Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[macbdog]

I now folks don't want to hear this, but... Kevin's only issue is his shooting. And frankly, that should come back around. He's no worse of a defender than he's ever been, and like it or not even when shooting piss poor he is still helping with his plus+plus rebounding. He's actually a great match with Allen: Jared defends the post, and while Jared gets to body up and challenge the shot because Kevin mops up the boards. So many shit offensive Cs in the game that they can switch Allen onto the tougher guy. Loves shot will come back around, this isn't a midget jump shooter who needs every fiber of.muscle to shoot their 3s. Love will be fine, as long as the back holds up.

 

[BiGZD]

I never heard anything about him changing his shooting motion.

It's not the finger. In his last six games he's 3-for-27 on 3's. The six games before that (starting on Dec. 21) he was 17-for-37 (45.9%). His finger injury kept him out for almost two weeks in late November.

It could be his legs are tired. Most of his missed 3's are short from what I've observed. He's still creating scoring opportunities with smart passes and the defensive rebounding is there. But no scoring or rim protection limits his value as a power forward.

The announcers talked about it shortly after his injury during one of the games. He changed his motion so he wouldn't being using his thumb while shooting. I cannot stress how much I hate when teams/players do this. It almost always ends in a disaster doing the exact
opposite of what is intended. The Ball brothers are the only ones off the top of my head that seem have any kind of success doing this.

 

[Cassity14]

I think Love’s rebounding is living on reputation at this point.

He’s ok, but he’s no longer elite. He gets a lot because he sells out for rebounds specifically. Offensively he’s just OK.

When he’s not shooting well he is an albatross out there.

 

[Lyuokdea]

I think Love’s rebounding is living on reputation at this point.

He’s ok, but he’s no longer elite. He gets a lot because he sells out for rebounds specifically. Offensively he’s just OK.

When he’s not shooting well he is an albatross out there.

His TRB% is just as high as it has ever been (in fact, its at one of his highest points)... He's never been a good interior defender otherwise, but there is nothing in his advanced stats to suggest he's that much weaker now.

He currently has a 20.9 TRB%, he doesn't have enough minutes to qualify, but his stats would make him #5 in the league on this year:

2022-23 NBA Player Stats: Advanced | Basketball-Reference.com

Checkout the Advanced player stats for 2022-23 NBA Season and more on Basketball-Reference.com

www.basketball-reference.com

His key rebounding skills are positioning, and excellent hands -- I don't think those are going away.

 

[Comeback kid]

I think Love’s rebounding is living on reputation at this point.

He’s ok, but he’s no longer elite. He gets a lot because he sells out for rebounds specifically. Offensively he’s just OK.

When he’s not shooting well he is an albatross out there.

Count how many boards he takes from his teammates. Usually leads to a turnover like last night fighting between him and Lamar. He’ll try to snatch it right out of a teammates hands that are right there in perfect position. I’d lose my ever loving mind. And I think otherwise he’s a great teammate.

 

[Cassity14]

Count how many boards he takes from his teammates. Usually leads to a turnover like last night fighting between him and Lamar. He’ll try to snatch it right out of a teammates hands that are right there in perfect position. I’d lose my ever loving mind. And I think otherwise he’s a great teammate.

Yeah, I’m always going to trust how all of the players universally sing his praises, but from a fan’s perspective, I think he’s a selfish front runner that put on a smile when the team was unexpectedly good last year and not a second before. He definitely gets the Westbrook treatment as gas as rebounds go. Good catch!

 

[Comeback kid]

He is well liked by his teammates…. Except they all know to leave his rebounds alone!

 

[Lyuokdea]

Count how many boards he takes from his teammates. Usually leads to a turnover like last night fighting between him and Lamar. He’ll try to snatch it right out of a teammates hands that are right there in perfect position. I’d lose my ever loving mind. And I think otherwise he’s a great teammate.

Given his outlet passing, it makes sense to let him grab rebounds compared to other teammates.

 

[Comeback kid]

How far along is he? I’m dying to see him back in the rotation. Think he’s a guy that Rubio can seriously unlock even further.

I jinxed him once…… so sorry I’m not going to say!

 

[gambler]

I never heard anything about him changing his shooting motion.

It's not the finger. In his last six games he's 3-for-27 on 3's. The six games before that (starting on Dec. 21) he was 17-for-37 (45.9%). His finger injury kept him out for almost two weeks in late November.

It could be his legs are tired. Most of his missed 3's are short from what I've observed. He's still creating scoring opportunities with smart passes and the defensive rebounding is there. But no scoring or rim protection limits his value as a power forward.

myb he reinjured it like anunoby did last year.....og got better.....then he reinjured it...then the raptors sat him for a month...

