Of Course It Would Be Ridiculous To Give Up Kevin Love In A Carmelo Anthony Trade
The Cleveland Cavaliers would be doing themselves a disservice by trading Kevin Love for Carmelo Anthony. The goal should be to have both Love and Anthony.
There really shouldn’t be a discussion about if the Cleveland Cavaliers should be trading Kevin Love in order to acquire Carmelo Anthony. Sure, it’s an interesting idea to speculate about and I’m not sure it would make the Cleveland Cavaliers worse though I don’t think it makes them better as a team either.
The only sense in acquiring Anthony though, is if Kevin Love is on the team as well. While there is a question of if Love would start at center with Anthony on the team or if Anthony would come off the bench, the Cleveland Cavaliers could also opt to play LeBron James at shooting guard with Anthony coming to town to keep the versatile defender and elite rebounder Tristan Thompson in the starting lineup.
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Can he do play shooting guard?
James looks springy and lithe this season. He’s flying around the court making plays and actually on pace to have more dunks this season than any of his career. It’s already known that he’s one of the best passers in the league, as he’s currently averaging a career-high 8.8 assists per game and just had a career-high 17 assists last night against the Washington Wizards.
He’s also shooting 37.4 percent from three-point range, which is on par with J.R. Smith‘s career three-point percentage of 37.5 and many come in a similar fashion. James, like Smith, launches his threes with the bravado and showmanship of an elite sniper. A fact that’s only funny because James shoots 34.2 percent from three-point range for his career.
James would be the biggest shooting guard in the league at 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds but would be able to play the position nonetheless.
Even if the Cavs bring Anthony off the bench, they’ll need to find a way to put their best five players on the floor. That’s Kyrie Irving, James, Anthony, Love and Thompson.
The interesting thing about this lineup is that they’ll dominate most, if not all, small-ball lineups on the boards while having four explosive scorers and an elite offensive rebounder. Their size, scoring and the two-ability and versatility of James and Thompson specifically, would make the Cavs a tough team to beat.
That’s why the Cavs should go after Anthony but not at the price of Love.
A question can asked about who would the Cavs give up if not Love. Players people might typically name are Iman Shumpert and Channing Frye.
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Do you think the Cleveland Cavaliers should trade for Carmelo Anthony without trading Kevin Love? Let us know in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.