are Kevin Love.
You are 25 years old, just entering your basketball prime. You are averaging 25.7 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists while making 36 percent of your 3s. You have the third-highest PER in the NBA, behind some guys named Kevin Durant and LeBron James. You are playing the best ball of your career and some of the best ball we've seen in the past decade.
You have never played with an All-Star in your six seasons in Minnesota. You inexplicably came off the bench for two seasons. Your front office, led by former general manager David Kahn, did not feel you were worth a five-year, $80 million maximum contract, despite averaging 24.9 points and 13.9 rebounds at the time of negotiations in January 2012. So you signed a four-year deal to stay, despite being an Olympian, the league's leading rebounder and an All-Star all before turning 23.
You have been forced to play next to marquee acquisitions such as Darko Milicic and Michael Beasley. The team has been awarded four top-six picks in the draft since you came into the league and they selected Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn, Wesley Johnson and Derrick Williams. Only Rubio hasn't been a colossal disappointment and even then, it took him two years to arrive. Given a papier-mâché support system, you have never been able to make it to the playoffs.
Now, in your sixth season, the ship is sinking again.
