How Kevin Love's Skills Make Him This Generation's Larry Bird

The things that Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love has done the past couple of seasons has gone well beyond remarkable.

Love's become the premiere power forward in the game today and has been nothing short of dominant along the way, putting up insane numbers throughout his career. This season, Love's averaging 26.3 PPG (fourth in NBA) to go along with 13.8 RPG (second in NBA), only a season after breaking out with a 20.2 PPG and 15.2 RPG season.

What has made Love so dominant is his extraordinary skill set that not too many big men can boast. It's that skill set that make him this generation's version of Larry Bird.

Notice I didn't say Love would be as good as Bird, but the comparisons are there.

Bird was 6'9" while Love stands an inch taller. Both have better than average post games and both can really shoot the ball from the perimeter, which in turn makes the rest of their offensive game that much better.

Love has shot the ball at a .397 clip from three-point range the past two seasons. Bird was a career .376 shooter from behind the arc, which puts Love in the conversation even though two seasons is a very small sample size.

While three-point shooting is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Bird, he was a solid all-around scorer and a good rebounding forward as well.

Love is a better rebounder, controlling both the offensive and defensive boards. Bird averaged 10.0 RPG throughout his career, doing so with a bad back for part of that time. Love has the same feel for the game that Bird has and positions himself outstanding, often getting a great read on how the ball will come off the rim.

Quite simply, he's one of the premiere rebounders in the NBA today.

After Love followed up a 51-point effort against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 20-point, 21 rebound effort in a Minnesota win against Denver, Nuggets coach George Karl issued Love the ultimate compliment.

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"We used to call him kind of a poor man's Larry Bird," Denver coach George Karl said. "I think you can take 'poor man's' off that comparison now. His ability to rebound is incredible and his offensive tools and skills are growing."

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If he keeps it up, that all-around skill set will continue to draw Love comparisons to the Hall of Famer.

Love can shoot it from anywhere. He can score down low. He can put the ball on the deck and is a tremendous passer. Throw in the rebounding skills he has, and you can see where the comparisons to Bird come from.

Love's a legitimate MVP candidate, something that Bird also knows a thing or two about.

He's a long way from winning the hardware and the rings Bird has won throughout his career, but strictly based on basketball ability, it's no longer crazy to think that Love is this generation's version of Bird.