Kevin Martin showed up to Minnesota Timberwolves training camp on Monday and dropped a bombshell during the team’s pre-camp media day session:
“I didn’t know Kevin Love got traded until yesterday,” Martin said with a straight face at Monday’s annual media day at Target Center that preceded a midnight start to training camp in Mankato. “I’m not big on looking at blogs and all that.”
Suuuuuure. First of all, the trade that sent Kevin Love to Cleveland in exchange for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett was the worst-kept secret in the NBA for about a week — before it was finally (mercifully?) revealed that the trade would go through as soon as NBA rules allowed for it. Second, over the approximately month-and-a-half span between LeBron James signing with Cleveland and Love officially became a Cavalier, not one mention of the trade made it to Martin’s ears? Granted, speculation surrounding the trade created much more buzz compared to when it actually went through, but you’d think at least at that point someone might say something to Martin, right?
If he’s telling the truth, then we have some burning questions: Where was Kevin Martin all summer? Was he hibernating in a cave? Was he exploring Antarctica? Not one of his boys bothered to send him a “sux about K-Love, bro” text? Also, there’s no way he avoided his phone, e-mail, or any communication with his team or teammates from roughly mid-July until Monday morning, right?
That’s why Kevin Martin is full of crap. News of Love’s departure was completely unavoidable. Even casual NBA fans knew what was going down. However, my guess is that Martin is doing that thing that players do when a superstar leaves and they try to act all nonchalant about how losing the REALLY GOOD BASKETBALL PLAYER isn’t that big a deal. We saw a version of this at Miami’s media day, when Mario Chalmers briefly referred to the departed LeBron James as “that guy”. He didn’t mean it maliciously, but he and Martin are probably more focused on the future of their respective teams, rather than the past. Also, while Martin may be good at keeping a straight face, he’s still a terrible liar.
[BSO]
