3 Cavs players who took a step forward this season
3 Cavs players who took a step forward: Kevin Love
For both Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, this past season represented the best in their careers, by far, and both rightfully earned their first career All-Star berths. Kevin Love, on the other hand, has made five All-Star games in his career, and comparing this past season to any of those would make this season look rather tepid.
The reality is that Kevin Love did take a step forward this year, and that was in recognizing he is now a role player, not a star, and that the best career move was to buy in and play as hard as he could within his role. He did just that! Love played in 74 games but started just four, otherwise coming off the bench behind Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobey.
Love was terrific as a bench stretch-big this season, hitting 39.2 percent of his 3-pointers. In fact, his 187 3-pointers were just three off of his career-best mark from 2013-14, a year when he averaged significantly more minutes and shots. In NBA history only five players have ever hit more 3-pointers with fewer than 5 starts.
After years of injuries and sulking, the former champion big man was completely bought into competing with this team; he and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff worked out a merit-based approach to playing time, and Love earned every minute he received. He was still a poor defensive player, but his offensive impact and specifically perimeter shooting made him one of the more helpful bench players in the entire league, and crucial to the Cavs’ success this year.
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The Cavs are optimistic they will continue to improve next year and beyond, and for that to happen they will need players to continue taking steps forward. Whether Allen or Garland appear on this list next year, or instead it is Evan Mobley, Collin Sexton or Isaac Okoro, this team will go as far as its players take it.