Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[Wiggins&Bazz]

Anybody who has watched the Cavs every game this year and would take Love over Kyrie is smoking something good. The three will eventually workout. Just takes time, people.

Love anyday over Kyrie. Yes I agree it takes time. But the Love bashing needs to simmer a bit.

Ive disliked his crybaby attitude and his blaming others for a while now. I was happy when we traded him just because we weren't going anywhere with the team we had anyway.

All that said, he's a much better player then you guys are giving him credit for.

And how many superstars are 2-way players?
LBJ
Durant
Westbrook
Gasol
Harden sucks at D
Steph is brutal on D
Klay I guess if you consider him a superstar. (Which I don't)

 

[Jordan]

Love anyday over Kyrie. Yes I agree it takes time. But the Love bashing needs to simmer a bit.

Ive disliked his crybaby attitude and his blaming others for a while now. I was happy when we traded him just because we weren't going anywhere with the team we had anyway.

All that said, he's a much better player then you guys are giving him credit for.

And how many superstars are 2-way players?
LBJ
Durant
Westbrook
Gasol
Harden sucks at D
Steph is brutal on D
Klay I guess if you consider him a superstar. (Which I don't)

Nobody is saying he is a bad player but Kyrie has done much better for us than Love has.

Also, nobody thinks Love has to be great at defense, but he is absolutely atrocious at it. I'm pretty positive a big boulder would provide more defensive pressure than Love does. Again, I think it will all eventually workout but Love is nowhere near the superstar he was in Minnesota.

 

[Rimage]

Nobody is saying he is a bad player but Kyrie has done much better for us than Love has.

Also, nobody thinks Love has to be great at defense, but he is absolutely atrocious at it. I'm pretty positive a big boulder would provide more defensive pressure than Love does. Again, I think it will all eventually workout but Love is nowhere near the superstar he was in Minnesota.

Love is the same guy he was in Minnesota. He is still capable of doing all those things he did in Minnesota, but for him to be effective, he needs to touch the ball, he needs to be involved and right now, he just isn't. I'm not even saying he needs to shoot the ball more, but he needs to be involved in the offense. He needs to be able to make decisions because he is an extremely smart basketball player. We still have Lebron, Kyrie, Dion dominating the ball. It gets passed once a possession way too often and Love isn't involved at all. We made him a rich-man's Ryan Anderson. It's a waste and he can just straight leave after this season if he is unhappy.

 

[The Red Viper]

Love anyday over Kyrie. Yes I agree it takes time. But the Love bashing needs to simmer a bit.

Ive disliked his crybaby attitude and his blaming others for a while now. I was happy when we traded him just because we weren't going anywhere with the team we had anyway.

All that said, he's a much better player then you guys are giving him credit for.

And how many superstars are 2-way players?
LBJ
Durant
Westbrook
Gasol
Harden sucks at D
Steph is brutal on D
Klay I guess if you consider him a superstar. (Which I don't)

I love KLove. But, He ain't amongst the top five players in the league. He is one of top five power-forwards in the game. But, in terms of overall impact, I won't have him in my top ten of current NBA players. If all the players are healty, I won't pick KLove over LeBron, Durant, Westbrook, Gasol, Davis, Chris Paul, Harden, Curry, Melo or Rose who are my top ten.

Yes, you can point out that some like Curry, Harden and Melo are poor at defending but what they have as advantage is all three are very good handlers of the ball and can create for themselves to score. With Love or in case of any big man, you need to create plays for him and feed him.

 

[The Red Viper]

Love is the same guy he was in Minnesota. He is still capable of doing all those things he did in Minnesota, but for him to be effective, he needs to touch the ball, he needs to be involved and right now, he just isn't. I'm not even saying he needs to shoot the ball more, but he needs to be involved in the offense. He needs to be able to make decisions because he is an extremely smart basketball player. We still have Lebron, Kyrie, Dion dominating the ball. It gets passed once a possession way too often and Love isn't involved at all. We made him a rich-man's Ryan Anderson. It's a waste and he can just straight leave after this season if he is unhappy.

