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Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

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Is Kevin Love a Hero for Saving a Dog?

  • Yes

    Votes: 28 48.3%
  • Too Right!

    Votes: 2 3.4%
  • Hotter than Jimmy G

    Votes: 15 25.9%
  • Jim Chones

    Votes: 13 22.4%

  • Total voters
    58
Players get hurt all the time, and JBB has demonstrated all year that he will change his rotations. See the recent Stevens minutes. Love would have gotten the same opportunity at some point.

Love was not permanently benched. Guys he thinks are inferior were getting his minutes and he had a tantrum. It's what he does.

I fully agree that Love wouldve gotten minutes again at some point. Not sure why folks keep assuming Love was exiled to Elba.
 
We've seen what this team does when someone is actually out of the rotation. They told JR to stay home.
 
I fully agree that Love wouldve gotten minutes again at some point.

What have the Cavs said or done to make you believe that is true? Are you sure you're not imputing to the Cavs your evaluation of his worth as a player, rather than looking at JBB's and/or Koby's?

Not sure why folks keep assuming Love was exiled to Elba.

JBB already has shortened his rotation to eight guys, and doesn't seem inclined to change that rotation. There also would appear to be multiple guys on the Cavs bench who would have been ahead of Love even if JBB did decide to go a bit deeper - Wade and Green in particular.

And then there is the simple fact that they let him go. If the Cavs had shared your belief that Love would have gotten meaningful minutes again, why would they have let him go?

I personally don't agree with the decision to remove him from the rotation in the first place - not the way the rest of these clowns are playing - but my opinion isn't relevant.
 
Lot of narratives being weirdly spun just because we think Love owed it to the team to be a cheerleader/mentor. It’s been implied and explicitly stated several times that he wouldn’t see the court again this season.

J.B. Bickerstaff and his assistants decided to increase minutes for the Cavs’ top players over the final 21 regular-season games so that they would be in shape to be on the floor for 38 or 40 minutes of every playoff contest.

“The veterans that we have here who have played in the playoffs understand that, in the playoffs, this is what happens,” Bickerstaff said Monday.

No Cavalier was more of a playoff veteran than Love, but Bickerstaff had long decided that Love was not going to be a part of the rotation in the postseason, a decision that ultimately led to Love asking for — and receiving — a buyout of his contract so he could sign with the Miami Heat.

“Foul trouble, injury and matchups (in that order) would be the caveats for the Cavs to turn to Cedi Osman or perhaps Lamar Stevens in a pinch, and after them, perhaps Danny Green, who’s new to the team via the buyout market.

Love was behind all those guys and asked out […]”


Everyone near the team, including Love, has acknowledged that he wasn’t given reassurances he’d get minutes here and there. If some posters are right that Love would get an opportunity then JBB could’ve communicated that to someone.

Yes, it sucks for the young guys that Love underperformed and didn’t want to tough it out. JBB made a purely on court decision and is going to have to navigate that. But the dude’s on the team have perspective and there’s zero out there to suggest Love handled it unprofessionally or willfully misconstrued the situation.

Following the Cavs’ final game before the All-Star break, on Feb. 15 in Philadelphia, and The Athletic reported that the Cavs and Love were finalizing a contract buyout, Love reached out to Wade. Love encouraged him to continue shooting, and to be the best version of himself. Love knew that Wade was under pressure to not only produce in his minutes, but in a way, validate the decision for the buyout, so he reminded Wade that the Cavs signed him last summer for a reason.



Love also had an in-depth heart-to-heart with Rubio in which the two former teammates discussed not only their journey together that began years ago in Minnesota but the importance of filling Cleveland’s leadership void -- a way Love kept adding value even without playing time.



“That’s the business of the game,” Garland said. “I was kind of sad that he asked for the buyout, but it’s the best decision for him. He is doing good. I watch almost every game. Looks confident out there. I’m just happy he’s happy again playing the game he loves, getting some touches, minutes, a lot more minutes, on hopefully a playoff contender.”



“He embraced a role that a lot of guys in his position wouldn’t have been able to do, and he was successful in it when he embraced it. So, I think he gave me an opportunity to coach people differently, because he was willing to sacrifice so much so I could hold everybody else to that same standard.”



In the days leading up to Cleveland’s arrival in Miami, Jarrett Allen said that he missed Love’s presence among the Cavs.

“His ability to make sure everybody is not too tight, make sure that we’re not taking this thing too seriously and just realizing that we’re playing a game and just have fun with it,” Allen said.

And to Allen, no one on the team has quite filled that hole. Yet, in the seven games since the All-Star break, Bickerstaff said he thinks everyone has found their own way to step up.
 
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I missed the pre game reception and dynamics of Love and his old mates. Didn't see much during the game either, as I wasn't 100% focused with kids. Was always curious how that goes when players leave a situation and then compete in the near term.

Bottom line, did Love give JBB a wedgie?
 

