Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

lol I hope there isn't more Blatt and Love drama. Blatt just needs to not comment on stuff anymore.

cavsfever said:

This misses a couple of things. First, both Garnett and Bosh were big-time plus defenders. Love has substantially improved his defense from the egregious levels we saw earlier in the year but he is probably still a minus defender. Second, Garnett and Bosh could score more reliably and more different ways than Love has this year. Love has really only been effective as a spot-up three point shooter this year. (Unclear why this is). The diversity and efficiency of your scoring game becomes more important in the fourth quarter, the playoffs, and clutch situations where people will try to take away one dimension of your game. If you ask why JJ is playing in the fourth quarter, it seems like one reason is that Blatt just views Love as a spot-up three point shooter, and JJ is really good at that too, so how much do you gain by playing Love?

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While this is true, the fact remains for each player it was a work in progress. The Celtics were fortunate enough to have a point guard in place already in Rondo that was able to distribute the ball between the Big 3 and there wasn't so much talk of who was the first, second, and third option. The Heat's first year together were dueling banjos in Wade & LeBron with Bosh always referred to as the lesser of the three. The Cavs have had struggles with Irving and LeBron being the dominant ball handlers and using Love primarily as nothing more than a spot up shooter as you mentioned. But again, it's something that should hopefully adapt over time.

Bosh's situation shares more of a resemblance to Love than Garnett. You mentioned Bosh as a big-time plus defender but that was also thanks to the Heat's universal defensive approach. Bosh wasn't known to be a horrid defender as Love was when he came to the Cavs, but he wasn't the tenacious defensive player he became that had could arguably be the biggest role of the Big 3 in winning their 2nd title. But Bosh's offensive game was constantly adapted throughout the 4 years LeBron played there. In his final years, he hoisted up 2.5 as many 3 pt attempts while only converting 34% of them. His numbers in the 13-14 season dipped to 12.1 FG attempts, 6.6 rebounds, and 16.2 points.

I'm not trying to make this about which player is better between Bosh, Love, and KG - I'm just drawing the resemblance in what was asked of their games. While Love may have disappointed people so far this season, why media heads like Simmons constantly bring up his 26/13 season last year should be irrelevant compared to what we've gathered in the past Big 3's. The Heat, Celtics, and Cavs all have very different and distinct parallels in their own right - but the controversy over Love and the criticism of his game is getting downright silly. You'd think we would've learned from the stories of Bosh crying in the locker room and the constant trade speculation to just chill out about it and see how Love develops with the Cavs. Instead, I think we're catering to the current shit storm and cool off it a bit.

Omar The Horse said:

Love is claiming that he rested because Blatt asked him to and that it had nothing to do with his back.

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Source??

Lord Mar said:

Where did you hear that from? It's not abnormal to rest your guys down the stretch for a playoff run.

However, all the talk about his back and him being in the locker room on the bike staying warm during the SAS game might be a rouse if what you say is true - can't have it both ways.

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Helium filament said:

Source??

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NDEPENDENCE: Kevin Love will return to the court tonight when the Cavaliers host the Brooklyn Nets after missing the last two games to rest.

Love conceded over the weekend his back tightened up on him during Thursday’s overtime win against the Spurs. He missed games at Orlando and Miami, but was adamant Wednesday the time off was not related to injury.

“Me resting had nothing to do with my back,” Love said. “Just rest. Coach approached me, knew I was playing heavy minutes, just came to me and asked if I would sit a game or two. That’s all it was.”

That conflicts with an ESPN report that Love approached David Blatt and asked for the extra night off. Regardless, Love is ready to play again. He has missed five games this season: Two for his back, one for an eye injury and the latest two to rest.


http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland...return-to-court-tonight-against-nets-1.575845

Yeah, just found that on espn as well. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12507112/kevin-love-back-cleveland-cavaliers

OK....so basically Blatt gave him a much needed rest. Nothing to see here - move along.

Eesh, what's with all the mixed messages between Blatt and the players?

At least have a closed-door meeting where you can get your stories straight.

It is ridiculous they can't get on the same page about why he sat out.

It feeds the Love media narrative needlessly.

These 2 need to work out whatever their issue is because it is a distraction that doesn't need to exist as we head down the stretch.

Kyrie and LeBron have been playing "heavy" minutes. Love, not so much. And this comes after he recently discussed his season-long battle with back pain?

I get it. You don't want to look like damaged goods. Here's hoping he looks rejuvenated against the Nets tonight.

mrbeaks said:

Kyrie and LeBron have been playing "heavy" minutes. Love, not so much. And this comes after he recently discussed his season-long battle with back pain?

I get it. You don't want to look like damaged goods. Here's hoping he looks rejuvenated against the Nets tonight.

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LeBron has gotten his fair share of rest this season already, I expect Kyrie to get some much needed rest right before the playoffs. It seems like a complete non-issue to me, just the coach giving his players some time to recoup. Love's games were missed during a back-to-back as well, the last one we had this season (excluding the last week of April since only our bench will likely to be active during those games). So I think it was just a wise move, back issues or not.

mrbeaks said:

Kyrie and LeBron have been playing "heavy" minutes. Love, not so much.

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Kyrie and LeBron don't have to set picks/screens--Kevin does. And Kevin plays the most minutes of any front court player on the team.

CommD said:

If you as a Cavs fan supported trading for Love knowing his contract situation, it is ridiculous to now complain about media speculation about him potentially leaving.

The truth is that any conclusion on EITHER side of the issue of Love's commitment to the Cavaliers is mere speculation, and it will go on until he opts-in for next year or signs a new contract. This is what you (and the Cavs) signed up for so the whining about it is futile.

It was, and is, totally predictable in today's media environment. Its why it's hard for me to believe that the team that that went through what it did with James in 2010 (or its fans) would want to put themselves in a similar situation a few short years later.

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What about those of us that didn't support trading for him given his contract situation? Are we still allowed to whine?

Bodhi said:

I've just never seen a player which such unbelievable talent and one year left on his contract be shit on by his own fan base to this extent.

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I'm sad now... Just brings back really bad memories of 2010.

Everyone said then "he's not going anywhere... book it."

gourimoko said:

I'm sad now... Just brings back really bad memories of 2010.

Everyone said then "he's not going anywhere... book it."

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To be fair, I could have missed something in the Windy interview. But he did say nobody in Love's circle thinks he like Cleveland. God, I hope he doesn't leave.