Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[Adam]

I'll reserve judgement on kevin until the playoffs start. Its crazy how teams continue to tight cover him on the perimeter and leave jr open. In a series they will start to have to run jr off the line and loves shot numbers will rise.

Hopefully he will knock them down.

Also in the offseason he needs to get used to taking stand still jumpers, he is so much better when shooting on the move, but thats not the shots he gets right now

 

[TheBigAristotle]

I fully expect David Blatt to surprise us all with K-Love. We've seen a number of posts from fans of his previous teams that he always has something up in his sleeve when it counts most.

It actually makes a lot of sense: Love has issues with his back so playing him a lot in the post is a high risk when you need him the most in the playoffs.

 

[Kbiz]

Bad back and all, Love should have more than 7 points in a game Irving did not play in.

I am very concerned with the lack of chemistry b/w Lebron and Love, from an offensive standpoint. At times this season, they've run the pick n' roll and it has been effective. Last night, all Love did was camp out at the three point line, waiting for LBJ to drive. Love looks much more comfortable shooting long 2's, closer to the elbows. We could've gotten him open looks there the entire game but yet he simply camped out the entire game, looking for the corner three.

I know that Blatt prefers 3's vs. long 2's but Love has yet to hit threes consistently all year. My hope is that we unveil new sets in the playoffs involving Love in different positions on the court. I know that this is the first year and "chemistry takes time" but it shouldn't take this long to get him going. My biggest worry this year was how LBJ and Irving would mesh, being that they are both ball-dominant guards. I really thought Love and LBJ would be perfect compliments and while we've seen the potential at times, it isn't consistent at all.

 

[bigfoot5415]

Love will carry us in the 1st round. Watch.

 

[David.]

Love is shooting over.360 this year from three.

Yes teams will cover him. Yes he shoots well from 3.

 

[Otsego Mar]

As long as we continue to not showcase him from the elbow/block it will be viewed as a waste of talent, IMO. Granted, he might be able to play until he is 40 if he stood around the 3 point line and only played 25 minutes a game, but I can understand if Love felt somewhat disengaged from the offense, because the offense was disengaged from him.

I'd rather see Love get 13 touches down low than see JR chuck 13 threes a game in the playoffs.

 

[Jscc]

At times this season, they've run the pick n' roll and it has been effective. Last night, all Love did was camp out at the three point line, waiting for LBJ to drive. Love looks much more comfortable shooting long 2's, closer to the elbows. We could've gotten him open looks there the entire game but yet he simply camped out the entire game, looking for the corner three.

There you go. The reason Kevin is camping out at the three point line is because LeBron prefers to drive instead of running pick and rolls with him. Not Kevin's fault.

 

[bobbyh]

As long as we continue to not showcase him from the elbow/block it will be viewed as a waste of talent, IMO. Granted, he might be able to play until he is 40 if he stood around the 3 point line and only played 25 minutes a game, but I can understand if Love felt somewhat disengaged from the offense, because the offense was disengaged from him.

I'd rather see Love get 12 touches down low than see JR chuck 12 threes a game in the playoffs.

Yep, don't want to see him jacking all those 3's in playoff games. That's how Orlando got lucky in the playoffs years ago.

I could have sworn I saw T.T. give J.R. a dirty look after he hoisted up a three at one point.

 

[Otsego Mar]

Another thing I'll add:

Kevin is a very efficient offensive player. He doesn't take a lot of bad shots. In last night's game he took at least one, maybe two, fall back 3s. Is that a testament to his use in the offense....or is it just game 81 and we're all having a good time?

Fall-back 3s were never a part of his game.

He also lost a few balls and looked a little lakadaisical, but you could say that for a few players.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

While I think we all should probably reserve judgment until the playoffs, it's a pattern at this point where if Love isn't involved in the offense early, he starts to drift and checks out mentally for the entire game.

It's not a surprise, most big guys who can score are like that. They want their touches if you are going to ask them to rebound, play D, etc. Not excusing his lax play in the last game, but that's just reality.

Why not just make an effort to throw the guy a bone in his sweet spots. I'm not even talking about FGA's, just give him some touches so he feels like a decision maker in the offense like Kyrie and LBJ are. Honestly Love is a great passer, arguably the best passing PF in the game, why not use that skill in our half-court offense regularly?

Lebron and Kyrie don't have to initiate every play off the dribble...

 

[Cayman13]

Interesting to see how this will play out. I tend to believe something is off with him and he's not gelling with the guys, which is very concerning. But I'll reserve judgement until the playoffs/this summer, to see how everything goes. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Kbiz]

I will have a HUGE issue if Love looks disinterested in the playoffs, regardless of the touches he is getting. That will have to be addressed immediately if that comes to fruition.

If we can find a way to engage Love early, he tends to play hard the rest of the game. When his shot isn't falling, is body language becomes pretty bad on the court, which could lead to costly mistakes in the playoffs when each possession is huge.

This will be the main storyline to watch regarding our team moving forward in the playoffs. I am pretty happy with our current rotation. I think Blatt has a good grip on how to effectively use our bench guys, depending on the match-up. Every "role player" seems to know their role. The problem is Love is not a role player. I just hope to see total-team effort, on both ends of the floor, regardless of how well an individual may or may not be playing.

LBJ and Love's "come to jesus" moment may be on the horizon. The playoffs are a different monster. Let's hope Love is mentally tough enough to rise to the occasion. From what i've seen so far, i remain skeptical.

 

[gourimoko]

I have faith that Kevin Love will get it together...

But if he doesn't. There will be a reckoning.

It's one of the reasons I'm really against his contract structure... If he were locked up for years, this would be a completely different conversation.

 

[Jscc]

if Love isn't involved in the offense early, he starts to drift and checks out mentally for the entire game.

Umm what? Kevin's +/- has been consistently positive for the last few months with or without getting his touches. In fact, Kevin's highest +/- since the All-Star break was +33 and he only had seven shots that game. His second highest +/- since the All-Star break was +25 and he had only seven shots that game again.

He also has the second most double-doubles of any PF in the East. Second only to Pau Gasol.

 

[gourimoko]

Umm what? Kevin's +/- has been consistently positive for the last few months with or without getting his touches. In fact, Kevin's highest +/- since the All-Star break was +33 and he only had seven shots that game. His second highest +/- since the All-Star break was +25 and he had only seven shots that game again.

He also has the second most double-doubles of any PF in the East. Second only to Pau Gasol.

Raw plus minus is not a good stat to use for comparative purposes like this...

Not agreeing or disagreeing with either point, but there are far more useful stats to make a case one way or the other. RPM/RAPM, VORP, Win Shares, and PER are much more useful to varying degrees at measuring individual performance.

Those stats still show Kevin Love being a good player; but, there's tremendous room for improvement. Some of that is on him, some of it is on LeBron, and some of it is on Blatt. We can argue who is most responsible, but there's no doubt Love has underperformed this season.