Cavs: How Collin Sexton, Darius Garland will be affected by Kevin Love’s return

After getting off to a surprising start this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have come crashing back down to reality over the course of this Western Conference/West Coast road trip.

While the Cavaliers are reeling, losers of their last seven games, they are seemingly close to getting an essential piece of their rotation back in the mix. Kevin Love, who has been out since late December with a high-grade calf right calf strain in which he reaggravated, is on Cleveland’s current road trip, and there was a chance we could see him at some point.

Cleveland is short on power forwards at the moment, as Larry Nance Jr. is set to be sidelined for seemingly through most of March due to a fourth metacarpal fracture on his left hand, and getting a starter back will allow the Cavaliers to breathe a momentary sigh of relief.

However, with Love missing nearly two months, the key question is how he will exactly fit into what the Cavaliers are doing?

In Love’s absence, Collin Sexton has continually solidified himself as the leading scorer on the roster. Darius Garland has also taken steps forward in his development as a point guard.

In fact, over Garland’s last ten games, he is averaging 17.4 points and 5.4 assists per game. Garland is also connecting on 42.1 percent of his shots from three-point range.

Over that same time span, Sexton is putting up 19.6 points per game along with 4.2 assists per game but has been struggling with his three-point shot a bit. He had been connecting on just 35.7 percent coming into Sunday’s loss at the LA Clippers over his past nine, and following that, has only had hit 32.1 percent from there in his past 10 outings now.

While the two Cavaliers starting guards are capable of carrying a good portion of the scoring load, they cannot get it done by themselves. Here is where Love can step in and be effective.

Love can ease the burden on Sexton and Garland for the Cavs.

Kevin’s abilities (and deficiencies) on the court have been well documented, but one thing Love is consistent at is scoring that ball, and as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor detailed, the Cavs are missing Love’s capabilities in that realm/as a shooter. Fedor stated in his report that Cleveland’s game versus the Oklahoma City Thunder could seemingly be when we could see Love back, but of course, we’ll have to see.

Nonetheless, that scoring ability from Kevin would serve the Cavaliers well, as right now, they are ranked 29th out of 30 teams in offensive scoring, averaging 104.1 points per game.

Last season, the trio of Love, Sexton, and Garland played 50 games together. Of the Cavaliers trios on the floor for at least 48 games together, the trio mentioned earlier had an offensive rating of 107.2 and shot a combined 38.5 percent from beyond the arc, per NBA.com’s lineup data.

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Love’s presence could free up the young guards to get their looks in the lane a little easier, or he could make defenses pay for crashing on a driving Sexton/Garland by knocking down the long-range shot.

While it would be beneficial for Garland and Sexton to get more looks from beyond the arc, their bread and butter is their mid-range game and having the threat of a veteran knockdown presence is just what the young guards need to get their buckets.

To further that point, Love’s return to the lineup could free Sexton/Garland to facilitate the offense more, rather than be the focal point.

Sexton and Garland both have made noticeable strides in their court vision, and they could use their speed to draw the defense in and find their teammates for open looks, and particularly Garland.

That said, while there was not a lack of scoring amongst the Love, Sexton, Garland trio, the defensive end of the floor took a hit. Their 117.6 defensive rating was second-worst amongst all three-man lineups that played a minimum of 48 games for Cleveland, again per NBA.com’s lineup data.

Just on the surface, it would appear that rating might get a little better due to Cleveland having a defensive-minded starter in Isaac Okoro, although he has had a tough stretch lately, but especially in stretches with rim-protecting 5 Jarrett Allen on the floor alongside them.

It is best to temper expectations overall, at least initially, because Love will need to get back up to speed. All the conditioning and on-court drills can only get Love so far. There is nothing like game shape.

If Love can hit his stride relatively quick, he could be beneficial to an offense that at times looks like it is stuck in slow motion. Besides, the return of a former All-Star can free Sexton and Garland up to impact the game beyond just the scoring column.