I appreciate what Love brings to the table and I've never been a one sided Love-basher. But I also understand why he drives people crazy sometimes. His physical limitations are just so flagrantly evident at times, most notably in interior scoring and interior defense. (Re interior scoring -- remember him shooting 36% from 0-3 feet during the 2015-16 playoffs? He actually shot better from three than he did from layup range that year -- crazy making to watch his layups get snuffed over and over). He can be a very "stoppable" player and inconsistent game to game -- he can feast when good teams are not as focused on him, but when good teams game plan to stop him he can just disappear. Golden State has held him under 10 points in more than half of the Finals games he played against them (six out of eleven). If he shows up at all in Game 3 last year we win. When he does show up it's great, but it feels like you can't count on him to be a star when the team is down. His almost total lack of any rim protection abilities is a very visible annoyance even though he has good mobility and effort on defense. It can also be crazy making to watch him try to make decisions and get hung up when he is posted up in the interior or gets double teamed -- for whatever reason, we aren't taking advantage of his passing abilities well here, he has been in the negative on assist / turnover ratio (more TO than assists) last year and this year. So all his flaws are very in your face and kind of infuriating to watch.
But at the same time he does bring a ton to the table. Remember how we were all of a sudden a lousy rebounding team when he was out for an extended period last year? His three point shot is so consistent and he shoots it well in the clutch, he draws fouls well, he's a very good opportunistic scorer, his lower body is so strong that he can body up larger bigs on defense, and his defensive mobility has improved a lot. He's a very efficient player and a very good third option.
I agree with those who say that he is tough and hardworking and doesn't have any character issues. His issues are really all physical -- he has short arms, can't jump, and isn't particularly quick, when today's NBA is all about length, athleticism, and versatility. I feel like he would have been a bigger "star", maybe even hall of fame caliber, playing in a somewhat different era -- the NBA is so crazy athletic now that his issues are super obvious, and his three point shooting ability is less unusual than it once would have been.
