The question many analysts ask today, "Did the Cavaliers make the right move in trading for Love". The answer to this is one million percent yes, without Kevin Love there is no Lebron. Nobody asks the question, did Lebron make the wrong decision in wanting Love to play along side him, the answer to this would be yes. I believe Lebron and the rest of the public thought that Love and Kyrie were an upgrade over Wade and Bosh and this would allow the Cavaliers to walk back into the finals, regardless of who the coach was. Everyone looked at Love's game and thought he was made to play along side Lebron, this could be true. However when the Cavaliers hired David Blatt all this went out the window.
Kevin Love looks lost on the majority of possessions, and his defense is subpar. Love is not a worse player than he was last year, he just does not fit in with David Blatt's offense. The blame from media and fans seems to be placed on David Blatt, they believe he should make an effort to get Love more involved in his offense. I do not believe that Blatt thinks that he needs to incorporate Love's skill set into his offense in order to succeed. The film backs my belief.
Kevin Love looks lost on the majority of possessions, and his defense is subpar. Love is not a worse player than he was last year, he just does not fit in with David Blatt's offense. The blame from media and fans seems to be placed on David Blatt, they believe he should make an effort to get Love more involved in his offense. I do not believe that Blatt thinks that he needs to incorporate Love's skill set into his offense in order to succeed. The film backs my belief.
The Offense Overseas
People always talk about how Love shoots too many threes, is not posting up, and is not getting enough elbow touches. Media members preach how David Blatt needs to get Love more involved in order to win a championship. But if they watched tape from overseas they would know that Love's total skill set is not ideal for his offense. Love dominated the ball in Minnesota, which led to his video game like stats from last year. With Blatt, love plays off ball primarily, with Kyrie and Lebron dominating the ball. This is because his offense revolves around having one player dominate the ball, lots of pick and rolls, lots of screens, lots of spacing, back door cuts, and lots of passing. Rarely do you see post ups or offensive rebounds, which are Love's best assets.
The ball handler is able to penetrate the defense with the help of the big. This causes the defense to collapse down leaving the three remaining three point shooters open.
Similar?
The key to David Blatt's offense is penetration. He loves to space the floor with shooters then run a high pick and roll, creating penetration. Giving the ball handler the option of an open jumper, a pass to a wide open 3 point shot, or to hit the rolling big. The load falls heavily on the ball handlers to penetrate the lane, get defenders to collapse, hen make a pass to an open guy. The ball rarely ever comes out of these guys hands, they make the plays the majority of time. This produces tons of open three pointers and shots at the basket.
This offense can easily translate to the NBA, especially when you have two of the best players in the NBA at penetration on your team. But the problem with Blatt's offense is the need for a true center and knockdown shooters, this showed with the Cavs struggle early in the season compared to now when it the offense is thriving. Love could play that true enter role on offense, but the Cavaliers would have to play Thompson/Varejo along with him to protect the rim. This messes the of the offensive spacing up. Rarely will Love play the center with a shooter along side him at the 4 position. This causes him to primarily play the 4 position along side Thompson/Mozgov. Love cannot be the primary pick and roll guy in this situation, he has to be used as a guy to stretch the floor.
They do not need to him to be like Minnesota Love. Part of Love's inconsistent season is due to his low three point shooting percentage. They need Love to knock down his open three pointers, he gets a ton of good looks. If this happens watch out. This shows in the Lakers Cavaliers game, Love's best game as a Cavalier. He made seven of eight three pointers that game, and finished with 32 points. Love will get plenty of open threes and as Lebron says he needs to knock them down. Look at six out of his seven three point field goals made against the Lakers. They were all wide open, practice jump shots! This is how a majority of his three point field goal attempts look like. If he knocks these down, watch out NBA.
Here are three point shots he missed earlier in the season. They're all wide open easy shots. It is not like they are asking him to make contested threes. Just all his wide open ones!
I do not believe Love's game is worse. He just isn't getting used anywhere near as much as he was in Minnesota. When you have two of the best offensive players and ball handlers in the game, the rest of the team is not going to get a lot of time handling the ball. This makes Kevin Love just another regular guy on the Cavaliers.
This high screen and roll is run hundreds of times. All it takes are shooters to keep the three defenders out of the paint and a good screen by Mozgov. This makes the center have to choose between the rolling guy and the ball handler. Both can punish you.
Similar?
This offense relies heavily on winning one on one battles, Lebron and Kyrie are two of the best at. This often makes Love a bystander who just sits in the corner waiting for the ball. Posts ups do not occur very often in this offense. They mainly occur in the first quarter or when a big gets good position in transition.
