Where do the Cavaliers go from here?

The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves at a crossroads after Kevin Love’s injury.

Where do the Cleveland Cavaliers go from here? They just lost their second-best player Kevin Love with a fractured left hand and he’ll be out for eight weeks while he recovers.

In the meantime, how are they going to replace the production that is lost by Love?

Love has been undervalued for much, if not all, of his tenure in Cleveland. Yet, he’s been great. He has been especially great this season; Love is in the 92nd percentile in spot-up shooting this season as well as ranking in the 79th percentile on post-up opportunities.

Losing Love also hurts the Cavaliers starting lineup, since there are no players that can do everything that Love can. Replacing that production will not be easy. As a result, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue will choose his starting power forward based on game-by-game matchups.

Channing Frye is a great spot-up shooter, ranking in the 79th percentile, but he rarely ever goes down into the post.

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The starting lineup that the Cavaliers deployed against the Miami Heat — Isaiah Thomas, J.R. Smith, LeBron James, Jae Crowder and Tristan Thompson.

The first thing to notice about this lineup is that this five really lacks three-point spacing . Thompson offers nothing from the outside. Crowder is shooting 32.6 percent from three and is a career 34 percent three-point shooter. Thomas has been shooting 25.0 percent from three-point range. James is best when he is surrounded by shooting so he can drive to the rim. The lineup does not offer a lot of that.

In an extremely small sample size of just 39 minutes together, the lineup has an offensive rating of 88.8 and a defensive rating of 121.5.

Thomas is back from injury and it has not gone as well as one would hope. Thomas is averaging 15.4 points per game on 36.3 percent shooting from the field and 25.0 percent from three-point range. His play on the court has been as aesthetically unpleasing as the numbers that reflect it.

Thomas told reporters after the loss to the Pistons that he was “75, 80%.” healthy.

James and Isaiah Thomas have not played well together since his return from injury. When the two have shared the court the together per 100 possessions they have a net rating of minus 14.9.

However, in their last game (against the Miami Heat on January 31st), the Cavaliers were a positive when James and Thomas shared the floor; when on the floor together, they had a net rating of +6.1. Winning by only two points, they needed that.

In general, though, the Cleveland Cavaliers need Thomas and James to mesh for them to have a chance to get back and win the NBA Finals. At the same time, it wouldn’t be totally shocking if Thomas was traded. It’s probably unlikely but it’s not impossible.

Related Story: Does Isaiah Thomas want out of Cleveland?

Whether or not Thomas is traded, they need to make a move. The Cleveland Cavaliers only have just two big men who are able to play and they’ll need to add one before trade deadline or when players get bought out. The Cleveland Cavaliers also need to add a solid defender to their backcourt.

Guys who fit that mold and could be potential fits and help the Cavaliers down the stretch are Memphis Grizzlies guard-forward Tyreke Evans and Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Kent Bazemore.

Evans, who signed a one-year contract this past offseason after a tough 2016-2017 season, has played well for the Grizzlies this season. Through 46 games, Evans is averaging 19.5 points, 5.0 assists. 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 steal per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 39.2 percent from three-point range (5.4 attempts per game).

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that Evans is ruled out by Memphis through the February 8th trade deadline as the Grizzlies look to move him to a team willing to surrender a first-round pick for his services\

Kent Bazemore is another potential candidate for the Cavaliers. He is averaging 13.1 points per game to go along with 4.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists (on 42.5 percent shooting from the field and 38.4 percent shooting from three-point range). According to Ben Falk’s cleaningtheglass.com, the Hawks this season have been nearly three points per 100 possessions better with him on the court.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have their own first round pick in the upcoming NBA draft as well as the Brooklyn Nets pick. They will probably use one of them in a trade.

Whether or not they do, they still have the best player on the planet in LeBron James and if anyone can get a team back to the NBA Finals without having a mainstay All-Star beside him, it’s James.

Related Story: Channing Frye can mimic much of Kevin Love's production

*Unless otherwise referenced, all stats provided by stats.nba.com