I still feel the team will figure itself out by play-offs time. The thing is, like with Miami, when you have three stars in your team and all of them are known for their offensive game, you need someone to sacrifice and in that case it was Chris Bosh for Miami and DWade to an extent. They understood they had to sacrifice for it to work and them to win. You can't ask LeBron to sacrifice because he is the best player in the game and you need to ensure he plays at his best and isn't sacrificed.

People often ignore how much you need to sacrifice your own game for the team to work and win. Kyrie and KLove have to learn and accept that. So does LeBron in fact. In the second phase of his career with Cleveland, he has to be more of Magic than Mike. Only then we can see all three playing well without one of them underperforming.

 

[Rimage]

I still feel the team will figure itself out by play-offs time. The thing is, like with Miami, when you have three stars in your team and all of them are known for their offensive game, you need someone to sacrifice and in that case it was Chris Bosh for Miami and DWade to an extent. They understood they had to sacrifice for it to work and them to win. You can't ask LeBron to sacrifice because he is the best player in the game and you need to ensure he plays at his best and isn't sacrificed.

People often ignore how much you need to sacrifice your own game for the team to work and win. Kyrie and KLove have to learn and accept that. So does LeBron in fact. In the second phase of his career with Cleveland, he has to be more of Magic than Mike. Only then we can see all three playing well without one of them underperforming.

I think everyone on this team knows they have to sacrifice, but that doesn't mean exclusion for long stretches of time. Kevin Love is literally excluded from a lot of possessions. He doesn't physically touch the ball at all. It's Lebron dribbling at the top of the arc, it's Kyrie taking his man one-on-one possession after possession. It is Dion taking deep, fade-away two's early in the shot clock.

Part of me is glad Varejao is out, because it takes away Lebron's favorite target and will force him to use a much better player dying to contribute. Part of me is also glad Lebron is sitting out two weeks, because Love will be allowed to be more involved by default.

Again, this is not me saying Love needs more shots or more points, just that he needs to be involved. To make a pass, a decision, a play because that will help us as a team.

 

[The Red Viper]

I think everyone on this team knows they have to sacrifice, but that doesn't mean exclusion for long stretches of time. Kevin Love is literally excluded from a lot of possessions. He doesn't physically touch the ball at all. It's Lebron dribbling at the top of the arc, it's Kyrie taking his man one-on-one possession after possession. It is Dion taking deep, fade-away two's early in the shot clock.

Part of me is glad Varejao is out, because it takes away Lebron's favorite target and will force him to use a much better player dying to contribute. Part of me is also glad Lebron is sitting out two weeks, because Love will be allowed to be more involved by default.

Again, this is not me saying Love needs more shots or more points, just that he needs to be involved. To make a pass, a decision, a play because that will help us as a team.

Completely agree with you.

These injuries to Andy and LeBron can be a blessing in disguise for Love as he will be to get much more involved in the offense and that will help his confidence and once LeBron is back, he will get to play with a Love who would be in better touch and more confident. Kyrie can create for himself but its essential that Love is much more involved and I have faith that after LeBron comes back we will get to see a lot of PnP between LeBron and Love.

 

[Wiggins&Bazz]

I love KLove. But, He ain't amongst the top five players in the league. He is one of top five power-forwards in the game. But, in terms of overall impact, I won't have him in my top ten of current NBA players. If all the players are healty, I won't pick KLove over LeBron, Durant, Westbrook, Gasol, Davis, Chris Paul, Harden, Curry, Melo or Rose who are my top ten.

Yes, you can point out that some like Curry, Harden and Melo are poor at defending but what they have as advantage is all three are very good handlers of the ball and can create for themselves to score. With Love or in case of any big man, you need to create plays for him and feed him.

How did I forget Davis? He's the best 2-way player their is. I have to disagree on Rose, Melo, Paul and Harden. Especially Rose. Paul is severely overrated along with Rose (him because of injuries). Melo & Harden are better pure scorers, but Love wins in every other category. The all suck at defense.

