Expectations were sky high for the Cleveland Cavaliers when LeBron James decided to come back home.
Then the Cavaliers managed to trade Andrew Wiggins and a few other pieces to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Love.
After that trade, it gave Cleveland the Big 3 of LeBron, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving. If you thought expectations were high before, it just doubled after acquiring Love.
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Despite the high expectations, the Cavaliers still had a lot of major question marks.
Over the last 4 previous seasons, the entire NBA world saw what LeBron James was capable of. He led the Miami Heat to 4 straight NBA Finals appearances, winning two of them. We knew LeBron was capable of winning championships, and playing under the spotlight.
But was the newly acquired Kevin Love capable of performing in big time situations?
Since being drafted by Minnesota in 2008, Kevin Love was never able to reach the playoffs. He definitely had success stat wise, but he never led the T-Wolves into the postseason.
Love’s best season came in 2013-2014 when he averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds per game. He shot 46% from the field, and averaged between 18-19 shots per game. That is a very important stat to consider, and we will get into more detail about that later on.
Was it Kevin Love’s fault that Minnesota never reached the playoffs? No, absolutely not. Could Kevin Love had been a little less selfish? Yes, you could make that argument, but he was not the one to blame. He simply did not have the talent around him to reach the postseason.
And that is one of the main reasons why Kevin Love is a Cavalier today, rather than being a part of the Timberwolves. Lack of talent wouldn’t be a problem in Cleveland with the return of LeBron James.
A trio of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love drew a lot of similarity to the Heat’s trio of LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. Are they really that similar?
Kevin Love and Chris Bosh are almost the same exact player on offense, since Bosh improved his 3 point shooting, and they agree themselves. Bosh admitted that him and Love have similar backgrounds being a star player on a non-playoff team, and having to transition to being a 3rd-wheel player on a championship contender. Bosh called the transition “the hardest obstacle he has had to climb in his hoops career.”
Transitioning from being the lone star on Minnesota, to being the third option on the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been a hard obstacle for Love as well. It has been a very inconsistent season for Kevin Love, with a lot of ups and downs.
Inconsistent is a good word to describe Love so far this year, but is he underachieving?
Before we answer that, let’s take a look at Kevin’s stat line this season. He is currently averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds per game, on 42% shooting.
For most players, that is a great stat-line. But Kevin Love isn’t any ordinary player for the Cavaliers. It’s important not to forget who the Cavaliers gave up to acquire him, the promising rookie Andrew Wiggins, who is having an excellent rookie year.
Last season in Minnesota Love averaged 26 points per game with 12 rebounds. Why have his stats took a major drop?
Well the obvious reason is that he now has LeBron James and Kyrie Irving on his team. But a more in-depth answer is that he simply isn’t getting as many shot attempts.
This season Love is averaging between 12-13 shots per game, how many shots did he take per game last season? Around 18-19. That is a major drop-off.
LeBron James recently sent out this tweet, and it turns out he was tweeting about teammate Kevin Love. Here is what the King had to say:
Stop trying to find a way to FIT-OUT and just FIT-IN. Be apart of something special! Just my thoughts
— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 8, 2015
A few weeks ago there were rumors that Kevin Love was looking to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers in the off-season. Love has always been a West Coast kind of guy, playing college basketball at UCLA.
Love immediately shut down those rumors, saying he intends to remain a Cavalier.
The day after LeBron tweeted that, Kevin Love scored 32 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and hit 7 three-pointers in a national broadcast game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
That’s the Kevin Love we all expect to see. Obviously he can’t do that every night, but that is the Love the Cavaliers traded Andrew Wiggins for.
ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh said it best: Kevin Love just needs to be like Chris Bosh. Here is his ESPN Insiders article explaining why Love needs to model his game after Bosh.
In conclusion, when evaluating Love’s first season with Cleveland, keep this in mind: Chris Bosh also struggled in his first season with the Miami Heat.
In 2010-2011, Chris Bosh averaged 18 points and 8 rebounds per game, after averaging 24-10 the previous season with the Toronto Raptors.
A slow start to the season was expected for Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers. We all knew it would take time for him to gel. Saying Kevin Love is underachieving is a bit premature, and unfair.
Like Tom Haberstroh said, Kevin Love needs to be more like Chris Bosh if the Cleveland Cavaliers want to have the kind of success the Miami Heat had in LeBron James’ tenure.