Kevin Love: LA beckons you to come back home by Greg Gee with Bharv

Kevin Love please come home to the Los Angeles Lakers. Bring you outstanding talents to L.A. -- we need ya...Ok, your from Oregon but you played your college ball at UCLA.

Kevin Love is a beast:

Love's incredible March Madness stat line looks just like, well, no one else's stats have been this overwhelmingly dominant.  The 6'10 forward's ability to score, rebound and play defense has been dominating for the Minnesota Timberwolves 15 games in March:  averaging 31 points and 14 rebounds, a single game stat line that has been achieved a combined 22 times this season by all other NBA players --Love has done it 9 times.

Love's stock has been consistently rising since he entered the league 4 years ago. Like many emerging young superstars playing in a small market -- it begs the question -- how can a small market like Minnesota keep a rising superstar like Love? History tells us they cannot and will not be able to keep him.

Why?

In this day and age of self-promotion, players are thinking about their brand, image and marketability off the court as well as on it. A small market team might give them a big check, but these players want to be playas on a big stage.

LeBron left Cleveland for the glamour of " South Beach," not Miami, if you remember correctly. That's because South Beach is the hot spot; Miami is just the name of the city. Carmelo Anthony was in Denver, now he's in Broadway, New York City. Same player, same -- well almost same numbers -- on a team no better than the ones he played on in Denver, but now on a much bigger stage. source

And there may be others seeking the brighter lights of a big market team:

Kevin Durant(Thunder), Russell Westbrook(Thunder), LaMarcus Aldridge(Trailblazers), and Rudy Gay(Grizzlies) are other rising  (super)stars who are unquestionably among the league's best players and playing in small markets. 

That's good for the league and for those teams, but not always good for those individual players. (Bleacher Report 3/28/2012)


So, as a true LA Laker homer, am I selfish for wanting to lure Kevin Love back home to the much brighter lights of LA?