Cavs: How Kevin Love can help Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen

Cavs: Love can help Markkanen develop more as a mid-post player and secondary playmaker

When it comes to Markkanen, who is a polished perimeter shooter, I’d think that Love could help him with his development some as a mid-post player, most notably.

Sure, Markkanen has shown the ability to take advantage at times in those situations, particularly when he’s gotten cross-matching, but I could foresee Love being able to help him progress further as a shooter out of those situations.

Markkanen can provide a driving presence here and there from those areas and he’s a far better finisher at this point in his career than Love, however, I do think the 7-footer could be more of a shooting threat in mid-post scenarios via face-ups.

And with that in mind, Love has always been a crafty player in that part of the floor, where his use of ball fakes has led to his share of free throws, and playing off that, he’s been able to generate space to hit those shots with minimal contests.

That sort of thing could pay off for Markkanen, if Love works with him involving his timing for those, and as a counter, Love could help Markkanen get to high percentage looks near the paint if defenders start to anticipate the former.

Plus, from there, while I wouldn’t expect Markkanen to regularly be a key secondary playmaking presence, a gifted passing big in Love could help him become a more productive ball-mover. Love, similarly to Mobley, has great feel for generating ball-reversals for shooters on the weak side, and also like Mobley, Love has impressive vision to hit cutters for high percentage looks.

I’d think that Love, who has had an assist rate of 12.2 percent or more in four of the past six seasons with Cleveland, which is more than respectable for a big, can aid Markkanen as a ball-mover.

There’s been glimpses from Markkanen there, but objectively, his career assist rate through four seasons has only been 6.6 percent with the Chicago Bulls. Some mentorship from Love could help him in that respect, though.