Kyrie has already gotten 2 rather serious injuries, albeit both kind of freak his first two years at the college level or pros. That needs to be a worry--he might just be unlucky or he might be injury prone. I like Kyrie a bunch even as a Dukie but getting hurt seriously twice in 2 seasons is a big concern for me going forward.

Cp3 has his own issues with injuries. Although with this past year he looks like he is back on track to near or at his peak. I'm a huge CP3 fan, I won't vote though.

My votes:

4) Paul
5) Kyrie
6) Love
7) RWB

RWB v Bynum seems close but Bynum is older and has played like two full seasons.

That article on Chris Paul's knee is pretty good. Basically, cliffs are that it's the same kind of injury as Brandon Roy had, but whereas Roy started getting knee injuries in high school and has had both menisci removed in each knee, Chris Paul's only had one surgery to remove one meniscus. Still about 5x more serious than what's happened with Kyrie, but not guaranteed to ruin his career or anything.

i think i would pretty much agree with this, although i think

bynum/rwb is pretty interesting, i am a rwb hater but he is good, young, durable

will kevin love ever be the best player on a championship team? or even a serious contender?

I highly doubt it. Then again, I really think there are only 3 guys in the current NBA that can be the best player on a title team--Lebron, Durant, Howard (if he moves)--otherwise nobody really has a chance in the foreseeable future. Love could be a top player on a contender in the West if he gets lucky but he needs a good #2--I guess Rubio could be that guy but a big if. Maybe Rose, Cp3 have non zero chances, and I guess Bynum could but not sure.

Why not? He's ahead of Dirk at the same age (most similar player to Love stylistically), and Dirk won a ring as the best player on his team.

Dirk finally got all the pieces including Chandler. Even then he ran pretty hot to win a title then again ran pretty bad not to win it all earlier. The problem I have with Love, currently, is his team/ownership. On the right team, with the right pieces he has a shot albeit a pretty small one.

Looking at Dirk again, not one player he was playing with in his 4th season was even on the '06 team that got screwed out of a title, let alone on the 2010 team that actually won. And Rubio's a pretty damn good start in Minnesota. If that goes nowhere, he can always demand a trade/leave in free agency. Love's window is way larger than a Derrick Rose type. He could still be playing at close to peak value well into his 30s.

It's one thing to play for Cuban, it's another to be essentially playing for KAHNNNN.

Dirk had some pretty good teams in the pre 2006 era including teams led by Nash/Finley. Obviously Love has a chance, I just think a small one. Rose's chances are slim as well but for other reasons--being in the East for one.

if minny got a SG they'd be a contender (not a top tier, but just a notch below).

i know a lot of teams are "one player away" but if the wolves had harden fall to them at 5/6 in 09, or grabbed steph curry (omg could you imagine a curry/rubio backcourt!!!) instead of johnny flolynn, or if they had taken paul george instead of wesloly johnson-- we'd be talking about zomg up and coming team much more than we are now, they'd be a notch ahead of the nugs for sure

for short term, renting ak might work pretty good alongside love, but their overall gameplan isn't great.

they do seem like a team that could upset someone with a healthy rubio in the first round of this years playoffs (would love to see 2/7 matchup against the spurs)

to answer the original Q: yes of course love can be the best player on a team that wins it. fit kinda matters of course and i think he's a little tougher to build around than most players, but **** he's good at what he does.

Yeah, Wolves are actually set up pretty good right now. Rubio's locked down through 2014/2015 at 4.5MM/year, D-Will has 2 years worth of team options after this season so they can keep him if he develops or dump if he doesn't, and they've still got tons of cap room next summer to make a run at Harden or Iggy. If I were ranking teams in order of likelihood to title in 2015, they'd definitely be Top 5. Maybe even as high as 3.

1. Heat
2. Thunder
3. Bulls?
4. Lakers?
5. Nuggets?

After that who knows:

Hornets, Wolves, Warriors, Pacers seem reasonable.

tmacs 99 season of 22mpg/9 ppg/.504 TS% is the only teenager close to Kyrie? ok

i'd probably buy some wolves shirts if they rolled out rubio/harden/ak/love/pek