Can Kevin Love carry the Cavaliers?

Where Love Must Improve

To ensure that he takes the Cavs to the playoffs, Love should improve his defensive consistency and be more aggressive in the paint.

Although Love’s defense occasionally gets criticized, his numbers don’t necessarily brand him as that bad of a defender. But they surely point to inconsistency. He’s had seasons where he’s averaged 3.7 defensive win shares (2013 and 2015) and one where he only had .9 (2012).

In this year’s playoffs, he was willing to step out onto ballhandlers from time to time and kept them in front of him. If he builds on this better lateral movement and reliably makes things tough for his opponents in the post, he could prove to be competent on that side of the ball.

A bigger body for offense may sabotage his newfound perimeter effort, but it may help when guarding down low.

Kevin Love should also take more shots in the paint next year. On the Cavs, he’s been relegated for the most part to standing beyond the arc. Last season, 43.2% of his shots were threes. In 2013, only 35.5% of his shots were threes—and more of these threes were created by Love using a pick himself than by a drive-and-kick from LeBron or Kyrie.

As a first option, Love’s primary game should move closer to the basket. By doing this, he gets more chances to score and can play an inside-out game. The best part of his game, his post play, will lead defenses to clamp on him down low, opening up space for him to get open from deep.

The offense should rely on All-Star Love’s post game to subsequently create three-point opportunities for him from the pick-and-pop. Relying on stellar playmaking from rookie Collin Sexton and veteran George Hill to create these looks is a probably a worse bet.