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Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

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Is Kevin Love a Hero for Saving a Dog?

  • Yes

    Votes: 28 48.3%
  • Too Right!

    Votes: 2 3.4%
  • Hotter than Jimmy G

    Votes: 15 25.9%
  • Jim Chones

    Votes: 13 22.4%

  • Total voters
    58
Not the best use of advanced stats here...it's foolish to think that Love is anywhere near the caliber player as Aldridge or more efficient/effective than him. Never in a million years could Love do what LA did to the Cavs down the stretch of that Blazers game.

Except that he had games like that MULTIPLE times last year when he was, like Aldridge is currently, the number one option on Minnesota. So your never in a million years line is a bit off.

I'm not sure if Post Up efficiency is that much of an abstract advanced stat the way that some of the other ones are.

And while I NEVER claimed that Love was better than Aldridge(who I believe is the best PF in the NBA), its not advnaced stats or playing with numbers to state facts like Love having a better FG% from 10-16 ft and from 16-23 ft this year than Aldridge. Which I brought up because Aldridge is thought to have the best smoothest midrange to deep 2 range in the NBA for PF's.

Let's not sugarcoat it. Love is missing easy shots and he's not hitting threes. He's redeeming himself by getting to the free throw line. I really don't know how he is actually scoring 17 a game but it's a testament to his basketball IQ and natural scoring ability. The all-star break will be huge for him. He needs all the time he can get to work on getting shots up and getting healthy. The Cavs should be on some next-level type stuff if Love can moderately improve his 3pt%.

Its also not abstract advanced stats to say that Love, even in his current form, would be averaging between 22-23 points this year so far if he was simply taking the number of shots he took last year in Minnesota or the number of shots that Kyrie or LeBron take this year.(no knock on them)

All that said, it should be considered a positive that Love is still impacting the game as much as he is while struggling(by his standards) with his three point shot as it is far more likely that he will revert towards his career norms for 3P% than continue on as a 33% 3P shooter(which as is is not a bad % for a PF at all)

Like you said(and I agree he is slumping, just not to the extent that some are suggesting and really just with his 3P shot), when he gets better settled in over time, more healthy, and out of his 3P slump, this team can reach an even higher level. I mean, I think that even if Love stayed where he is the team can still reach a much higher level than its at right now.
 
Not the best use of advanced stats here...it's foolish to think that Love is anywhere near the caliber player as Aldridge or more efficient/effective than him. Never in a million years could Love do what LA did to the Cavs down the stretch of that Blazers game.

Let's not sugarcoat it. Love is missing easy shots and he's not hitting threes. He's redeeming himself by getting to the free throw line. I really don't know how he is actually scoring 17 a game but it's a testament to his basketball IQ and natural scoring ability. The all-star break will be huge for him. He needs all the time he can get to work on getting shots up and getting healthy. The Cavs should be on some next-level type stuff if Love can moderately improve his 3pt%.

Hmm Love did about the same thing to Lebron's Heat team last year:


People really should listen to Bosh. People don't like the guy but he's not dumb and has personal experience going from All-Star Alpha Dog to one of Lebron's sidekicks.
 
It's obviously a difference going from a team that needed you to even be mediocre. To a team that honestly could win without you scoring more than 10 PPG. Minny was a game long team wide effort to give him the ball so he had a shooting rhythm every game because he shot so much. Now he's shooting less but we're expecting him to shoot a better % with no rhythm. That's hard to do.

But he's still getting 17 and 10 so hey. Idk many 3rd options who are doing what Love is doing. Actually is there another 3rd option on a good team pulling 17 and 10?
 
In any event, main point in this thread is that stats bear out that the ONLY area that Love is truly struggling in(by his standards) is his 3PT shot.

Great post.

Personally, I would like to see him take more 2 pointers and he did that the last game. Even did some pump fakes and moved into 2 point land. It worked.
 
Is it just me or when Bosh hit a 3 early in the game did he keep chucking them the rest of the game? He was almost automatic on his midrange shots but he seemed to fall in love with the 3 at times. I'll admit though I usually only watched the playoff games.
 
Curious to hear your years and years of evidence. Pray tell...
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Sorry to barge in here with this bit of positive Kevin Love news, but I was surprised to see this tweet from 2 nights ago and see that it was nowhere to be found in this thread:

Synergy Sports Tech‏@SynergySST
Kevin Love leads the NBA in Post Up scoring efficiency among players using over 4 possession per game at 1.005 points per possession

This team is doing great right now so no need to drastically change anything, but perhaps a few more looks to Love in the post after the 1st quarter wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Would love to get he official opposition party response to that from: @6kiss @clevelandrox23 @Birdy89 @qaws23
perfect-reaction-gifs-sibling-gets-in-trouble.gif


People getting slaughtered in here.

New thread title: The slaughterhouse.
 
I really want to hear some coaching rationale on why Love is being used as a spot up shooter. He can't get offensive putbacks from out there. I'd like to see the spot up less and more posting. He has such a smooth bank jumper from the elbow.
 
Blatt is using Love's gravity to pull his defender out of the paint and leave open routes for Kyrie and LeBron to use their skills in cutting to the hole.
Since Love is a 3rd option scorer, most plays that run are for KI and LBJ. And most of them include Love doing that.
That is the rationale.
Is it the right decision? Time will tell.

Personally would love to see Love get more looks at the elbow as well.
 
Blatt is using Love's gravity to pull his defender out of the paint and leave open routes for Kyrie and LeBron to use their skills in cutting to the hole.
Since Love is a 3rd option scorer, most plays that run are for KI and LBJ. And most of them include Love doing that.
That is the rationale.
Is it the right decision? Time will tell.

Personally would love to see Love get more looks at the elbow as well.

That's what I figured. But I'm just so surprised that there seems to be no mixing up after the first quarter. It's so painfully obvious that fair-weather fans notice it. Shit, even my dog was like "WTF". Could have been "woof" though.
 
Watch that Minnesota clip and try to convince me that love isn't twice as fluid there as he is now.

It's hard to put the ball on the deck and create your own shot when your playing very upright
 
More plays should be ran where Love initiates the offense. I think with Kyrie and Lebron on the court, that would allow more room for Love to operate and he does appear to have a very good touch in the post when given opportunities.
 
I also think that Love is suffering from some kind of chronic pain.
He is very stiff at many stages of the game. Some games he finishes barely walking.
So it's pretty natural to start strong when you're fresh and then when the pain gets to you do less of those things that cause you that pain.
Hell maybe even Blatt and Love both agree on that and feeding Love less in the post in the following quarters is something planned.
We couldn't know. But I am pretty sure he is hurt. Let's see if the AS break can get him healthy.
 
I really want to hear some coaching rationale on why Love is being used as a spot up shooter. He can't get offensive putbacks from out there. I'd like to see the spot up less and more posting. He has such a smooth bank jumper from the elbow.

Not sure what you're complaining about here? Love's value as a space maker is extremely high and, from what I've seen, he does an incredible job at anticipating the shot and getting into rebounding position.

Watch Love during this clip (not the greatest example, but I can find many more) and watch him next game. I'm sure you'll see differently.

Not sure how to, of if I can, embed this...

http://on.nba.com/1DnTrsZ
 
Just consider that there's a freaking movement to get Kyle Korver to the ASG because of the SPACING he provides. Never mind his low usage and pedestrian stats, it's the SPACING. And the shooting percentages, of course, but it's all about the SPACING.

So how about someone who's nearly as effective in spacing, but has higher usage, scores more himself, rebounds like a maniac and has even played passable defense late? I think that's valuable, even rare.
 

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