Kevin Love: Is He a Legitimate All-Star or a Stat Stuffer on a Bad Team?

Normally, when you think of the polarizing figures in the NBA, you think of players like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, superstar players on contending teams with, shall we say "confident" personalities. Strangely, Kevin Love is becoming a lightening rod though. Perhaps, it's because he's the tails' side of the  "stats versus winning" coin.  

It's a debate that has long surrounded sports, not just basketball. Bill Russell versus Wilt Chamberlain, Peyton Manning versus Tom Brady, Kobe versus LeBron and Emmit Smith versus Barry Sanders are all previous incarnations of this debate. It comes down to a player having great stats but not winning and another player having winning but slightly lesser stats. 

Enter Kevin Love. There's really not another player in this debate. It's more like Kevin Love versus the Minnesota Timberwolves debate. Let there be no mistake about it, the numbers that Kevin Love is putting up are tremendous. In fact, statistically speaking, he's having a season for the ages.

On the pro-Love side of the argument, there are some pretty impressive numbers to throw out. He's leading the NBA in efficiency and is second in total stats.  He leads the NBA in both offensive and defensive rebounds, and obviously, if he leads the league in both of those categories, he leads the league in total rebounds too. He also leads in offensive rebound percentage, defensive rebound percentage and total rebound percentage. 

He's fourth in Player Efficiency Rating, first in offensive win shares and fifth in total win shares. His True Shooting percentage is fourth among players scoring 20 points or more per game. That's just scratching the surface of his statistical resume` though. 

Tonight, he just racked up his 11th 20-point, 20-rebound game of the season. Since 1986-87 (as far back as basketball-reference goes with their play index), only one player, Kevin Willis in 1991-92 has more with 12, and the only other player with 11 is Charles Barkley. 

Add in the fact that with that same 20/20 game he had tonight, he matched the double-double streak of 50 games set by Malone in 1978-79. With two more, he'll break the record for the most consecutive double-double's since the merger. 

Still not convinced? How about his current pace of 20 points and 15 rebounds per game? The only player who can match that in the three-point era is Moses Malone, who won the MVP the year he pulled it off. 

Then, just to cap it all off, let's factor in that he shoots the three as well. Only one player in history, Charles Barkley has averaged 18 points, 12 rebounds and one three-pointer per game. Love is on pace to squash that with his 20 points and 15 rebounds. 

Looking through the record books and statistical dominance that Kevin Love is compiling, the names that come up most often are names like Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, Shaquile O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon—every one of them an MVP at some point in their careers. 

Yet, some wouldn't even place Kevin Love as one of the top 10 players in the league right now. Why not? Well, the argument goes that a great player should be making the players around him better. The Timberwolves are a long, long way from being a respectable team. In fact, most of the team is probably Cavalier fans, because if it weren't for Cleveland, they'd be the laughingstock of the NBA.

At 15-48 the Timberwolves are a lot more than being a player away from being relevant. They are at least two players, and though they may not recognize the reality of it, a coach, away from being a playoff team.

Is it Love's fault they are so horrible? Tonight's starting lineup for Minnesota featured Wayne Elllington, Luke Ridnour, Nikola Pekovic, Michael Beasley and Love. That's quite an array of talent surrounding the big man.  Heck, this is a team so bad they can't even complete a high five. 

The combined win-share total for the team not including Love is 10.1. Love's win-share total is 10.5. Love, literally, (at least according to win shares) is worth the rest of the team combined. Should Love be faulted for the ineptness of his team?

Kobe Bryant carried an awful team to the playoffs before the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol. LeBron James' Cavaliers went from the tower to the dungeon after the King abnegated his throne. Some argue that a great player can carry a team to the playoffs at least—maybe not to win it all, but at least to the postseason. 

Then again, even Kobe's Pauless Lakers and the enthroned James' Cavs had more talent than the Loveless T'Wolves. How bad a team can a good player be expected to carry? Even Blake Griffin has more talent surrounding him than the teammates that Love has. 

Statistically, there can be some merit to that argument too. His huge rebounding numbers are the main argument for his placement in the top 10, yet the fact that he plays for the team that attempts and misses the most shots in the NBA helps pad those numbers as does the fact that Timberwolves opponents take the third most shots in the NBA (albeit with a much higher success rate). 

Certainly, he gets more rebound opportunities and that helps build up the numbers, but he also leads the NBA in offensive, defensive and total rebound percentage which means that it's not all just the fact that he's playing with a team that misses way too many shots.

Certainly, there have been other players on horrible teams, but none have been able to produce on the level of Love. And that's really what makes him a startling newcomer to the polarizing debate. Such tremendous production on such an awful team. I don't recall seeing a player do so much on a team that achieved so little. 

And so I put it to you—the readers—to decide.

Are Kevin Love's monster numbers a factor of brilliant play, or is he just vulturing off the benefit of playing with a cadaverous team?

Is he a top ten player in the NBA, or is he merely the product of being the right player in the right place at the right time?