Live Thread: Cavs at Timberwolves

The Cleveland Cavaliers take their five-game winning streak to the Twin Cities tonight as they face the Minnesota Timberwolves for the first time this season. While a contest between the 24-9 Cavaliers and the 12-24 Timberwolves seems like a ho-hum route waiting to happen, a little trade that took place on August 23, 2014 will always make it more than that.

The idea that Andrew Wiggins was too steep a price to pay for Kevin Love has been a common narrative among basketball pundits. There’s no doubt that Wiggins has shown tremendous promise, averaging 20.1 points per game in just his second season. Along with Karl-Anthony Towns, Wiggins gives Minnesota a tremendous duo of young players to build around, complimented by other young prospects such as Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng. But does that mean the Cavaliers made a mistake by trading the former number one overall pick?

Absolutely not. The Cavaliers are trying to win a championship while LeBron James is still in his prime, and the 27 year old Love is still a significantly more effective player than the 20 year old Wiggins at this point. Yes, Wiggins does have the higher scoring average by nearly four points per game, but that’s where it ends. Love has a significant edge in rebounds and assists per game, three-point shooting, PER, and RPM. While RPM isn’t a perfect statistic—what is?—it’s pretty significant that Love’s 5.41 mark is good enough for eleventh in the entire league, while Wiggins is rated 80th among shooting guards alone with a RPM of -4.20. He’s a long way from being a core piece on a contender, let alone a superstar. [Editor’s Note: RAPM over at least a season’s worth of games is superior to partial season RPM (or RAPM).  Over the last couple seasons, Love has posted a RAPM of ~3.2 while Wiggins’ first season netted him a MINUS 3.2]

Still, Wiggins seems to get up for playing against the team that drafted him, averaging 30 points per game against the Cavaliers in two games last season, his highest scoring average against any team. If he does that again, then tonight’s game could be much more of a battle for the Cavaliers than anyone expects. Be sure to tune in tonight at 8:00 on ESPN and share your thoughts on the game here at Cavs: The Blog!