Kevin Love is a great player forced into a bad role. With the current roster around him, he can return to his pedestal.
How do the Cleveland Cavaliers unlock the potential of Kevin Love so that they can be the best team they can be? In Minnesota, Love was a 20-20 threat nearly every night. He thrived inside of the paint, he rebounded magnificently, and he could shoot from three. In Cleveland, he’s off in the corner somewhere. Shooting a three.
Take a look at the way Love played in 2010-2011 specifically and compare it to his last year’s Cavaliers team and the differences are astounding.
He flipped the script by shooting more from the outside and being less aggressive on the inside. He lost mass, muscle, the ability to power through defenders consistently for hoop or the harm.
It’s miraculous, really, that the Cavaliers won an NBA title without their third best player being in a fitting role.
Truthfully, if LeBron improved his shooting then Love could play inside more. As long as Kyrie Irving understands the art of basketball, the unadulterated beauty of making winning plays, then he’ll find Love inside more.
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The Big Three isn’t a conglomerate of separate entities, or at least it shouldn’t be. The Big Three should work as a single organism.
J.R. Smith provides an inordinate amount of threes and so Love should have the space and opportunity to play inside.
Tristan Thompson has provided a skillset similar to Dennis Rodman‘s and it’s invaluable but should LeBron struggle to shoot Channing Frye is available as a backup center.
With this much spacing and roster balance there’s no reason for Love to be a dominant stretch four rather than a dominant big inside and out.
To be fair to Love, in the last two years his starting frontcourt mates have been Anderson Varejao and Timofey Mozgov, two players not known for their mobility.
Love is covered by the athletes around him Cleveland. He must get bigger for the Big 3, regardless of him losing quickness.
First, Love has become a far better team defender. He’s active, at most times, when rotating and closing out on shooters. He’s shown a propensity for drawing foul charges.
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Secondly, Love isn’t fast enough, or quick enough, regardless. There’s no point in him losing a strength, his strength, to compensate for a lack of speed if he’s still going to be a defensive liability.
In 2010-2011, Love averaged 20.2 points and 15.2 rebounds. 4.5 of those rebounds were of the offensive variety. He made 41.7 percent of his threes and shot 2.9 threes per game that season, compared to shooting 36.0 percent on 5.7 threes per game last season.
An overwhelming majority (35.3 percent) of his shot attempts came from 0-3 feet compared to last season (17.3 percent). He made 61.5 percent of his shots from that range in 2010-2011 compared to 55.0 percent in 2015-2016.
Love took 1.4 less shots this year than that year and averaged 4 more points despite taking 1.6 more three-pointers per game. He was so much more aggressive in 2010-2011 than now, averaging 2.6 more offensive rebounds per game and 5.3 more rebounds in total.
Love can be his superstar self in Cleveland if he plays the way that he played to get the spotlight the first time.
When Love plays strong on the inside, the floor is opened up for every player to attack the rim. As he devours offensive rebounds and attempts free throws, he’ll be in position for plenty of easy points. Then, as he gathers more defensive rebounds, he can launch the ball ahead for a greater amount of transition opportunities.
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Again, his team will have to compensate for the times he gets blown by on the perimeter. Although, at least they won’t have to worry about him getting constantly backed down in the post, as well as still getting blown by on the perimeter no matter how much weight he loses. Last year, defenders shot better than their average against Love from every area on the court.
There simply isn’t a way to lose with Love hulking up because the rotation the Cavaliers have now should make up for a problem Love can’t help. Love is who he is. A versatile frontcourt player who is as intelligent as he is skilled. A willing and passionate team defender, but a bit lacking in the lateral agility department. That’s not a bad scouting report.
The scouting report is tainted when the Cavaliers use Love as a spot-up shooter like that’s the sole aspect of his identity rather than a skill he has that should be used intermittently between spurts of low-post greatness.
Love has had many that doubted his ability for far too long. The big man can take a big step in becoming a better member of the Big Three. He just must be placed in a better role.