Need a Scapegoat for Cavaliers' Struggles? Don't Look at Kevin Love
CLEVELAND — For Kevin Love, trade rumors are as much a part of his life as three-point attempts from the wing. Since his arrival in Cleveland in the summer of 2014, Love's not being a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers has been just as much of a discussion point as his work with the team, as countless outlets and fan bases look to place him elsewhere.
Prior to his five-year, $110 million contract extension in the summer of 2015, Love was tied to a host of teams in the West—he's from the Portland area and went to college in Los Angeles. Anytime the Cavs would struggle for a multiple-game stretch subsequent to the contract, it was Love who became the proverbial whipping boy in headlines across the media landscape. Weak link. Fitting out. Subtweets.
As the Cavaliers looked to improve their roster this past offseason, linked to deals for Paul George prior to his trade to Oklahoma City, it was Love's name in the center of those talks, as reported here by ESPN (via Cleveland.com). As has been the case for much of the last three seasons, as the Cavs sputtered out of the gate this current season, a flurry of stories were penned with Love as the antagonist.
Perusing the rest of the league, however, it's difficult to find a player for whom a larger chasm exists between perception and production.
"I know that at the beginning of the season, the trade deadline, or around the draft, [rumors of a trade] will likely be the case," Love said. "I've just come to expect it."
Since Love came to Cleveland in a much-debated deal for Andrew Wiggins and parts, many have been clamoring for "Minnesota" Kevin Love to arrive, a player who was an automatic 20 and 10, dominating touches on the offensive end while corralling rebounds at an otherworldly rate.
Be that as it may, discussions surrounding Love's faults and shortcomings have been all the rage since he joined LeBron James. He's a weak link defensively. He doesn't play in the fourth quarter. He's a mismatch when the Cavaliers play the Golden State Warriors.
Meanwhile, all the forward-turned-center has done over the first 15 games of the 2017-18 season (in addition to taking on a new position) is put up his best offensive numbers since joining the Cavs—some of which have been the best of his entire career.
In theory, the trade of Kyrie Irving to Boston should have allowed Love to get more touches, elevating his usage rate and allowing him to be the second option when James is on the floor but the first in the event he rests. Elbow touches are widely discussed, but the hopes were that Love would harken the days of the Minnesota Timberwolves where he was counted on to carry the franchise.
What has transpired, however, is an elevation in Love's efficiency. While his usage rate has maintained within a percentage point of the previous season, Love has been a focal point of several game plans and has largely executed at an elite level.
The style in which he is being used offensively may not match what initial pundit perception would have preferred, Love has taken his new, fluid role in stride and provided Cleveland with exactly what a team that has LeBron James on its roster needs to thrive.
This season, Love has produced his highest per-36-minute scoring mark (22.1) since his 2013-14 season with the Timberwolves, when his usage rate was three full points higher. His 22.8 PER is second only to James (29.9) on the Cavaliers and is the highest it's been since coming to Cleveland. Love's current true shooting percentage (59.7) is the highest it has been his entire career—he has only eclipsed 59 percent two other times since entering the NBA.
All this is being accomplished despite Love's shooting a career-worst 29.2 percent on corner threes thus far, a number that should move upward toward his career average of 39.5.
A stretch 4 for much of his time in Cleveland, Love found himself merely bouncing from the block to the wing for catch-and-shoot opportunities, assisted on an incredible 98.5 percent of his threes since joining the Cavs.
This season, that assist rate has dropped to 96.0, but so has the number of attempts, as the percentage of two-point field goals Love has attempted has jumped from 55.1 to 62.6 year over year. His percentage of shots taken at the rim (29.4) is the highest it has been in a qualifying statistical season since 2011-12.
Love has long discussed his desire to work games from the inside out. In turn, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue has mixed the ability to have Love spread the floor against certain teams with taking advantage of his ability to play with his back to the basket and draw fouls. Love is getting to the line 9.4 times per 100 possessions, nearly three full attempts more than his first year in Cleveland.
In the Cavaliers' Nov. 7 win against the Milwaukee Bucks, a game filled with plenty of oohs and ahhs as Giannis Antetokounmpo registered 40 points with a bevy of highlight-reel plays, it was Love who turned back the clock to score over 30 points himself. He did so without as much as shooting a three-pointer, earning them all in the paint and at the line, wearing would-be defenders like a mid-80s fanny pack.
"He's posting up with purpose," Lue said of Love's efforts. "He's getting physical, not bailing because he's smaller. He's getting offensive rebounds, and he's able to get fouled. He's really aggressive on the block and post-ups, which is what we need him to do."
On the glass, Love's rebounding rate (20.1) is the highest it's been since the 2012-13 season that saw him play just 18 games. Again, if we're looking for a year that would qualify for statistical purposes, you're going all the way back to 2010-11 for a rate better than what Love is providing this season. Defensively, his individual metrics (like block rate, for example) are in line with his career average.
His biggest wart? His defensive box score plus-minus (or DBPM) sits at a career-low minus-1.9, meaning he is nearly two full points worse than league average per 100 possessions.
What this translates to, however, is that Love's willingness to play out of position—his 6'11" wingspan is undeniably on the low end for NBA centers—is used as a negative about the player himself, rather than the rest of the Cavaliers roster that has forced Lue to make such an adjustment.
Think of a defensive end playing in pass coverage or a third baseman being asked to play center field. Love has been a strong team defender throughout his career, but since being asked to be the last line of defense, the outcomes have been less than ideal.
Those clamoring for "Minnesota" Kevin Love to return should be careful what they wish for. While the box scores in 2012 and 2013 were jaw-dropping at times, Love dominated touches on a team that ran at a considerably slower pace.
He was getting more than 11 elbow touches per game, facilitating an offense in the way a center midfielder would on a soccer pitch. During his first three seasons in Cleveland, Love's role morphed into that of a pick-and-pop player, touching the ball fewer times but spreading the floor in a way that allowed James and Kyrie Irving to get one-on-one lanes to the rim.
This season, he's being asked to change his role yet again, living in the post and providing the team with a much-needed scoring threat in the paint as defenses close out on James, and doing so with career-best efficiency.
"I think the pressure gets pretty high," a rival team executive recently told Bleacher Report. "If it's not working, they should either move the [Brooklyn Nets] pick or Love or LeBron. Those should all be on the table."
The "pressure," of course, is winning a championship. Winning a championship with defensive efforts that are among the dregs of the league is difficult. That the Cavaliers roster could use an upgrade defensively, however, shouldn't be seen as a referendum on Love so much as the construction of the Cavaliers roster itself.
If the overall age and ball-dominant tendencies of the team's roster are issues, trading a 29-year-old Love who is putting up some of the best off-ball numbers of his career is unlikely to net much in the way of a younger player who could provide an upgrade in return.
In a way, trade rumors could be seen as a positive. Teams have been asking for Love's services in deals for years. The New York Knicks were rumored to covet Love in any deal that would send Carmelo Anthony to Cleveland (prior to this offseason). Paul George is a hell of a player in his own right—being on the flip side of that deal could be more flattering than anything.
In professional sports, every unfortunate outcome needs a whipping boy. Quarterbacks are the focal point in football. In baseball, you're only as good as the next day's starting pitcher. For Love, when the Cavaliers struggle, the trickle-down tends to stop at No. 0.
The reality, however, is much different than the perception. Love has not only been willing to take on a new role; he's thrived in it. If you're looking to point fingers, it's the rest of the roster that deserves to be held under the magnifying glass.
Advanced stats via Basketball Reference and NBA.com.
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