Please, stop thinking Kevin Love is the answer

It’s time for the fans to come to grips with the fact that Kevin Love isn’t the answer for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ frontcourt.

Kevin Love has played excellent basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season — on one side of the floor, anyways.

On offense, Love has been a perfect fit for the team and improved his play in the post to boot. His dedication to altering his physique has paid dividends as he now has enough quickness to take opponents off-the-dribble should they close out hard to the three-point line but enough strength to muscle his way around low-post defenders to get a shot up.

As a result, Love is shooting the highest true shooting percentage of his career (61.5 percent) and has the highest free-throw rate (37.5 percent of his possessions) he’s had since being traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2014.

In addition, Love is converting 47.3 percent of his post-ups this season, putting him in the 73rd percentile. Last season, Love was converting just 39.5 percent of his post-ups, putting him in the 44th percentile. In 2015-2016, Love was converting 48.2 percent of his post-ups (83rd percentile), so it’s not as if Love was incapable of executing in the post prior to coming to Cleveland or throughout his time in the Land.

However, last season was one of Love’s worst as a low-post scorer and as one of the few skilled big men the team had one the roster, his struggles stood out.

All in all, in four seasons with Cleveland, Love has averaged 17.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game while shooting 43.2 percent from the field, 37.4 percent from three-point range and 84.0 percent from the free-throw line.

In the six seasons that preceded his trade to the Cavs, Love averaged 19.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the field, 36.2 percent from three-point range and 81.5 percent from the free-throw line.

In short, Love is just as impactful as a Cav as he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That’s certainly the case this season, with Love averaging 19.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.2 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from three-point range and a career-high 88.4 percent from three-point range.

Yet, even with all of this success, the Cleveland Cavaliers still needed a perimeter playmaker to take the pressure off of LeBron James. Part of the fact that James was in a position to have such a stellar start to the season wasn’t because he was on a team devoid of All-Star talent. It’s because that All-Star talent was playing at the wrong position.

Throughout his career, James has played beside a scoring guard and a highly skilled big man. Think Mo Williams (or Larry Hughes) and Zydrunas Ilgauskus. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Kyrie Irving and Love.

James was a scoring guard at the beginning of this season and in games when he needed a player like Irving, Love couldn’t fill the void.

What’s more, in the past three seasons, James’ skilled big man started at power forward instead of center. As evidenced by Love’s position switch this season, that can make a significant difference. For one, a center who can shoot is going to have to be guarded on the perimeter by another big man and that opens up the lane for James to do what he’s always done best.

Attack the rim.

With guys like Antawn Jamison, Jamario Moon, Shane Battier and Rashard Lewis playing power forward beside James throughout his career, having a “stretch four” is nothing new to James. It’s just that those players, like Jae Crowder, were more like combo forwards and thus more capable of guarding their position. Especially with stretch fours (combo forwards) en vogue.

Love was a stretch four but not a combo forward: a point that mattered most when the Cleveland Cavaliers faced off against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals and it was obvious that with Love at power forward and matched up against the likes of Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala and Kevin Durant at the four, the Dubs would take advantage of Love’s lack of lateral agility on the perimeter.

Unfortunately, putting Love at center doesn’t do much to stop the bleeding. When Zaza Pachulia is on the bench (and he only plays 14.5 minutes per game), Draymond Green is the Warriors’ worst scorer but still a player who can knock down threes, get shots in the paint and make plays on the perimeter as a facilitator.

That’s who Love would be guarding at center even if they opted to just let Green shoot.

Still, the Cavs left him open throughout the 2017 NBA Finals.

Although Green couldn’t make them pay (he shot 34.5 percent from the field and 28.0 percent from three-point range), the Warriors defeated the Cavs’ 4-1. That was even with Love averaging 16.0 points per game, shooting 38.7 percent from three-point range and taking as many free-throw attempts (20) as Irving.

That makes you think.

