Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[Simmy]

Should see a very different output from KL tonight in our LeBron-less lineup. Very interested to see how Kyrie and Love play off one another tonight, given that they'll be the focal point on offense. Can see the offense running around their pick and roll/pop game.

As Soda said above, would like to see Kyrie recognizing Love's presence more when he's wide open on the arc. Will see in the next hour or so, though.

 

[gratefuldead]

still think love needs more shots

 

[MD13]

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love says he needs more inside touches to get his game back, confident he'll return to form

MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Kevin Love has had his moments this preseason.

In two consecutive games early in exhibition play against the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks, Love appeared to have found his groove, scoring 50 points in total while shooting 17-of-23 from the field.

He was also a blistering nine-of-12 from three-point range in that two-game span.

The All-Star power forward had it going. But aside from those two games, Love averaged 8.5 points, shot 29 percent from the field and was 1-for-11 from beyond the arc.

Love averaged 3.8 three-point attempts per game, an adequate amount for the former All-Star Weekend three-point champion.

Though he has still found ways to be productive for the Cavaliers, after the 96-92 loss preseason finale loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, he told Northeast Ohio Media Group that he needs more looks inside.

"My entire life I played the game from inside-out," Love explained to NEOMG. "So the more touches I can get inside to get myself going, the better. I'm not accustomed to starting out a game shooting a three, so it's just something that I see.

"I'm 26-years-old and I've been playing basketball for quite a long time. Just finding ways to mix it up. If anything, keeping it around the basket a little bit more and the offense will allow me to get offensive rebounds. That will be tough for teams with Andy [Varejao] and myself and Tristan [Thompson] in there."

Love has been roaming the three-point area more than in year's past. His shooting ability creates spacing, giving LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters the necessary room to maneuver.

His long-ball threat is a valuable weapon; the reason head coach David Blatt is utilizing him in that fashion. Love says the offense calls for him to be out on the perimeter, but he says he has to make sure he remembers to go inside more.

"Yeah, the offense is built that way but I just have to make a conscious decision to get myself in there," Love said. "There are a lot of times where I just find myself fading to the three-point line. For me, it's a mentality and that's easy to fix.

"We've been putting in stuff like different pin-downs, cut-across and screen-across to get me open in there. You'll see a lot more of that during the season. That's always how I played and I know that coach wants me to play that way, as well."

Love, out of The Big Three, will have to make the biggest adjustment to his game. It's always that way for bigs. They have to rely on perimeter players to locate them in scoring opportunities.

Wednesday night Love got some post-up looks. Blatt even drew up a play out of a third-quarter timeout to get him the ball on the block. Love converted.

This is what the preseason is for: recognizing where one can improve and adjusting before the regular season hits. Love is in a good place right now. He's eager to kick thee season off, and with his new-found revelation, he anticipates having a strong year for the Cavaliers.

"We just looked at film and I saw it. I felt it," he said. "Where I'm very effective is on the low block. That's where I need to be."

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/10/cleveland_cavaliers_forward_ke.html

 

[MD13]

For what it's worth, I agree with him 100% there. He does need more touches and we do need to establish him as a post up threat much more than we have been. Hopefully we can get him going early in games and then use our perimeter dribble drive game to play off of that.

 

[DatDudeZ3]

Good, I don't want him turning into Chris Bosh of last season.. Just sitting outside the paint and catching and shooting. Love can be much more than that.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

still think love needs more shots

It's still too early to tell. Wait until the first 20 regular season games and if Kyrie and Waiters are still taking more shots than him, then i don't think he'll be happy about it. He wanted to play with LeBron and he and everyone know that LeBron is the only player on the team who's a better all-around player than him, so to see guys like Kyrie and Dion taking shots like they're the first and second scoring options will not sit well with him. Coach Blatt will have to step in and tell those two to get their teammates more involved if it becomes a problem.

This is a player's league and Love is the second best player on the team, he's a walking 20 and 10 guy. Coach will have his hands full when things aren't going well and players playing outside their roles, etc. LeBron will do his best to keep him and everyone else happy, but It's hard to imagine Love as the second best player on the team not catching feelings when guys like Dion and Kyrie are taking more shots than him per game.

