Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[kidduck]

He was favoring the thumb during all his minutes last night.

No reason for him to see the floor with an injury that compromises
his offense, yet leaves the mess of his poor defense that the other
4 Cavs have to overcome. He must be a league leader in wildly
pointing to an open opponent who has either just beat him down
the floor or lost him with some movement.

 

[2 For The Brew]

He also seems like a well respected vet who will probably have his jersey retired.

Low bar for our franchise.

 

[CroopZ23]

Low bar for our franchise.

Right. But a Cavs legend nonetheless. Even the "The Stop" is grossly overrated.

 

[buzzdog]

Right. But a Cavs legend nonetheless. Even the "The Stop" is grossly overrated.

Blasphemy. You can not and should not cast shade on any of the key elements that came together for our only ring. It's in the forum by-laws.

 

[CroopZ23]

Blasphemy. You can not and should not cast shade on any of the key elements that came together for our only ring. It's in the forum by-laws.

lol true. I fucked up. Forget I said that.

 

[Omar The Horse]

Look at him not resting his thumb

 

[jjvors]

On this day in history, this happened with Kevin Love:

 

[browniebob]

Upgraded to Questionable for tonight, so he must be getting close.

 

[buzzdog]

Upgraded to Questionable for tonight, so he must be getting close.

He's hearing Diakite footsteps sneaking up from behind.

 

[Jontibs]

Getting close to unplayable at the moment.

Strong 10 games to start the season but an awful next 10. I think Mitchell and Garland both available, playing heavy mins, taking 45+ shots a night, has marginalized his offensive role to a degree, and Love taking 5/6 shots a night is never going to provide enough positive value to overcome his defensive and physical issues.

Maybe when Rubio comes back the Cavs will have a more effective bench unit but some tough calls may have to be made around guys like Love, Levert and Okoro.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Love has been playing hurt, still filling an extremely important role as respected floor spacers and talented ball mover offensively. His accuracy has been a little off since the injury, no idea if the hand is the root cause.

I do want to see if Cedi and Love raise their shooting percentages when Rubio shares the floor. He just sets the table so we'll for shooters.

To put it simply, I expect Love to continue to fill this role. If the other four players on the court with him are defending at a high level, he is far from unplayable. Cavs have the #1 team defense in the NBA as of today... why do people believe Love is ruining our defense?

 

[guitarguy]

I think Love is just one of those cats you got to check every night, like if the shot is falling, he plays 20 some minutes, if it's not he plays 10 ish minutes. Well, barring the team is healthy and has someone to fill in.

It's funny, he's still an elite rebounder, and it's not scary when he puts the ball on the floor. He has some elite skills only star level players had, it just isn't consistent at all.

 

[foucault87]

Love has so much more value on offense beyond his shot. Yes, it is always awesome when he has it going. Dude has one of the highest upsides as a hot shooter in the league, remember 34 in a quarter? He is also one of the best rebounders in the league and critical for the offense as a passing hub. More than all these things, his offensive IQ is super high. Kevin Love is always moving to the right spot of the floor to make things happen for everyone else. I think this last point is very underrated when considering his value.

His defense has been...covered elsewhere. I don't expect him to play like he did when he was 24 or 28 at this point in his career, but having a former superstar level guy accept a smaller role that can sometimes scale up is a major luxury for us and something we should not take for granted.

 

[buzzdog]

He's been playing with his thumb in a splint. It affects his shooting. The splint comes off sometime soon, I suspect his shooting will improve then.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Cleaningtheglass.com has Love third on the Cavs in on/off at +7.4 points. They're 4.6 points better offensively and 2.8 points better defensively when he is on the court. It doesn't mean he's their third best player because he usually plays against the opponents' backups, or at least a mix of starters and backups. But it does mean he's helping the team win.

He's in the 89th percentile among bigs in assist rate. He's hitting 39% of his 3's and he's in the 99th percentile in defensive rebounding percentage. He's in the bottom 10% in blocks and steals, however, but leads the league in charges drawn.