The Cleveland Cavaliers are without LeBron James and Kyrie Irving for the time being, which means it’s time for Kevin Love to step up or move on.
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are both down and out for the Cleveland Cavaliers, which is hardly the way fans wanted to start a new week. LeBron was already out before the weekend started, but Kyrie Irving’s injury occurred in the win over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday and will force him to not even travel with the team to Philadelphia for their next game.
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This is hardly positive news, especially after a 19-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks, but there is always the potential for silver lining. The silver lining in this situation is that with LeBron and Kyrie out, Kevin Love has an opportunity to finally do something for the Cavaliers and step up as the leader he needs to be.
If Love can’t step up and be a leader, he opens himself up to endless criticism that will not only be warranted, it will be justified as well.
When he arrived, there was much talk about how Love was the Chris Bosh of this new Big 3, with Bosh even warning him how little fun he was about to have. Bosh ended up being more correct than anyone thought at the time, but with two-thirds of the Big 3 now out, this is a chance for Love to show that he can in fact be a leader.
Love was criticized in Minnesota for not being a leader and blaming bad rosters and bad management for his struggles. All of that goes out the window with the Cavaliers as this is Love’s chance to shut the critics up and prove that he’s the best power forward in the NBA.
It’s a tall order and comes at perhaps the worst stretch of Love’s career. He’s not rebounding, he’s losing confidence and is starting to become an offensive forward when the Cavaliers need defense more than they ever have. But if Love can rally the Cavaliers into a winning streak without Kyrie or LeBron, it will prove his worth without the stats to lean on.
That’s what the Cavaliers truly need out of Love, as the stats are supposed to be part of the deal anyways — it’s the leadership that they need. If Love can’t step up and be a leader, he opens himself up to endless criticism that will not only be warranted, it will be justified as well.
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