3 Cavs announced as finalists for NBA season awards

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Darius Garland (left) and Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

On April 17, the NBA announced the finalists for each award, which the Cleveland Cavaliers had 3 players in.

For the 6th Man of the Year, the Cavs had Kevin Love, one of the best bench players in the league this season. For Most Improved Player, the Cavs had Darius Garland, a 3rd-year guard who broke out this season, making the All-Star Game for his first time, and probably not last time. Finally, for Rookie of the Year, Cleveland has Evan Mobley, a 6’11 big man drafted out of USC in the 2021 NBA Draft 3rd overall. For each award, I will talk about each players’ chances of winning the award.

Kevin Love – 6th Man of the Year

No offense to Love, this award seems like a lock for Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat, who is coming off of a stellar 3rd-year campaign, averaging 20.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game, only starting in 10 out of his 66 games this season. It seemed often that Kevin Love would torch opposing defenses with his range for a big man, rebounding prowess, and hail-mary passes down the court.

Love averaged 13.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game while having 43/39/83 shooting splits. In prior seasons, Love would struggle to see time on the court, as injuries seemed to weigh him down. However, this season, Love played in 74 out of 82 possible games, a huge success considering the prior season he only played in 25 games out of 72.

Love said this about coming off the bench earlier this month in an interview with Jenna Lemoncelli of The New York Post.

"‘You know, I didn’t fight it,” Love told The Post about coming off the bench — a move that he discussed with Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff right before the season. “I trust in our team, I trust the front office that put us in a place to have success. And I knew that.”’"

Love had previously been known to be aggravated with the prior state of the roster, considering the Cavaliers were once one of the worst teams in the league, as Kevin Love was seemingly wasting his time on a rebuilding team. But now, Love is being one of the most important players on one of the best defensive teams in the league, that is for much of the season at least.

On Dec. 31, 2021, right before the new year, Kevin Love dropped his season-high 35 points, also while hitting on 7/14 of his 3-point attempts. However, Cleveland lost this game without one of their best players, Darius Garland. Even while they lost, it showed that Love was definitely a top bench player in the NBA.

The other finalist for the 6th Man of the Year is Cam Johnson of the Phoenix Suns. The Suns have the best record in the league at 64 wins this season.

Johnson has averaged 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game while shooting the 4th-highest 3-point percentage in the league this season at 42.5%. Cam Johnson was selected 11th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but later traded to the Phoenix Suns with Dario Saric for the 6th pick, Jarrett Culver.