Cavs’ Kevin Love’s recent play is showing a bit of what could have been

Since his return from missing over half of this season with an injury, Kevin Love has played very well, and it leads one to wonder a bit what the season could have been like had Love not missed significant time.

Kevin Love has often been injured throughout his career, and even more so since being with the Cleveland Cavaliers. This year has been no exception when it comes to that narrative, as Love has  missed 50 games due to reported toe surgery.

That’s unfortunate, because his recent play, well at least in the last three games he’s been active since returning from that ailment, could lead one to think about the possibilities for how this year could’ve gone had Love not missed significant time.

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In his last three games being active since returning (of which he played considerable minutes), Love has averaged 20.7 points on 70.2 percent true shooting in just 21.3 minutes per game (per NBA.com).

He’s shot a scorching 47.8 percent on 7.7 three-point attempts in that span, too. His net rating is 26.1 as well, per NBA.com.

Love is finding his groove, and I understand that those contests were against the tanking New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies, who are the second-worst team in the Western Conference.

That being said, Love has looked much, much healthier, and the way he makes those around him, Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman in particular, better, with Love healthier, it’s showing a bit of why the Cavs could close out the season much stronger than they started it.

Love’s 32-point effort (a season-high) yesterday against the Grizz (who actually have the sixth-best defensive rating in the NBA) was a reason for Cavs’ locker room optimism.

Look, I get it.

Love is not going to keep up a 70.2 percent true shooting clip, as he’s done over this three-game sample, but I don’t believe it’s far-fetched to say that if Sexton and Osman, not to mention the Cavs’ assist leader, Matthew Dellavedova, had Love’s presence for the majority of this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers would be more respectable this year.

Sexton’s 3.4 assists per 36 minutes (per Basketball Reference) don’t scream that he’s growing a ton as a passer, but if you really watch recent games, Sexton is definitely growing in that area.

Several times in games, now, as opposed to say, in the first half of the season, the “Young Bull” is making the extra pass for the best possible shot for Cleveland, or he’s initiating ball-swings by driving baseline and kicking out to shooters, who often hit another open man, such as Osman or Dellavedova.

Earlier in the season, without the threat of Love out there especially, Sexton may not have made this pass and shot a tougher shot himself here.

Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor recently highlighted how Sexton is getting better in all facets of the game, and is showing how he can affect games in ways other than scoring, but has obviously improved his perimeter shooting, too.

"“In the 112-107 win against Memphis, Sexton scored 20 points on 8-of-16 from the field and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. He added six rebounds, five assists and two steals. It’s the 13th game he has scored at least 20 and the fifth time in the last seven. No rookie has reached double figures more than Sexton, who has hit that mark 51 times.Part of the quintet that held off Memphis’ late rally, Sexton showed the poise and composure that sometimes lacked in the first few months. He played off the ball every now and then, looking comfortable in a different role. When the ball was in his hands, he navigated screens with more maturity, creating space to get his shot off and finding passing lanes, something that has been problematic.He even knocked down outside shots, including a timely triple late in the fourth quarter. Considered a black mark on the resume coming out of Alabama, Sexton’s jumper has gotten better with plenty of hard work. Of rookies that have logged more than 300 total minutes, Sexton ranks third in 3-point percentage, hitting 39.5 percent of his deep balls.”"

With Love on the floor with both Sexton and Osman, there is so much more of the floor opened up for the latter two, and I’d imagine with Love on the floor more with them, both would be even further along offensively in their development.

Sexton’s driving lanes are more open to get to the rim, and Osman’s catch-and-shoot looks from deep are much more clean. As we’ve touched on recently, Osman is hitting his stride from the perimeter, and with Love’s outlet passing on the floor with him and Sexton, the Cavs’ transition opportunities have been more prevalent lately.

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Larry Drew emphasized how the trio of Love, Sexton and Osman are starting to find some nice chemistry in this recent stretch since Love’s returned (again, this quote was transcribed by Fedor).

"“You can look at the short time that he’s been back and it’s pretty clear. To see the flow when he’s in the game and both of those guys out there with him, the ball moves, they play off one another very well and I can see some real camaraderie between the three of those guys when they are out there on the floor and when one does something the other two go over,” Drew said when discussing how Love has helped Sexton and Osman. “I don’t think it’s too early to say. Him on the floor certainly opens up a lot of things for Collin, Cedi and the rest of our guys. We’ve missed him terribly. Just happy he’s back and hopefully he can stay healthy for the remainder of the season.”"

In addition to making things easier for key perimeter pieces, Love has opened up more space for a player such as Larry Nance Jr. or Marquese Chriss to roll to the rim for lobs when they’ve shared the floor together when opponents are going big, and Love’s presence has also enabled Ante Zizic to have more room to operate in the low post, and get more open looks in the mid-range area.

Now a lineup with Love and Zizic probably wouldn’t be sharing the floor together too often throughout this season due to defensive issues, but in spurts against bigger lineups, it could work very well on the offensive end.

Nonetheless, Love’s injury concerns will always be the elephant in the room with him, as evidenced by this season most recently.

We’ll see what the Cleveland Cavaliers’ approach is in regards to potentially trading Love in the near future or keeping him around to help players such as Sexton and Osman continue to progress in their development. For now, the Cavs are happy to have Love back.