Cavs: Three areas of focus for Kevin Love in upcoming games

Focus area #2 for Love: Defensive intensity

I’m not going to completely grill Love here, because the Cleveland Cavaliers defensively, with all their youth, and lack of size on the wing, are going to be at a disadvantage against teams such as the 76ers, and likely postseason teams, especially.

That being said, though he’s had injury issues in the last few seasons, Love is on the healthier side this season, and in my opinion, his defensive intensity could use an uptick to set the right example in upcoming games.

Love’s post defense this season has been decent in a positional sense, and he usually does a commendable job rotating over when it’s warranted off the ball to help young players when they are in a tough switchout scenario on the strong side to deter entry passes. Love has consistently shown he’s willing to take charges, too, but I’d to see Love be more active in contesting shooters.

Despite Love playing 30.4 minutes per game and rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr. only playing 20.8 per contest, they have contested the same amount of shots per game (6.1) on average in 2019-20, according to NBA.com.

I’d like to see Love more active in primary defense, and at least get up into shooters more when he’s rotating over, or in on-ball coverage.

Now I understand that Detroit Pistons star big Blake Griffin did not come into a recent game against the Cavs shooting the ball well from deep, but he was red-hot and went six-of-seven from there against Cleveland in a 127-94 Detroit win, and has shown he can hit from there in recent seasons.

To me, Love not closing out hard enough after Griffin was clearly locked-in really hurt the Cavs’ defense.

I understand that Love is not a player that’s going to be blocking shots often, and he’s not going to be switching out against primarily perimeter players in pick-and-roll coverage.

However, Love can have more consistent intensity throughout upcoming games defensively, and at least show more willingness to deter post entry passes, and do his work earlier in defensive possessions to help the Cavs’ young guys, along with Tristan Thompson, out.

Love is always going to be a tremendous defensive rebounder, and he’s sixth in the league in that category this year with 9.6 per game, as shown by NBA.com. Plus, his outlet passes help create transition opportunities, too.

I’d just like to see more activity and high hands from him throughout possessions to get to that point more in upcoming games when the Cavs will absolutely need multiple efforts from a key leader in Love. He was showing more of that it seemed earlier in the season, and that sort of thing is infectious.

I’d think we could definitely see that again from Love, too, and hopefully he stays healthy.