“Professionally, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do without question. I think you guys know how much I love Cleveland and Ohio. All the fans there have always supported me and the team,” Love said. “I go back to Brecksville, and I’m like, ‘We did that. We really did that.’ That was incredibly hard to do after eight and a half seasons, but I think more than anything, I felt like I could still play, and I know I can still play. I didn’t shoot the ball great from 3, but there’s been so many things that I think I’m impacting the team here in a major way. I felt like I could still play, and sometimes you have to give yourself up and sacrifice.”
...
“I think it was a really tough decision for him to take me out of the lineup,” Love said. “I think ultimately, they wanted to go young and stick with those guys and get Dean and Cedi and Ricky minutes – especially Ricky and Dean especially getting back from injury – so they want to get the guys more minutes. But just natural frustration is you want to be out there, you want to have those conversations in the locker room, you want to be in those timeouts, those type of situations, and I think that all came so fast for me. There wasn’t any prospect of me going back out there and playing that; I wanted that. I was hungry for that. I was foaming at the mouth for that, but those were, again, really tough conversations, but those are ones that I’m grateful that they had with me so I was able to find something else and find a place where I could be happy and play.”
 
I missed the pre game reception and dynamics of Love and his old mates. Didn't see much during the game either, as I wasn't 100% focused with kids. Was always curious how that goes when players leave a situation and then compete in the near term.

Bottom line, did Love give JBB a wedgie?
JBB is as tall as Love and would likely whup his ass in a fight. Cavs coaching staff in the whole use pretty damn tall and built
 
JBB is as tall as Love and would likely whup his ass in a fight. Cavs coaching staff in the whole use pretty damn tall and built

You need to be able to take a hit from a bowl of soup if you coach for the Cavs. Beilein? I think a 1/2 bowl of Campbell's chicken noodle could have taken him out. JBB? Not even sure if a 24 oz can of chunky beef & veg chili would phase him.
 
Reckless speculation but….from everything Mitchell has said, he was impressed/surprised at how vocal Stevens was from day one, never hesitant to correct or call our mistakes, low effort and missed assignments.

Have to wonder if Kev’s thin skin and likely entrenched attitude about Stevens as a UDFA camp invite made Kevin and Lamar a little testy/standoffish. Like where Kev didn’t think Lamar should be barking at him ever, especially in games where Lamar wasn’t playing.

Again, just my own thought process, not sure there’s anything to actually back it up :chuckle:
 
You need to be able to take a hit from a bowl of soup if you coach for the Cavs. Beilein? I think a 1/2 bowl of Campbell's chicken noodle could have taken him out. JBB? Not even sure if a 24 oz can of chunky beef & veg chili would phase him.
A paper packet of French Onion Soup would take out a certain Cavaliers shooting forward who never plays ...
 
A paper packet of French Onion Soup would take out a certain Cavaliers shooting forward who never plays ...
The Butterfly Effect Theory was originally conceived with Windler in mind.

All of his injuries can be directly linked to small movements of insects in Asia and Australia, triggering gentle tradewinds that eventually made it to the Cavs practice facility undetected to all, but always causing a Windler injury or recovery setback.
 
I never really fell in Love with him. I don’t believe anything he ever says, it’s all fluff to me. Buying in, playing harder etc all garbage. LeBron called him out way back when for not fitting in. I don’t think he fitted in with our new team and I don’t think he will fit in with Miami.
As for the team missing what he provides, he only provides rebounding, if a big goes down we would still need to sign another one that can actually defend like a big, Kevin can’t even put the effort in to raise his arms. I am glad I no longer have to watch the sulking and moping and pouting.
 
What have the Cavs said or done to make you believe that is true? Are you sure you're not imputing to the Cavs your evaluation of his worth as a player, rather than looking at JBB's and/or Koby's?



JBB already has shortened his rotation to eight guys, and doesn't seem inclined to change that rotation. There also would appear to be multiple guys on the Cavs bench who would have been ahead of Love even if JBB did decide to go a bit deeper - Wade and Green in particular.

And then there is the simple fact that they let him go. If the Cavs had shared your belief that Love would have gotten meaningful minutes again, why would they have let him go?

I personally don't agree with the decision to remove him from the rotation in the first place - not the way the rest of these clowns are playing - but my opinion isn't relevant.

Literally *every* non-top 6 player has collected MULTIPLE DNP-CDs. Look at Lamar Stevens, most recently. When was the last time Cedi played? Did Dean play last night?

Other than Don, DG, Evan, JA and Okoro, regular minutes/roles havent been a thing this year, and even Isaac went from bench to starter.
 
Literally *every* non-top 6 player has collected MULTIPLE DNP-CDs. Look at Lamar Stevens, most recently. When was the last time Cedi played? Did Dean play last night?

Other than Don, DG, Evan, JA and Okoro, regular minutes/roles havent been a thing this year, and even Isaac went from bench to starter.

That was before JBB shortened his bench, presumably in preparation for the playoffs.
 

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