A bit of positive news on Monday came when it was announced that Cleveland Cavaliers big men Kevin Love and Andre Drummond are finalists for the 2020 US Men’s Olympic squad.
Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t get the game they wanted on Sunday, but a bit of positive news came on Monday.
It was announced recently that Cavs big men Kevin Love and Andre Drummond are finalists for the 2020 U.S. Men’s Olympic team, according to a USA Basketball press release, which noted that “player selections were approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors.”
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The 2020 Summer Olympics will be taking place in Tokyo, and for that, there were 44 finalists named, and both Love and Drummond have previous experience representing the U.S. in international competition, for reference.
Love was a member of the 2012 U.S. Men’s Olympic team that won the gold medal in London. Along with that, Love was a member of the 2010 U.S. World Cup team that won gold in Istanbul.
In terms of Drummond’s prior international basketball experience, he was a member of the 2014 U.S. World Cup squad that won gold in Spain.
As a side note, a fellow finalist in Cavs’ legend and current Los Angeles Laker, LeBron James, if he competes, would tie current Portland Trail Blazer, Carmelo Anthony, for the most Olympic appearances for USA Basketball with four.
James was a member of two gold medal-winning U.S. Men’s Olympic teams in 2008 in Beijing and 2012, and was a member of the 2004 squad in Athens, Greece that earned a bronze medal.
The U.S. will have San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich as their head coach, who has won five NBA titles and as the USA Basketball release mentioned, has a “full resume of international coaching experience.”
The 12-player 2020 Men’s Olympic squad will be announced later on this year, along with the training dates, and per the aforementioned release, the 2020 Summer Olympics “are being held July 24-Aug. 9” in again, Tokyo.
We’ll keep our eyes peeled as far as Love and Drummond’s chances. Love, 31, is a five-time NBA All-Star and Drummond, 26, is a two-time NBA All-Star.
In this 2019-20 season, Love’s averaged 17.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, according to Basketball Reference. He’s also again proven to be a terrific floor spacer, as he’s shot 38.0 percent from three-point range this season.
Drummond, who was reportedly traded to Cleveland near the 2020 NBA trade deadline last week by the Detroit Pistons, has averaged what is on track to be a career-high with 17.8 points and 2.0 steals per game this season, to go with 2.8 assists and 1.7 blocks, as indicated by Basketball Reference.
He’s also currently leading the NBA in rebounding with 15.8 boards per contest, per NBA.com, which would be the fourth time in his eight-year career doing so.
It’s unclear how the fit between the two will mesh on the floor for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but I’m not necessarily going to overreact to Sunday being the worst home loss in Cavs’ history in what was a 133-92 beat down by the LA Clippers.
No, the Clippers did not have Kawhi Leonard or Patrick Beverley, but it was Drummond’s first game as a Cav and it will take some time the big man to mesh with the likes of Love, Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Cedi Osman and others.
Nonetheless, Cleveland has a ways to go, and nobody, including head coach John Beilein, is disputing that.
Again, though, at least Love and Drummond were selected as finalists for the 2020 Men’s Olympic team, which is a bit of good news on a pretty rough Monday in relation to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are 13-40 in 2019-20 and have lost 12 straight games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Love, Drummond and the Wine and Gold play the Atlanta Hawks next on Wednesday again at home in what marks the last game before the 2020 All-Star break.