Kevin Love Glad Timberwolves Got Rid of ‘Bad Blood’ in the Locker Room


Kevin Love continues to apply pressure to Minnesota’s front-office, as he wants more help on the court. But he is pleased with some of the offseason player departures from the team, guys that Love considered “bad blood”. Per the Pioneer Press: “In a telephone interview Thursday, July 19, from England, where the U.S. men’s basketball team is preparing for the Olympics, Love doubled down on comments he made about his waning patience with the Wolves to Yahoo! Sports two weeks ago during Team USA’s training camp. Love, who is entering his fifth NBA season and the first year of a four-year, $62 million contract extension, is the only Team USA player who has never played in the postseason. He is surrounded by Olympians who have won seven NBA championships and combined to play in 700 playoff games. ‘I feel like we have to change to get to that next level, and I want to help drive that change and push that agenda,’ he said. ‘I think we deserve a good product. The coaches deserve a good product, but most importantly the fans deserve it. They were tremendous last year for us turning things around before Ricky (Rubio) went down. We just want to keep pushing the team in the right direction, and that’s what I wanted to convey.’ […] ‘If we get everybody back healthy, with Ricky back healthy, if Roy comes in healthy, and if we can get off to a good start, we’re going to be good. But we really have to add as many as pieces as we possibly can, veteran guys,’ he said. ‘There was some bad blood in that locker room we were able to get out of there and smooth things out. That should help us out going forward.’ Asked to elaborate, Love responded: ‘Just what I said. We had bad blood in the locker room. We got that out.’ Forwards Michael Beasley and Anthony Randolph, guard Martell Webster and center Darko Milicic were the most notable players Minnesota jettisoned this offseason.”