Kevin Love and Kevin Porter Jr. are a key 2020-21 duo to watch for Cavs

With several question marks surrounding the Cleveland Cavaliers next season, Kevin Love and Kevin Porter Jr. hope to solidify becoming a dynamic duo.

Let’s make sure we all have one thing clear: heading into the past draft and well before this past season even started, we all knew that the Cleveland Cavaliers were in a rebuild mode and are going to be for a couple of years.

Even before signing his $120.4 million extension before the 2018-19 season, Kevin Love knew exactly what he was getting into, or so it should’ve seemed.

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Considering how that said season went, Love had to have known that the team’s focus was not going to be on wins in 2019-20, and the focus was going to be on getting better and improving in the nuances of the game.

Early on, Love was showing tons of frustration and was lacking leadership, something we needed him to have the most this past season. From frustration that could be seen visibly, to his frustration translating into his play, there were a few low spots in-game/on the bench for Love that were especially rough to see as Cavs fans.

Off the court, however, Love has been extremely powerful and positive, and even more so in the time since the NBA’s season suspension in mid-March.

From helping out those affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic in a huge way, and speaking out/lending a hand regarding what is going on in the world currently, he has been doing it all.

Then falls Kevin Porter Jr., in relation to the other part of a duo for Cleveland. Was he the steal of the 2019 NBA Draft? Is he the future of the young core for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

These labels are all realistic ones that have been put on Porter Jr. as his rookie season has come to a close and he gears up for his sophomore season.

Averaging 10.0 points per game on a very solid 44.2 percent from the field, to go with 3.2 rebounds, Porter Jr. made a legitimate impact in his rookie season. That left Cavs fans with a little bit of hope that was much-needed.

You might ask, why are Love and Porter Jr. a duo to watch next year for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Porter Jr. should hopefully be inserted into the starting lineup next season, allowing him to get more comfortable within the system and ultimately get more reps, which is all he needs. One of the most important things that the duo of Love and Porter Jr. have going for them is the way they can potentially mesh together, of which we saw glimpses of in 2019-20.

Watching Porter Jr. play last season, ultimately, he is a highly capable passer, and had 3.2 assists per outing in his last 12 games active. He can slash and shoot as well, though he does need to get better on jumpers, but overall, he is a multi-threat player that can scare defenses.

That said, this enables Love to play off of him and work the wings, allowing Porter Jr. to create open shots not only for himself, but for Love as well. After all, Love is still one of the game’s best shooting bigs, as evidenced by him hitting 37.4 percent of his three-point attempts last season, to go with 17.6 points per game.

Now, if you flip things around, Porter Jr. is able to play off of Love by moving without the ball, something he improved at as last year progressed, while Love works the post.

With Love being as dangerous as he is from mid-range and beyond, surrounding him with players like Porter Jr., in terms of versatile athletes and ultimately gifted shooters coupled with that such as Darius Garland, will ultimately only make everyone on the court better. KPJ and Love mixed in with Collin Sexton makes for quite the trio, too.

Seeing who the Cleveland Cavaliers decide to draft is going to be a very fun time and will dictate how the roster looks next season, and the starting lineup, in particular.

When everything is all said and done and Porter Jr. and Love get the time on the floor together I am expecting them to get, I am a firm believer that they will compliment each other very well and create tons of opportunities for everyone else on the floor, too.