Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[cavsfever]

Recovery time is 6 months after surgery. That is how long it takes the ligaments to heal. That sucks because Love won't be able to work out this summer and we'll lose time with him in training camp to improve the offense.

If Love plays, my main concern is whether or not he will be able to shoot 3-pointers with any accuracy. Also, he is likely to experience a good amount of pain if he wants to keep arm-fighting for rebounds as he usually does.

I'm skeptical of the "can't make the arm worse" claim. But if it is true, then my guess is that we will see Love in the playoffs provided we make it past the Bulls.

I'm skeptical of the 'can't make it worse' claim too. And also, if recovery time is 6 months, he should get the surgery as soon as possible to let him start conditioning and return at a reasonable time next season. If he gets the surgery by May he can definitely be back by the beginning of December. Delay it into late June and he would be more toward the all star break.

 

[King of Swords]

... T.T, Gov, and Perkins now I guess have to make up an extra ten rebounds a game...

Don't forget LeBron - he is capable of getting 10 rebs/game in this series if that's what he decides to do.

Also, there may still be a chance for Shawn Marion to make his mark in this department.

I'm really upset about Love's injury, because I like the guy and what he brings to the team. However, I'm really confident in our team's ability to compensate in the playoff atmosphere.

 

[randymoss1881]

Is it a labrum tear?

 

[King of Swords]

I'm worried about both to be honest.

Since the All-Star break, this team is averaging 13 for 31 from three point range per game making it the most lethal three point attack in NBA history. Love and JR take 12 of those threes. Knowing that, I see the offense changing as I'm not sure if the team feels others are capable of taking all those threes as the finishing points of possessions. After the All-Star break, this team was actively looking for threes to end possessions and that's what made our offense so lethal. What I'm most afraid of is that we'll wind up with endless Kyrie and LBJ isos without all those threes.

In these playoffs, with Love on court, our ORating is 122.3. For comparison, the Spurs' ORating against the Heat in last year's playoffs was 120.8. With him off court, our ORating is 97.6. We've struggled offensively with him off the court to get the type of good shots that lead to an efficient offense.

TT hasn't been good defensively so far in the playoffs and is giving up way too many ORebs which we cannot afford against the Bulls. TT needs to continue to get ORebs, but also has to grab DRebs to end possessions, something he did not do in that last game against Boston. To be fair, KLove missed out on some box outs as well and gave up ORebs in the Boston series. Mozgov has really been our only big making a defensive impact and will have to up his minutes.

This is a great post that illustrates the challenges we'll face without KLove. It shows that straight-swapping TT into the lineup probably won't work. Blatt is going to need to tweak his system a bit (with my expectation being that we'll see LeBron log a lot more minutes at the 4 and play more small ball).

Luckily, we have a lot of practice time, and the Cavs have shown that they play well when afforded such periods. Also, JR may miss 1-2 games, but it's not like we'll be playing the whole series without him.

 

[bobcat22]

The ONLY saving grace for the Cavs is the injury occurred when it did. Early enough in the playoffs where he might be able to come back, and during a Game 4 closeout win where the Cavs have a week off to prepare. Blatt isn't having to adjust on the fly here. He knows the situation and has a week of practice to change the offense a bit. New sets may be installed and worked on, LBJ gets to practice post work for a week, and the team will at least have an idea of what they are doing offensively when the series starts.

 

[shoes22]

Is it a labrum tear?

Yes.

 

[Rip The Jacker]

Why can't love play with one of those things on his shoulder?

 

[KI4MVP]

I haven't seen these posted, but may have missed them. A couple of different angles of the play. I'm not sure how no ejection and a 1 game regular season suspension is comparable to an ejection and a 2 game playoff suspension.

 

[PedroFlu]

The guy teared up a labrum. He got fully dislocated and they had to put it back.

I had the exact same injury and I can tell you guys don't have any hope he will be back this season. For one week you can barely move your arm and shoulder. For the first days you can't even lift a glass of water without getting killed in pain. You can't even walk without hurting a LOT.

And the labrum doesn't regenerate. It's 100% surgery for him.

He may actually try to come back, but in the first bump it will hurt like fuck and he won't be able to shoot the ball normally. And there's a huge risk it gets dislocated again. The pain is unbelievable.

So if this is the diagnosis I am 100% sure he's not coming back this season. Not a chance.

I think this Love less team is good enough to get to the Finals, in some hard fought series.

But to win the Finals is unlikely. It happens only if James Jones or Marion show everything they haven't shown yet and be forces for this team - they must be really influential on games. Not to fuck up is not enough.

So... I'm not very optimistic about chances of winning it all. They have become slim to me. But chances to reach Finals are still good.

 

[LeShaq]

And also, if recovery time is 6 months,

I think the timeline these days is like 4-6 months. That's good. It used to be pretty much a 6 month recovery from what I remember. But the medical technology keeps getting better and better.

 

[Evgeni]

Will that fully heal and will Love return to 100% form next season, or will it create any form of lasting damage?

 

[And1]

Will that fully heal and will Love return to 100% form next season, or will it create any form of lasting damage?

F***** up. What a cheap shot

 

[caf]

Will that fully heal and will Love return to 100% form next season, or will it create any form of lasting damage?

100% recovery is likely

 

[calleger]

A health scare like this, could make a player think more about long term contract rather than betting on their health. Picking up your player option and signing a max extension would look mighty nice after this. Would help the CAVS greatly too. Honestly, any little bit of good that comes of this craptastic situation what I am looking for.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

We will march, and we will get to the Finals …or die in the attempt.

Yeah - it's that second part that I am worried about...