Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love was named to the USA Basketball training camp team for the upcoming 2019 FIBA World Cup later this year, and it appears that Love could be a valuable veteran presence and consistent big on the squad.
Cleveland Cavaliers big Kevin Love did not have the 2018-19 season he would have hoped for, as he only appeared in 22 games (per Basketball Reference), mostly due to him reportedly having toe surgery earlier in the season on his left foot.
Love did reportedly take a step forward as a leader last season in what was his first year on the Cavaliers without LeBron James on the team, though, and that I would think that will carry over into the coming years with Love still seemingly a crucial piece to the team’s rebuild.
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Sticking with that leadership element with Love, I would think that he could provide that for Team USA in the upcoming FIBA World Cup later this year in August/September in China, too.
Love is reportedly on USA Basketball’s training camp roster for the event, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who would note how the squad will initially have 18 players on it going into that camp (which is in early August in Las Vegas), and will have a finalized roster of 12 players in the World Cup, ultimately.
Wojnarowski would then highlight how the rest of the roster includes the Portland Trail Blazers’ CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard, the Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal, and then touched on players named to it that are planning to be at camp are the New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis, the Houston Rockets’ James Harden and Eric Gordon, among others, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kyle Kuzma.
Wojnarowski then touched on two more potential roster additions, both of which would likely bring plenty of grit and defensive awareness, may be competing for USA Basketball as well.
“Houston’s P.J. Tucker told ESPN’s Tim McMahon that he will be a part of the training camp, and another tough-minded veteran, Denver‘s Paul Millsap, is also a possibility, league sources told ESPN.”
Swinging back to Love’s fit with this World Cup group, he could definitely bring value as a floor-spacer and great rebounder for Team USA (as he’s shown throughout his whole career and especially with the Cleveland Cavaliers), along with being a steady post-up scoring and/or halfcourt passing presence due to his unselfishness (he has a healthy career assist rate of 12.1%, per Basketball Reference).
Love also has prior experience with Team USA, as Fear The Sword’s Chris Manning demonstrated, as Love won a gold medal in 2012 and he was (per Manning) on the “gold-medal winning 2010 World Cup championship team.”
I would think that Love makes this squad, and in particular, due to his style of play as a skilled inside-out big that should fit perfectly alongside skilled ball-handlers such as Lillard, Harden and McCollum, who should be able to penetrate international defenses and find pieces like Love on the perimeter at will.
Love’s perimeter shooting (a career three-point hit rate of 37.0%, per Basketball Reference) and nice secondary playmaking should enable Davis to have tons of room to operate in the paint and he should feast on rolling lobs as well.
Once again, with the way Love has emerged as a key leader for the Cleveland Cavaliers, I would imagine that his veteran presence and prior exposure as a player on Team USA would be a welcomed addition to the club.
Of course, as Manning alluded to, though, let’s hope Love won’t get hurt if he competes internationally in August/September; taking that into consideration, I wouldn’t expect Team USA and him to completely push the envelope with the 2019-20 season starting relatively soon after (the event ends September 15, per Wojnarowski).