 

[Pioneer10]

Need Lebron playing more point forward: Love has a good chance of being left stranded with the way our guards play. Neither Irving nor Dion are used to playing with a guy with a post game and plus they both have a bit of the gunner mentality in them so are liable to miss him when he's open. Plus Love's game was brought into really complement Lebron with his spacing and in the pick and roll. Lebron is also the guy on the team who has the Rubio like playmaking ability to really bring out Love's game.

Really a shame that the team doesn't use him on the block: so strange having a Cav in his prime that can score on the block and forces team to double.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

LeBron is more of a natural PG than Kyrie is. I think LeBron is putting the pressure on him and telling him to be the primary playmaker, but if Kyrie somehow not able to consistently run the offense and not making the right pass on time, not feeding everyone, etc, then i expect LeBron to step in and take over the role as the primary playmaker and the team is better off with him being the primary playmaker since he has better court vision, patience, B-Ball IQ, etc, than Kyrie does.

I think LeBron spend a lot of times to analyze where his teammates want to shoot the ball and it's that instinct to know where his teammates are at all times that some PG lacks in the league. Outside of Rondo, CP3, I can't think of any other pure PG who has better court vision and awareness than LeBron. Kyrie is a good passer, but he has the same level of court awareness of the likes of, Rose, Westbrook, Curry. Dominant scoring PG's who lacks the passion to get others involved as much as possible.

 

[Redzone]

I remember one play where Love was wide open under the basket. Kyrie dribbled to the key, was covered, and still took the shot. The two had a discussion afterwards.

Kyrie played well, but a little too much hero ball versus Memphis.

Gotta get Love more touches.

 

[DatDudeZ3]

Kyrie and LeBron will both be playmakers for this team, it's not like LeBron is saying "Kyrie, do all the play making yourself, but then if you can't handle it I'll step in". Both will be playmakers and once Love is playing with Kyrie and LeBron on a consistent basis, he will get a lot more touches and open looks as Kyrie/LeBron draw massive attention on the court. I think Love will get his touches all season including the first game. They have a week to get everything figured out before the Knicks.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

Old habits. He's so used to being a "score first" type of PG. Reality will sets in when guys will start pointing fingers and Kyrie will be forced to change his playing style a bit.

 

[Adam]

Old habits. He's so used to being a "score first" type of PG. Reality will sets in when guys will start pointing fingers and Kyrie will be forced to change his playing style a bit.

It won't take finger pointing kyrie will learn as he grows as a player to know when to shoot and when to pass. Remember how Tony Parker struggled early on to find a balance.

So far love has really impressed me with his rebounding. He is just so tough to keep off the glass. This team is a rebounding monster especially on the offensive glass

 

[Jack Brickman]

I'm just happy that Blatt recognizes that Love needs post touches and started drawing up plays for him there. That's a breath of fresh air.

Regardless, we need to be realistic here. There was no way this team was going to be totally ready after half a dozen preseason games, especially since our top three players were only in the same game twice. We've got a long way to go as a team, and they'll figure out.

 

[theSTEREO.]

I'm just happy that Blatt recognizes that Love needs post touches and started drawing up plays for him there. That's a breath of fresh air.

Regardless, we need to be realistic here. There was no way this team was going to be totally ready after half a dozen preseason games, especially since our top three players were only in the same game twice. We've got a long way to go as a team, and they'll figure out.

It's funny reading Love saying this, because I've been thinking the exact same thing. Felt early on too much of Love's role has been roaming the outside. As someone who's watched a ton of him over the years, while his 3pt game is elite, it's only about 1/3 of his game. He's fantastic on the block.

But I'm not worried at all and am really happy to hear that he and Blatt are working to make that happen. Considering Blatt said that they have only installed a fraction of the offense, coupled with our 3 stars only playing basically 1.5 games together, we're gonna see a lot of those screens and pin-downs to feed Love in the post.

Plus, we know Kyrie and Dion's extreme difficulty feeding Bynum in the post, and Bron hasn't had to feed a post player since Z, so it's gonna be a rhythm thing. I think Love still wanders the perimeter for the first few weeks of the season, and as we get closer to Christmas, you'll see a more rounded version of his game.

 

[Soda Popinski]

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/kevin-love-how-i-spent-my-summer-vacation/
Kevin Love Stepping up trying to beat Lebron in the letter department.