Cavs: Kevin Love in likely reduced role would be no-brainer

I know it sounds like a broken record at this point, but Kevin Love did not have a particularly memorable 2020-21 campaign for the Cleveland Cavaliers. As many have noted time and time again, Love has had share of injury problems, and last season was no exception.

Love missed most of the season, largely because of complications involving a right calf strain, and following the year, Cavs general manager Koby Altman stated how Love probably even returned too soon initially from the injury.

Overall, Love was only active in 25 games, and had just 12.2 points per outing. He played just 24.9 minutes per contest, for further context.

And although his three-point shooting hit rate was decent at 36.5 percent, his shooting game-to-game was not nearly what he’s capable of when he’s in-rhythm, mostly. The injury didn’t aid his efforts though, as we know.

In any case, while the trade rumors involving Love will be a constant still, even while actually having something commence is an entirely different story, with his injury history, contract still and age (he’ll be 33 in September), Love can still help the Cavs. His shooting/spacing presence still can help other Cavs, he’s a quality passing big and when mostly healthy, he is still an elite defensive rebounder.

Nonetheless, it is evident that next season, provided he can get right in the offseason, and he’s set to play with Team USA in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for what it’s worth, a reduced role would be wise. Love again is not getting any younger, and it could help preserve him, while allowing other key young guys to carry more of the load game-to-game.

Darius Garland and Collin Sexton come to mind in that way, albeit Sexton, who has been mentioned in trade rumors lately, might not for Cleveland in that sense.

The likes of Jarrett Allen, if he’s eventually locked up this offseason, and draft prospects Jalen Green or Jalen Suggs could, for instance, but Sexton still could very well factor into things it appears for Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and company, so we’ll see.

So circling back to a likely smaller role for Love for next season, in the scenario he sticks around, here was more on that, per a report from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. This was more so involving the potential situation where Cleveland were to select 2021 NBA Draft prospect Evan Mobley #3 overall though, albeit Green/Suggs, or potentially a Jonathan Kuminga selection, could still play into a reduced Love role, anyhow.

"“Is Mobley an ideal fit for a team about to invest around $100 million in Allen while already having roughly $41 million committed to power forwards Larry Nance Jr. and Kevin Love? Of course not. But Love’s workload is expected to shrink this coming season and some in the organization wonder if Nance is more effective when his minute average hovers around 25. And it’s not like Suggs — the other potential option at No. 3 — wouldn’t create a bit of a logjam in the backcourt. Either choice would lead to Bickerstaff doing some rotational gymnastics.”"

Cleveland Cavaliers: A reduced role for Love would be a no-brainer.

Regardless of what happens draft-wise, in the event that Cleveland ends up selecting there, which still seems more so likely, given that Love has had his share of injury issues, I wouldn’t think he’d be regularly playing over 28 minutes from here.

That frankly, whether or not Mobley is Cleveland’s selection, and/or if Allen is locked up long term, is clearly not the case with Love at this point. That’s just how it is.

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Love, provided he’s around and I’d think he could still very well be for a good chunk of next season, is still a highly capable catch-and-shoot player, and I don’t discount that.

If Love is in a good rhythm game-to-game, he can still be very impactful, and next season, if he’s healthier coming in, we could seemingly see more of the mid-post touch from him he demonstrated in 2019-20, too. Plus, he can help Cleveland passing-wise in that area, and generally makes sound decisions, leading to productive ball-swings.

At any rate, whether or not Cleveland were to go with Mobley in the draft or perhaps Kuminga and/or Scottie Barnes even (although seemingly less likely for those two), Nance could still factor in at the 4/5, and Dean Wade helped his case last season.

Although his deal is non-guaranteed for next season/perhaps onward, he could factor into things, too, and could play at the 5 here and there, to go with as a jumbo 3, which could cut lessen Love’s catch-and-shoot role a bit.

Moreover,  just in a general sense, a likely reduced role for Love for next season, all things considered, would appear to be a no-brainer from the Cavs’ standpoint.

That’d help preserve him, and if he seems to be bought-in still and is shooting it pretty well, perhaps that could help re-establish some value for him on the potential trade front. Love doing well in the Olympics could maybe, too, as a side note, as Joe Vardon of The Athletic (subscription required) stated in a recent report as well.

So hopefully, Love can come into next season ready to go.