Obviously a guy like Rubio helped Love out here. But he's actually pretty decent at creating a shot or hitting shots with guys in his face. Something just isn't gelling right now for them. Once they realize how big of a weapon Love is, you will all be happy you have him.

About his defense..... When I watched him I always felt like it was an effort thing. Don't you guys agree that if he wants to be a great defender he would turn out to be decent instead of atrocious?

I'm rooting for the Cavs, Cleveland sports has had it tougher then we have, which is saying a lot.

 

[gourimoko]

How did I forget Davis? He's the best 2-way player their is. I have to disagree on Rose, Melo, Paul and Harden. Especially Rose. Paul is severely overrated along with Rose (him because of injuries). Melo & Harden are better pure scorers, but Love wins in every other category. The all suck at defense.

What??!

 

[CavsFan005]

Offensively there is no question that Love and Kyrie are superstars. I don't think they have the intangibles that Wade and Bosh had though. Given the right offensive system and chemistry with each other, the offense can potentially be better then Miami's was.

We need 2 lock down defenders in the starting lineup next to them to make up for their weak points. I see absolutely no way around this if we are going to be a championship team. We played by far our best basketball with Marion in the starting lineup. If Blatt can't see this and keeps throwing more offensive players out there like Miller he should be fired. And its the front office's job to acquire these pieces.

 

[czvo]

How did I forget Davis? He's the best 2-way player their is. I have to disagree on Rose, Melo, Paul and Harden. Especially Rose. Paul is severely overrated along with Rose (him because of injuries). Melo & Harden are better pure scorers, but Love wins in every other category. The all suck at defense.

Obviously a guy like Rubio helped Love out here. But he's actually pretty decent at creating a shot or hitting shots with guys in his face. Something just isn't gelling right now for them. Once they realize how big of a weapon Love is, you will all be happy you have him.

About his defense..... When I watched him I always felt like it was an effort thing. Don't you guys agree that if he wants to be a great defender he would turn out to be decent instead of atrocious?

I'm rooting for the Cavs, Cleveland sports has had it tougher then we have, which is saying a lot.

You clearly haven't watched Harden this year.

 

[cavsfever]

Love is a superstar. Maybe it hasn't shown quite the way you would've hoped yet, but he is dynamite on offense. I've been watching him do it every Nite since he came into the league.

Love has not been quite the offensive force I expected, and I don't think it's just about not feeding him. Although he's very skilled it seems like he's undersized and unathletic, so in order to really shine he needs a larger center to draw some opponents off him. He's still an impressive player on offense but he seems to get overwhelmed in the paint at times.

Of course, the problem no one talks about with bringing in a larger center is that it will clog up the lane for Lebron and Kyrie...

 

[brownindian]

Of course, the problem no one talks about with bringing in a larger center is that it will clog up the lane for Lebron and Kyrie...

LeBron has been in the NBA long enough to know how to score. And for Kyrie, Well he will learn - He is smart. Let us not forget that Center is a need for us regardless of Kevin Love.
(I was originally going to type that Kyrie has played with Andrew Bynum and then i deleted the statement as my memory came back to me.)

 

[LoveStan]

What??!

He's probably referring to Paul getting abused by Conley in the playoffs.

 

[LeShaq]

I would take Love over Kyrie all day, every day. To this point in their careers, Love is clearly the better player.

Love is basically a guaranteed double double night in and night out.

The difference between the two players is that Kyrie can create his own shot and Love cannot. But just because that is the case does not mean Kyrie is better. For example, I would not take Allen Iverson over Hakeem Olajuwon even though Iverson could get his own shot better than Hakeem could.

The issue with things currently is that Blatt isn't using Love properly or putting him into the best positions to succeed. Thus Love looks like a lesser player than he really is.

If you want to understand how proper utilization of a player can affect his production, take a look at how bad Pau Gasol looked with the Lakers the last few years under D'Antoni and then look at what Gasol is doing with the Bulls this year. Same player, but being used better with the Bulls.

Love is a stud (as is Kyrie). Blatt must figure out how to use Love better. If Blatt cannot do that, then I honestly don't want Blatt around.