Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[FrontPageNews]

Love and Kanter are a front court that would give David griffin an orgasm.

 

[CTownSportsFan]

FWIW I think you'll get your wish that Love will be gone after this season regardless of whether Lebron stays or leaves. Love is one of the most valuable trade pieces we have and he would bring back a substantial player.

If Lebron stays it will be because there will be a significant shake-up of the whole roster using Love, the pick, and our expiring contracts.

If Lebron leaves then everything will get blown up. Either way Love is gone after this playoff run. I think the worm has turned between Love and Lebron as well, and Love is tired of the bullshit associated with this team. I have no evidence other than general body language, reading between the lines, etc.

If Altman is still the GM the return on Love will look something like a player with chronic knee issues and not just 1 knee but both. A pick he assumes will be top 8 but turns out to be in the 20’s and a disgruntled PF who’s 6’5” and out of shape over weight .

 

[FrontPageNews]

If Altman is still the GM the return on Love will look something like a player with chronic knee issues and not just 1 knee but both. A pick he assumes will be top 8 but turns out to be in the 20’s and a disgruntled PF who’s 6’5” and out of shape over weight .

Loves got very little value. No one wanted him last year. Every team we tried to trade him to wanted to get a 3rd team involved to take him.

The only thing we’ll get out of love is possibly moving up a few spots in the draft.

 

[CTownSportsFan]

Loves got very little value. No one wanted him last year. Every team we tried to trade him to wanted to get a 3rd team involved to take him.

The only thing we’ll get out of love is possibly moving up a few spots in the draft.

But according to all the NBA experts who reside in these forums, Love is just being misused by Lue. If this is the case, I’d assume teams around the league would see this as well and highly value Love .

 

[Green Lantern]

Thad Young is the worst kind of match-up for Love. Long, strong, still athletic, and savvy as hell. Turner is a very good perimeter defender for his size. Lance bothers everybody because he hacks, grabs and shoves with complete impunity and the refs give him a pass on 80% of what should be called fouls.

Indy is possibly the worst match-up for Love in the league, and to make things worse Love lost all the strength in his left hand and they're focusing on attacking that injury. If anybody thinks that hand doesn't hurt like hell and get worse as the game goes on, you don't know what the hell you're talking about or you never had a thumb injury.

i WOULD AGREE with that..certain teams(players) are a mismatch for KL.
It's obvious to see but at the same time with that mismatch, the HC needs to move him around(get picks set for him) and not plant him in the low post or just camp outside .

 

[Tyrone Slothrop]

The answer, per usual, lies in the middle. Yes, this Pacers team is a bad match up for Love, but he also, without a doubt, has to start playing better. He has been bad on the offensive end. And that just happens to be the side of the court, the Cavs are struggling with right now. He needs to start playing like a 3rd option, much less a second option.

 

[buzzdog]

Loves got very little value. No one wanted him last year. Every team we tried to trade him to wanted to get a 3rd team involved to take him.

The only thing we’ll get out of love is possibly moving up a few spots in the draft.

The teams we were trying to trade with wanted to get draft picks or youth. To be sure Love only has value to teams that are in win now mode. Our trading partner would need to be one of the teams that has established stars but chemistry or fit problems. Love could be a perfect fit for some teams and to them he will have solid value.

 

[CavzAddict]

The answer, per usual, lies in the middle. Yes, this Pacers team is a bad match up for Love, but he also, without a doubt, has to start playing better. He has been bad on the offensive end. And that just happens to be the side of the court, the Cavs are struggling with right now. He needs to start playing like a 3rd option, much less a second option.

not only is Love supposed to be our second option, he's an All-Star. don't All-Stars rise to the occasion? don't they step up to the plate and show us why they're a star when adversity hit? bad match ups or not, he is supposed to be showing up and showing out right now. he has failed to do this on multiple occasions (in the playoffs).

 

[SteelSmack]

Love is playing badly. Indiana is keying in on him. Scrubs on Indiana are playing better than Love. We're not keying in on them, we're keying in on Oladipo. We're basically ignoring everyone except Oladipo while he has the ball in his hands.

If Indiana was doing that with LeBron, Love would be dropping 30 a game, if not more. And other guys like JR, Korver, and Hill would also be pouring in points. Which is why they're not doing it. They're staying home (unless Jeff Green is on the floor, because who cares if he's taking 3s) and hoping LeBron doesn't attack. And in the first half, it works poorly, because LeBron attacks (except in game 1 where LeBron looked disinterested), and in the 2nd half it works great, because LeBron goes into ultra-defer mode for 12+ minutes.

Love shouldn't see another touch in the post this series, unless he has Collison on him and has him sealed really deep (no dribbles needed). Everything should be at the wing, catch and shoot 3s, dribble handoff action at the top of the key (which we haven't run since like December, so I'm not holding out hope for that, even though Hood and Korver would kill it doing this), or 18 foot baseline/wing jumpers.

And we really should be hunting 3s for Kevin. He's struggled, but he's still shooting 40% from 3 in the series even after an 0-3 game. Dude was hitting Curry-esque 30 footers just a couple weeks ago, let's run some of those plays that freed him up for those. They weren't anything fancy, just simple pick and pops.

 

[buzzdog]

Love gets stripped when he tries to post up on the low block near the baseline. We need to get him the ball at the elbow where it's harder for the Pacers to swarm him and he can either shoot, pass out to a three point shot, or pass to a cutter. Hey Ty, remember the elbow touches?

