Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[The Process God]

He has shown better movement when he drives to the basket and has shown an ability to put the ball on the floor and some of that has to do with his new body.

He's not as dominant a rebounder now with the slimmer body. Yes, he's out on the perimeter a lot so he can't grab dem ORebs as he did before, but he's getting out positioned and muscled more often now: he used to be an absolute terror a MENACE on the boards with his energy rebounding.

One difference is that muscle is a useful tissue. Fat isn't. Sure, muscle slows down some guys, but it can actually also increase explosion if done right. The extra weight could be offset by the additional propulsion gained from the extra muscle. At any rate, a 255-lb, muscular Kevin Love would certainly be a better player than a 255-lb, fluffy Kevin Love.

 

[Pioneer10]

Obviously the whole team was terrible, but Love's defense was especially atrocious. The Wolves board lied to me...they said that his problems were overstated and that he was AVERAGE on defense

He baffles me: he's shown at times that he can defend guys like Jefferson and Davis well when isolated one on one in the post. Tonight Jesus, give the Hawks credit they smelled blood and Horford plus Millsap took him to the woodshed. He has to use his strength to keep these guys out of their spots and when they get the ball hold position

 

[Adam]

He baffles me: he's shown at times that he can defend guys like Jefferson and Davis well when isolated one on one in the post. Tonight Jesus, give the Hawks credit they smelled blood and Horford plus Millsap took him to the woodshed. He has to use his strength to keep these guys out of their spots and when they get the ball hold position

Hes a lot lighter now. I think he used to rely on being able to just body them off the block. But newer leaner kevin love needs to learn how to leverage himself and play his angles better. Hopefully he can gain some consistency, but i think anytime hes not 100% you will notice it on the defensive end first, its just not his game

 

[MoFlo]

Let's not single out Love here. Yes, he was atrocious, but neither Tristan nor Andy did much better against Horford or Millsap. They ate all 3 of them up tonight like it was nothing.

 

[Rich]

Let's not single out Love here. Yes, he was atrocious, but neither Tristan nor Andy did much better against Horford or Millsap. They ate all 3 of them up tonight like it was nothing.

Varejao is basically getting paid at this point for his pick and roll chemistry with LeBron and nothing else. He's been a downright terrible defender this season.

 

[crowned1]

Varejao shouldn't have been paid that much, I'd give him 5m since he is Varejao.

 

[Cavatt]

Is Kevin gonna get a max contact or a new super duper max with revenue increasing?

I feel like he is not as good as advertised. He really hasn't added any rebounding and his matchup often goes ham.

Is he really a top 5 NBA player?

I'd be happy to be wrong, but he seems to be the first to get exposed against a good team.

 

[Kizzle]

Loves contribution isn't worth 20 mil but hey.....we all know he's going to get it so why think about it?

 

[CHIMOCHIS]

He's a great third option on a winning team

 

[CavsHomer]

Varejao is basically getting paid at this point for his pick and roll chemistry with LeBron and nothing else. He's been a downright terrible defender this season.

Unfortunately, this.

As much as I love Andy, I didn't quite understand why we gave him such a huge contract in the first place, tbh.

 

[Jordan]

Kevin Love has been a gift on offense, unfortunately, he is a black hole on defense. I don't understand why but that guy cannot defend.

 

[MoFlo]

Is Kevin gonna get a max contact or a new super duper max with revenue increasing?

I feel like he is not as good as advertised. He really hasn't added any rebounding and his matchup often goes ham.

Is he really a top 5 NBA player?

I'd be happy to be wrong, but he seems to be the first to get exposed against a good team.

I don't get this at all.

We all knew he wasn't a good defender, that his rebounds were obviously going to be a little lower than they were in Minnesota (Andy, Tristan, best rebounding SF in the game), his scoring was obviously going to take a little hit, so what exactly has changed for you to determine he hasn't been as good as advertised?

Going from the main (and at times, only) option on a mediocre (at best) team to the 2nd/3rd option on a championship contender is gonna take time, especially offensively. Yet, here he is averaging almost 18 points & 10.5 boards. And in December, that's up to 18 & 12.

His FG% is only down 1.3% from last season & his 3pt% is only down .9% and above his career %..

As far as Points per FGA, he's at the 3rd highest in his career:

2014-15: 1.38
2013-14: 1.41
2012-13: 1.11
2011-12: 1.35
2010-11: 1.44
2009-10: 1.30
2008-09: 1.31

No, he's not a good defender, but we already knew that before the trade even happened..

 

[Sea]

His defense has been worse than advertised, and it was advertised as awful.

Never seen someone so soft in the paint. Guy's eyes light up when they see they have Love on them. Sad thing is they think the same thing with Kyrie too. I think you can get by with 1 awful defender, but pretty much our whole lineup is with the exception of LBJ

 

[Cavatt]

I don't get this at all.

We all knew he wasn't a good defender, that his rebounds were obviously going to be a little lower than they were in Minnesota (Andy, Tristan, best rebounding SF in the game), his scoring was obviously going to take a little hit, so what exactly has changed for you to determine he hasn't been as good as advertised?

Going from the main (and at times, only) option on a mediocre (at best) team to the 2nd/3rd option on a championship contender is gonna take time, especially offensively. Yet, here he is averaging almost 18 points & 10.5 boards. And in December, that's up to 18 & 12.

His FG% is only down 1.3% from last season & his 3pt% is only down .9% and above his career %..

As far as Points per FGA, he's at the 3rd highest in his career:

2014-15: 1.38
2013-14: 1.41
2012-13: 1.11
2011-12: 1.35
2010-11: 1.44
2009-10: 1.30
2008-09: 1.31

No, he's not a good defender, but we already knew that before the trade even happened..

We were a better rebounding team and defensive team last year. If we call the Deng to Lebron transition a wash, which it ain't, Love hurts us.

Sorry I am having a hard time not seeing it this way. He hasn't been unstoppable by any measure even with less attention from opponents.

I'd love for him to prove me wrong, but he hasn't. I'm convinced now than ever he is taking rebounds away from team mates.

He has added scoring, but is it a net positive?

I really can't even see the benefit of his spacing. Guess I will take your word for it. I was holding my tongue during the winning streak because I thought he could be hidden, but we are going to run into length in the playoffs, and he is going to look like Mo Williams in 2009.

Call me crazy, but the lack of backlash to my last post in this thread makes me think everyone is worried. We can't keep blaming Tristan and Andy. They are good defenders.

Which rim protector is capable of covering for him? I think it would have to be a hall of famer.

The top 5 NBA player thing was even more overblown than I thought. Is trade him for

Anthony Davis
Lamarcus Aldridge
Blake Griffin
Al Horford
Marc Gasol

There are at least 5 other guys I would trade him for if they were younger. IMO he isn't top 5 at his position.

Sorry that his stats don't impress me. We would get those rebounds anyway.

 

[TwoPistols]

Sorry that his stats don't impress me. We would get those rebounds anyway.

Yup. And the redeeming quality about him is that he can stretch the floor. He's not exactly Ryan Anderson from 3 point range. The value for paying Love a max is not there, especially when you have Kyrie and Lebron already. Just think instead of Love, you could have a player like Paul Millsap (a 4 who can stretch the floor) + a wing defender + a center. The idea that you need a Big 3 is just terrible.