 

[gambler]

I now folks don't want to hear this, but... Kevin's only issue is his shooting. And frankly, that should come back around. He's no worse of a defender than he's ever been, and like it or not even when shooting piss poor he is still helping with his plus+plus rebounding. He's actually a great match with Allen: Jared defends the post, and while Jared gets to body up and challenge the shot because Kevin mops up the boards. So many shit offensive Cs in the game that they can switch Allen onto the tougher guy. Loves shot will come back around, this isn't a midget jump shooter who needs every fiber of.muscle to shoot their 3s. Love will be fine, as long as the back holds up.

dg sucks....cavs need to trade him
levert sucks...cavs need to trade him
love sucks.....cavs need to trade him
okoro sucks....cavs need to trade him


as a guy who has blogged on other forums betting 100/1s......this forum is absolutely hilarious.

the cavs are going to end up trading cedi osman(along with some picks and filler).....bcz thats the only guy that needs to be traded.

 

[PIP]

A breakdown of it…

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Fedor has a column this morning on Love's hairline fracture.

Kevin Love still bothered by thumb injury, and the shooting numbers show it

Kevin Love told cleveland.com there’s discomfort in his thumb and it’s played a factor in this recent decline.

www.cleveland.com

Love told cleveland.com there’s discomfort in his thumb and it’s played a factor in this recent decline.

“Still doesn’t feel right,” Love told cleveland.com

Love said for a while he took his thumb off the ball to shoot, using just his four fingers. Now he's back to using his thumb, but the results aren't there yet. The good news is he was hitting 41% from deep before the injury so if he gets back to normal his 3-point shooting should improve dramatically.

There’s a natural -- and positive -- domino effect with Love out there and it’s part of the reason, even in the face of his struggles, that the Cavs continue functioning at a higher offensive level with him on the floor. This season, they have a scorching 115.9 offensive rating in his 761 minutes on the court and his natural companionship with Ricky Rubio, who finally made his season debut last week, is obvious. The Cavs believe Love will be one of the primary beneficiaries from Rubio’s presence.

“I know him and what he likes to do. The chemistry is there,” Rubio said when asked about playing with Love. “His game brings the best out of my game and my game brings the best out of his game as well.

I'm hoping the combination of getting his 3-point accuracy back and getting more minutes with Rubio will get Love going again.

Ideally we could put Love on the left wing and Okoro on the right wing and let Garland, Mitchell, and Allen or Mobley run the middle pick-and-roll against a spread out defense. Okoro has hit 9 of his last 16 attempts on 3's, all from the right corner.

 

[Cement]

Fedor has a column this morning on Love's hairline fracture.

Kevin Love still bothered by thumb injury, and the shooting numbers show it

Kevin Love told cleveland.com there’s discomfort in his thumb and it’s played a factor in this recent decline.

www.cleveland.com

Love told cleveland.com there’s discomfort in his thumb and it’s played a factor in this recent decline.

“Still doesn’t feel right,” Love told cleveland.com

Love said for a while he took his thumb off the ball to shoot, using just his four fingers. Now he's back to using his thumb, but the results aren't there yet. The good news is he was hitting 41% from deep before the injury so if he gets back to normal his 3-point shooting should improve dramatically.

There’s a natural -- and positive -- domino effect with Love out there and it’s part of the reason, even in the face of his struggles, that the Cavs continue functioning at a higher offensive level with him on the floor. This season, they have a scorching 115.9 offensive rating in his 761 minutes on the court and his natural companionship with Ricky Rubio, who finally made his season debut last week, is obvious. The Cavs believe Love will be one of the primary beneficiaries from Rubio’s presence.

“I know him and what he likes to do. The chemistry is there,” Rubio said when asked about playing with Love. “His game brings the best out of my game and my game brings the best out of his game as well.

I'm hoping the combination of getting his 3-point accuracy back and getting more minutes with Rubio will get Love going again.

Ideally we could put Love on the left wing and Okoro on the right wing and let Garland, Mitchell, and Allen or Mobley run the middle pick-and-roll against a spread out defense. Okoro has hit 9 of his last 16 attempts on 3's, all from the right corner.

If this is true then he shouldn't be out there until he's fully healed. He's killing us on both ends of the court.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Count how many boards he takes from his teammates. Usually leads to a turnover like last night fighting between him and Lamar. He’ll try to snatch it right out of a teammates hands that are right there in perfect position. I’d lose my ever loving mind. And I think otherwise he’s a great teammate.

Most of the time, a rebounder is focused very intently on the ball itself. They're not checking the uniform that belongs to the other pair of hands that are fighting for it. So while there are a few occasions where a player may deliberately try to take a ball away from a teammate, that's not what generally is going on. Most of the time, it's just the guy trying to secure the ball.

Also, the point made above by @Lyuokdea about Love's outlet passing is legit. It's a weapon.