Cleveland Cavaliers media day: Kevin Love’s longevity is clearly a key focus for John Beilein

At Cleveland Cavaliers media day heading into the 2019-20 season, having star big Kevin Love on the floor and keeping him fresher as the year progresses was clearly touched on as a key focus for the organization moving forward, and especially head coach John Beilein.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, as KJG contributors have hit on often, really missed star big Kevin Love‘s presence on the floor for the vast majority of the 2018-19 season.

Love only appeared in 22 games last season (per Basketball Reference) mostly due to reported toe surgery, and that was a huge blow to the Cavaliers.

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Love is a five-time All-Star, and in his time with Cleveland, has averaged 17.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in four-plus seasons (per Basketball Reference).

The primary issue with Love in regards to his tenure with the Cavaliers, though, has been the injury bug, as has been often illustrated here at KJG.

Love has not played in over 60 games in any of the last three seasons, and on media day on Monday for 2019-20 Cleveland Cavaliers season, his health and keeping him fresh for the long haul was clearly a key focus for new Cleveland head coach John Beilein.

With the way Love is such a great inside-out scoring presence thanks to his post-up polish and lifetime 37.0 three-point shooting clip (per Basketball Reference), and with his secondary playmaking ability, the Cavaliers are clearly much better off with him on the floor.

He’ll be a big floor spacer for young players such as guard Collin Sexton, wing Cedi Osman, and the team’s three draft picks in guard Darius Garland and wings Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr., along with others, such as big Larry Nance Jr. and guard Jordan Clarkson.

The Cavs organization, as has reportedly been emphasized by general manager Koby Altman, recognize that Love is an excellent player that is so multifaceted, but of course, the health concerns will be there next year and going forward, really.

Playing off that, it seems that as the 2019-20 season progresses, that the team could realistically plan out games where Love could rest, to preserve him, and not have him be at risk to serious injury, based on what Beilein said in regards to that potentially being the case, per Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz.

With Love being the team’s best player, their primary leader on the floor, and with his ability to rebound the ball night-in and night-out, it’s understandable if Beilein and the coaching staff choose to rest the 31-year-old Love here and there in a long 82-game season.

Though the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to be primarily focused on their rebuild in coming years, Love is still a player that should be in the team’s plans.

The Cavaliers (per a team press release) recently hired Dr. Mark Kovacs as their Senior Director of Sports Science and Health, and that sort of thing plays into them prioritizing Love’s longevity.

As was transcribed by Swartz, Beilein stressed how the Cavs “want to extend Kevin Love’s career as much as possible.”

Love will help make the NBA transition smoother for Beilein, who does not have any NBA coaching experience (though he did a tremendous job at places such as West Virginia and Michigan at the collegiate level) and again, his presence on the floor could be crucial in the continued development of Cleveland’s younger pieces.

Though the trade rumors will likely come in regards to Love, as they seemingly have been ever since he’s been on the Cavs after being traded here from the Minnesota Timberwolves, the organization still seems to be want Love around for the long haul.

Again, media day ahead of the 2019-20 Cavs season just seemed to echo that Cleveland wants Love on the floor healthy to help them accelerate their rebuild, and them expressing that should be encouraging for fans.

K-Love is the team’s franchise best player, and I just hope he can be on the floor for the majority of coming years, as that would pay dividends for the entire roster and coaching staff.

For reference, you can view the media day interviews here, per the Cavs/NBA.com.