Kevin Love ranked #25 in ESPN’s NBARank

Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love was ranked #25 in ESPN’s NBARank.

In ESPN’s latest set of rankings for their top 100 players of 2018-2019, Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star power forward Kevin Love came in at the 25th spot on the list.

Here’s what ESPN’s Dave McMenamin had to say about the selection:

"His bank account already loved the numbers the All-Star forward put up, with Love signing a four-year, $120 million extension with the Cavs shortly after LeBron James left for L.A. Now the question is whether Love can continue the trend of gaudy stats in the fall and get his field goal attempts up toward the 18.5 per game taken in his final season in Minnesota — well above the 12.4 shots per game he had as James’ sidekick last year. — Dave McMenamin"

Love is one of the best big men in the NBA and, at one time, was seen as the prototypical stretch-four in the NBA.

Not only is Love capable of catching fire from deep, as is evidenced by his 41.5 percent mark from three-point range last season (per Basketball Reference) and career three-point shooting percentage (37.0). Love is an elite rebounder, particularly on the defensive glass. Averaging 9.3 rebounds per game last season (his career rebounding average is 11.3), Love’s presence on the glass was sorely missed when he missed more than a month’s worth of action with a fractured right hand.

Those two elite skills are enhanced by Love’s basketball IQ.

His basketball IQ and his passing touch also make him an above-average playmaker from the post and because he recognizes how to use his size to take advantage of matchups, whether they’re bigger than him or smaller, Love is pretty efficient (61.4 true shooting percentage last season).

Guard Love with a smaller man and he’ll bully them on the block. Guard him with a bigger man and he’ll get the step on him and drive to the rim.

His recognition of when to cut is a major factor in his efficiency too. Love scored 1.33 points per possession on cuts last season, per SAP Analytics, and made 61.0 percent of his shots on cuts (66th percentile).

Defensively, Love is night and day from his offense.

He’s prone to lackluster effort in his rotations, especially when he’s tired. He can get bullied by bigger and skilled low-post scorers, though he’s a decent defender when guarding traditional bigs on the block.

He’s a disaster in pick-and-roll defense, lacking the athleticism or awareness to make a positive impact when guarding roll men. Per SAP Analytics, Love surrendered 1.16 points per possession and allowed players to shoot 60.0 percent as pick-and-roll roll men last season.

Next season, the volume of Love’s shot attempts will be the biggest determinant of whether he’s still an efficient 18-point double-double player or if he’ll be more like “Minnesota Love,” as McMenamin alluded to. I’m not entirely convinced that Love’s shot attempts will go up too much though.

Last year’s eventual starter at point guard, George Hill, took 7.7 field goal attempts per game last season. His replacement at starter, rookie Collin Sexton, took 13.3 field goal attempts per game in college and will be more of a scoring-minded playmaker than Hill at the NBA-level.

Rodney Hood (9.5 field goal attempts per game with the Cavs) is looking to get his attempts up near where they were prior to last season’s trade deadline (14.2). Cedi Osman (3.0 field goal attempts per game last season) is looking for a larger role too.

Love could end up averaging similar numbers  to last season (his rebounding should see a spike in LeBron James’ absence), just as the first option.