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Love gets stripped when he tries to post up on the low block near the baseline. We need to get him the ball at the elbow where it's harder for the Pacers to swarm him and he can either shoot, pass out to a three point shot, or pass to a cutter. Hey Ty, remember the elbow touches?

It's not just that. He also can't post up because he isn't strong enough...he gets pushed off his spots and can't back them down.

Elbow touches won't do much for us when there is zero off-ball action or cuts during the action.

More Elbow touches you say? FYI, Under Lue Love's spot up-possessions/catch and shoot possessions have gone up and the elbow touches and the
rest have gone down after that initial uptick in elbow touches after Blatt's firing.

To me, it looks like the the uptick was just to prove a point and to make Love buy in.

 

[CTownSportsFan]

It's not just that. He also can't post up because he isn't strong enough...he gets pushed off his spots and can't back them down.

Elbow touches won't do much for us when there is zero off-ball action or cuts during the action.

More Elbow touches you say? FYI, Under Lue Love's spot up-possessions/catch and shoot possessions have gone up and the elbow touches and the
rest have gone down after that initial uptick in elbow touches after Blatt's firing.

To me, it looks like the the uptick was just to prove a point and to make Love buy in.

 

[LeeBuckeye]

I agree with getting Love more looks from three but the Pacers have had something to do with limiting those looks as they're aware of how important that is for our offense. Love has been able to lose Turner on the perimeter a few times but the Pacers have limited that match-up for a reason. One would think that Love should be able to manhandle Young but he's been stifled there as well with quick doubles and strips. His timing on those hook shots have been incredibly bad, as he puts a body on Young, then waits a split second too long only for Young to recover and block his attempt.

 

[SteelSmack]

It's not just that. He also can't post up because he isn't strong enough...he gets pushed off his spots and can't back them down.

I don't even think it's a strength issue. It's a mental issue. He's getting manhandled and if he tries to assert himself, it's an offensive foul or he fumbles the ball. So he's just letting them push him around.

Side note, I think I remember hearing a couple years ago that Love was at the top of the weight lifting numbers on the team. And this was well after he was Fat Kevin. I also think that hand is a big problem when it comes to fighting back. Props to him for playing through it, but he's gotta be better and our coaches have got to be smarter about how we use him.

 

[The Red Viper]

Love and Westbrook are good friends... best friends, as far as I understand it.

OKC might be a better environment for him...

Option 1 (minimum changes):
If George is willing to opt-in, a straight up trade would be perfect... nuff said.

Option 2 (Get a legit rim protector):
If he wants to get his $30M right now though, then if James were willing to take a one-year $10M paycut, Cavs could do the following:

Love+Korver(for salary reasons) for George+OKC's first via S&T;
Thompson+Hill+Smith+BKN for Kemba+Howard+MKG/Williams;
Cavs give Hood his qualifying offer
Cavs do not bring back Calderon or Jeff Green, and don't use MLE.
Cavs sign LeBron to a 1+1 @ $25M.

Kemba/George/James/Williams/Howard or Kemba/MKG/James/Howard

With a bench of Hood, Nance, Cedi, Zizic...

Option 3 (Everybody gets paid):
If James wants his max, and George wants his max you could still do it:

Love+Clarkson for George+OKC's first via S&T (Cavs -$6.3M)
Thompson+Smith+BKN for Kemba+Willams/MKG+Bacon/Hernangomez (Cavs -$5.5 avg)
Cavs QO to Rodney Hood

Cavs could max both LeBron and George in this instance; would field:

LeBron: $35.5M
George: $30.3M
Hill: $19M (ugh)
Walker: $12M
MKG/Williams: (avg $13.25M, pick one)
Korver: $7.5M
Osman: $2.8M
Hood: $3.6M QO
Zizc: $2M
Nance: $2M
----------------
~$92.5M before LeBron (-1 roster slot of $550k)
Leaves us $36.5M (-0.5M) below the apron...

James could take all of that money, or, he could leave $10M on the table for the Cavs to use the full MLE and the BAE.

Option 4 (End the Tax):
To modify the the above trade, instead of MKG/Williams just make it MKG+Williams, add in "Juylan Stone" from the Hornets to make salaries work, and that brings the Cavs even further down in salary while replacing the corpse of George Hill.

So the Hornets trade would actually be:

Hill+Thompson+Smith+BKN (3 Players / $51M) for
Kemba+MKG+Williams+ Stone+Bacon (5 Players, $41.5M)

Obviously Stone and Bacon get cut, so it's effectively a swap of 3 players from each team, so roster slots shouldn't be an issue.

Not sure if I prefer this or Howard, and salary wise Kemba+Howard is equal to Kemba+MKG+Williams; but this does make for a versatile lineup...

At the end of a trade like this, with James fully maxed out, the Cavs would actually be significantly below the tax line (by ~$6.5M)....

James, George, Walker, Williams, MKG, Osman, Hood, Zizic, Nance, + 3 roster slots.

Not world-beaters, but, a fieldable team nonetheless. Perhaps one that could create a defensive identity?

Think the time for that Love for PG deal is long gone.

Last summer and trade deadline was the time. I can't see PG not going to Lakers. I will be shocked if he doesn't.

I think the best player we can get for Love is probably someone like CJ or Beal. Love for Beal probably won't be enough as well. What we can also do is trade Love for someone like Marc Gasol + future protected 1st/2nd rounders.

Or there's the option. You trade Love for picks and assets. Someone like Phoenix may be in for Love as they want to start winning. From the East, Magic or Bucks could be in for Love as well. Anyway, you use that pick or two and combine it with a contracts like JR + George Hill to get Kemba + Batum from Charlotte. That way you keep you also keep that Nets pick.