Small forwards: Love wins over doubters about his abilities

After impressing NBA scouts and general managers with his athletic test results this month, former UCLA forward Kevin Love had just one thing to say to his critics: I told you so.

The power forward (don't call him a center, he says) had heard skeptics all year say he wasn't fast, tall or athletic enough to be successful in the NBA. He might be fundamentally sound and was first-team All-American as a freshman, but his physical limitations would be too much to overcome, some said.

But in the weeks leading up to the NBA's combine, where players are poked, prodded and tested, Love told anyone who would listen that his results would surprise people.

Only after Love backed up his talk with a better-than-expected outcome across the board did some evaluators believe. "Everybody is trying to pick at you," he said. "I read a quote from Steve Nash when he was coming out of college that said, 'People are more caught up in what you can't do than what you can do.' I kind of look at it like that when people say I'm undersized or slow."

Since the Bruins lost to Memphis in the Final Four in early April, Love has had little to do but work out and wait. He has lost 12-15 pounds, cutting his body fat substantially and giving him more mobility in the post. Days and nights have seemed to go by slowly recently, he says, but now that the culmination of his lifelong dream is within sight, the Pacific-10 player of the year says it feels "very, very strange."

In an era when prospects are coached by handlers to say as little as possible, Love is candid when discussing what teams best fit his style. He would like to go where he can play immediately, but is particularly keen on being picked third overall by his childhood idol Kevin McHale, the general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Otherwise, he hopes to go fifth to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Should he end up there, point guard Mike Conley and forward Rudy Gay will be the beneficiaries of Love's famous outlet passes. Love's middle name, Wesley, is an homage to Wes Unseld, a master at outlet passes who played with Love's father on Washington Bullets teams in the '70s.

Bryan Blake, the NBA's assistant director of scouting, says that Love's skill-set is so advanced for a 20-year-old big man that it should overshadow worries that he is not, as Blake says, "the biggest, quickest or highest jumper." Blake added that Love uses his moves and counter-moves so well that he gains the same edge other players do with sheer athleticism.

Love feels teams tend to overlook things like outlet passes in favor of raw athletic numbers and untapped potential when they evaluate prospects.

"People say 'He's so skilled already, I don't know how much better he can get' and put their emphasis on things like wingspan and standing reach, but I think a lot of it is how big a heart you have and how good you are between the ears," Love says. "I think my basketball IQ is higher than anyone else's in the draft and I'm more ready to contribute than anyone out there."

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