Combine his performance in the 2016 NBA Finals (in which he averaged 8.5 points per game while shooting 36.2 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from three-point range) with his performance in the 2017 NBA Finals (in which he shot 38.8 percent from the field) then combine those performances with the many ways in which Love’s defense can be exploited.

Is Love really the answer?

The lack of bench play, as many know, was a main culprit in the Cavs’ thrashing. As was the Warriors’ ability to keep Tristan Thompson off the boards, Irving’s slow start to the series and Love’s inefficiency inside.

It would be nice for J.R. Smith and Crowder to be consistent from three and play solid isolation defense, living up to their three-and-D role. The bench unit is revamped. Isaiah Thomas has similar strengths and weaknesses compared to Irving. Love’s post play is improved.

Yet, will it be enough?

Not if the Cavs can’t stop the opposing team from scoring in the paint, on the perimeter or in transition well enough. Unfortunately, Love’s presence on the floor means the Cavs likely will struggle in each of those areas.

Love doesn’t seem have the athleticism or savvy to consistently excel as a pick-and-roll defender. He’s in the 23rd percentile guarding pick-and-roll roll men, allowing 1.19 points per possession and for his matchup to shoot 60.7 percent from the field with an effective field goal percentage of 66.1.

Love doesn’t have the lateral agility to consistently be a lockdown defender on the perimeter. He’s in the 10th percentile as an isolation defender, allowing 1.20 points per possession and for his matchup to shoot 48.5 percent from the field with an effective field goal percentage of 57.6.

Love doesn’t have the speed to keep up with his man running full-pelt down the court in transition. Chances are, if he tried to close out on a three-point shooter in transition, that player would just put the ball on the floor and beat him off-the-dribble.

Opponents shoot 6.5 percent better than their season average against Love and that’s no fluke. In fact, it’s the worst defensive field goal percentage on the team.

More from Cavs Analysis

• The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
• This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead
• Projecting how much Cavs’ 3 two-way signings might play this season
• 4 Cavaliers looking to make a name for themselves in training camp
• Mitchell’s numbers getting trimmed a bit wouldn’t be bad thing for Cavaliers

In a world where Jose Calderon, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose and Tristan Thompson are constantly criticized, Love has been insulated from the criticism this season although his pick-and-roll defense has been lackluster and the fact that he couldn’t scare a mouse from going into the paint with his lack of shot-blocking ability.

These criticisms are instead bourne out in fans clamoring for a DeAndre Jordan trade. Jordan would be a fine pick-up on paper but if he becomes a starter then the paint (also known as James’ Kingdom) closes up. In addition, despite his incredible finishing ability and defensive prowess, Jordan isn’t a skilled big who the Cavs can feed in the post for points or passes. The team would have to change its identity on the fly in a pivotal season.

Even when fans want a Paul George, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis or Marc Gasol, they want to pretend as if four All-Stars will share the ball with ease like this is a NBA2K My Team and not real life with real people. They’ll point to the Warriors’ Big Four without realizing that Green isn’t a scorer, meaning one of the Cavs’ Big Four would literally have to take a back seat for the team to win.

At the end of the day, Love is still a Cav because the team couldn’t trade him for what they wanted. His trade value wasn’t high enough. That’s not the same as Love still being a Cav because the front office thinks they can’t do any better than a lineup with Love in it. Or James, who was recruiting George to Cleveland in the offseason despite the fact Love may have had to be traded for the deal to work.

I don’t like to bag on Love because he’s one of the most skilled players in the league and one of the most dominant big men in the league on the offense end.

However, that doesn’t mean he’s what this Cavs team needs in order to beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals or be the best team in the league. Acting like he’s untouchable is where fandom and analysis blur lines.

In truth, unless the New Orleans Pelicans or Oklahoma City Thunder soften their stances on keeping their superstars for the rest of the season, Love is here to stay through 2017-2018.

That doesn’t mean he’s the answer though. It just means the Cavs have to find answers to compensate for his weaknesses, as they’re the most exploitable weaknesses on the team.

Related Story: With superstars off table in trade talks, what's next for Cavs

*Unless otherwise referenced, all stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com