Cavs: 3 takeaways from Kevin Love’s recent media availability

Here’s a few key takeaways from Cleveland Cavaliers big man Kevin Love’s recent media availability on Tuesday.

At this point, the writing seems to be on the wall, well plastered on the wall actually, that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to do all they can to trade Kevin Love by the February 6 deadline.

There was a report of Love shouting at Cavs general manager Koby Altman and the organization on Saturday after shootaround before Cleveland’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to The Athletic‘s Joe Vardon and Shams Charania, also of Stadium (subscription required), and Love lost it on the bench on New Year’s Eve at the Toronto Raptors.

Additionally, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on his podcast called “The Hoop Collective,” emphasized how Love clearly wants out of Cleveland, as was transcribed by Sports Illustrated‘s Sam Amico.

"“He absolutely, totally wants to get out of there,” Windhorst said. “It has driven him various levels of crazy to be there this season.”"

Factoring in recent reports/moments in games, and this sort of thing in the Thunder game, where Love threw the ball ridiculously hard at Cedi Osman after not getting a feed from Collin Sexton when/where he wanted it, because Sexton was supposed to wind the clock down, it seems that a Love trade is inevitable.

Now I understand that Love reportedly wanted the ball to take advantage of a mismatch with Chris Paul on him, but that was not the Cavs’ plan there, as head coach John Beilein, who took blame for that instance, wanted Sexton to take time off the clock.

Nonetheless, Love’s on-floor behavior/attitude have to be better, at least as long as he’s with the Cavaliers still, and he understands that.

The first takeaway from Love’s recent media availability on Tuesday, which you can view here (per the Cavs) was along those lines.

Takeaway #1: Love knows his recent on-court/on-bench actions can’t happen

Clearly, Love’s issue at the Raptors on the bench and the hurling of the ball at Osman was unacceptable, and he understands that those on-court/on-bench actions can’t happen.

Love is a five-time All-Star, NBA champion, and a player that’s still putting up solid numbers of 16.4 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, as noted by NBA.com.

Now, is he an All-Star level big at this juncture?

Probably not, but as long as he is a member of the Wine and Gold, and to help his own cause to be traded to a contender feasibly by the deadline, Love has to be more mature and at least give the Cavs his all and be a good teammate when he is here.

As he said in media availability (about at the 0:21 mark), he needs to not act like a “13-year-old.”

It’s okay for Love to be frustrated, as the Cavs are just 10-26 and are losers of four straight games.

Cleveland’s had issues getting Love the ball in favorable situations, but it’s not as if the likes of Darius Garland, Cedi Osman, and others are trying to play selfishly. Collin Sexton is still going to struggle with passing, but that’s not his strength, anyhow, and he is at least leading Cleveland in scoring this season with 18.5 points per game.

The fact of the matter is, as long as Love is playing for the Cavaliers and in there for Beilein and company, he has to play hard and at minimum have the right attitude for his teammates/the coaching staff. He knows that, and it was good that he acknowledged that given recent issues.

Takeaway #2: Love is more willing to face the conversation/rumors head-on

In the earlier days of when Love was with the Cavaliers when LeBron James was here, and there was constant attention around the team that often resulted in drama-filled times, especially of which Love was often subject to trade rumors even early on, he seemed more distant.

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As he touched on, before Love was more subdued, and had his “head down,” to sort of drown out the media noise and/or was less willing to address rumors/potential tough conversation surrounding himself/the team.

Love, who downplayed the reported exchange between him and Altman in his media availability, also mentioned, though, that given how media coverage is nonstop today, that he is going to always be respectful and address issues/reports such as Charania/Vardon’s head-on instead of being subdued/distancing himself seemingly as he did more so before.

It’s at least refreshing to hear that Love’s seemingly fully aware that media members aren’t just making things up out of thin air, and even with the exchange between him and Altman not being nearly as big of a deal to him as some have made it out to be, according to Love, he seems more conscious and is more willing to address things that come up.

That’s a sign of growth, and I applaud him for not simply completely disregarding reports, because even though Love touched on how people “remember the accusations, not the rebuttal,” he essentially noted how the conversation is going to be out there, “and you have to be with that.”

Anyhow, hopefully Love doesn’t have to address more instances such as the Toronto/end-of-OKC first half incident again in coming days/weeks. Based on his remorse for those actions, however, I wouldn’t imagine he will.

Takeaway #3: A nice finish to his Cavs’ tenure would benefit both sides

Though some, such as Amico, have suggested that Love should seemingly get the J.R. Smith-type treatment to end out his Cavs’ tenure in terms of being exiled, if you will, that’s simply not a realistic option.

Love needs to go out there in coming weeks, seemingly leading up to the deadline, and play well, be a good teammate and play how he’s capable of as inside-out scoring/passing presence and outstanding rebounder.

For his best interest as far as going to a desirable destination, such as his hometown Portland Trail Blazers (who have been mentioned time and time again as a potential trade landing spot) along with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ in terms of potential returns in a trade, Love needs to presumably finish his Cavs’ tenure strong.

Whether Love is with Cleveland just for about the next month or so, and a trade won’t be a simple scenario, as Windhorst noted, and as Amico hit on, given Love having “three years and $90 million left” on his contract, or if he’s here for “5 more months,” Love knows this relationship between him and the Cavs has to be an amicable one the rest of the way for a desirable outcome for both sides.

As Forbes‘ Evan Dammarell stressed, the Cavs can’t give Love the Smith treatment, because that would be “horrible optics for Cleveland.”

Dammarell, who mentioned per sources, that the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns have shown interest in Love (and other teams have been suggested as potential partners throughout the season such as the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz), also hit on how Cleveland needs “Love in order to showcase him to teams interested in possibly obtaining his services.”

Moreover, if the Cavaliers don’t end up dealing Love before the deadline, which would seem to be a huge possibility at this point, I’d expect a deal to happen perhaps near the draft or in the free agency period.

Regardless, for both sides to get a desired outcome via trade, Love needs to have a nice finish to his Cavs’ tenure, and I imagine he will do his part the rest of the way. After all, as his Instagram post after the OKC game demonstrated, he loves his teammates.

Finish out strong, starting with Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, for them, K-Love.