Kevin Love is known as one of the best offensive rebounders in the game. The unfortunate part is he is stuck out at the three point line so often, so he cannot crash the boards in time to get a rebound.
Look as both these players are shooting the ball and Love has no chance to get in position for an offensive rebound.
Don't get me wrong, Kevin Love is an extremely talented offensive player. But the Cavaliers could pick and plug many NBA players into his role and could have the same record or an even better record than they have now. Could Blatt make an effort to run the offense through Love so he gets going? Yes he could but why would he do that, Love is not better than Kyrie and Lebron. Giving more touches to Love means taking away touches from Kyrie and Lebron. Who would blame him for allowing Lebron and Kyrie handle the ball at all times. Kevin Love does not hurt the Cavaliers on offense. But what he brings offensively does not cover up for his defensive deficiencies.
(3:35-4:41)
Often times in the fourth quarter David Blatt pulls Kevin Love in favor of Lebron playing the 4 position. By doing this Blatt is showing that he believes Love's offensive upside is not worth his defensive downside. He would rather have Lebron defend the other 4, and guys like Marion and Shumpert to fill in for Love's role on offense.
The ball handler is able to penetrate the defense with the help of the big. This causes the defense to collapse down leaving the three remaining three point shooters open.
Similar?
The key to David Blatt's offense is penetration. He loves to space the floor with shooters then run a high pick and roll, creating penetration. Giving the ball handler the option of an open jumper, a pass to a wide open 3 point shot, or to hit the rolling big. The load falls heavily on the ball handlers to penetrate the lane, get defenders to collapse, hen make a pass to an open guy. The ball rarely ever comes out of these guys hands, they make the plays the majority of time. This produces tons of open three pointers and shots at the basket.
This offense can easily translate to the NBA, especially when you have two of the best players in the NBA at penetration on your team. But the problem with Blatt's offense is the need for a true center and knockdown shooters, this showed with the Cavs struggle early in the season compared to now when it the offense is thriving. Love could play that true enter role on offense, but the Cavaliers would have to play Thompson/Varejo along with him to protect the rim. This messes the of the offensive spacing up. Rarely will Love play the center with a shooter along side him at the 4 position. This causes him to primarily play the 4 position along side Thompson/Mozgov. Love cannot be the primary pick and roll guy in this situation, he has to be used as a guy to stretch the floor.
The Offense With Cleveland
This offense is thriving now, they average 108.4 points per game in wins and 92.4 points per game in losses. In the month of January (where all guys are healthy), they average 102.4 points per game. Nobody seems to be talking how effective this offense is, a lot of media still says there is too much one on one basketball. But nobody seems to understand that this is David Blatt's offense, and it works. Lebron and Kyrie are the necessities to this offense, Love just needs to be a role player. They often try to get Kevin the low post/elbow touches in the first quarter, then go away from it the rest of the game.They do not need to him to be like Minnesota Love. Part of Love's inconsistent season is due to his low three point shooting percentage. They need Love to knock down his open three pointers, he gets a ton of good looks. If this happens watch out. This shows in the Lakers Cavaliers game, Love's best game as a Cavalier. He made seven of eight three pointers that game, and finished with 32 points. Love will get plenty of open threes and as Lebron says he needs to knock them down. Look at six out of his seven three point field goals made against the Lakers. They were all wide open, practice jump shots! This is how a majority of his three point field goal attempts look like. If he knocks these down, watch out NBA.
Here are three point shots he missed earlier in the season. They're all wide open easy shots. It is not like they are asking him to make contested threes. Just all his wide open ones!
I do not believe Love's game is worse. He just isn't getting used anywhere near as much as he was in Minnesota. When you have two of the best offensive players and ball handlers in the game, the rest of the team is not going to get a lot of time handling the ball. This makes Kevin Love just another regular guy on the Cavaliers.
(2:14-2:19)
This is the double big screen that Blatt ran overseas, yes Love would be better suited being that guy rolling into the paint. But Mozgov does not space the floor for you, that means Love is essentially a decoy in this play. Love's man cannot leave him as he moves to the three point line, leaving a wide open layup for Mozgov.
This high screen and roll is run hundreds of times. All it takes are shooters to keep the three defenders out of the paint and a good screen by Mozgov. This makes the center have to choose between the rolling guy and the ball handler. Both can punish you.
Similar?
This offense relies heavily on winning one on one battles, Lebron and Kyrie are two of the best at. This often makes Love a bystander who just sits in the corner waiting for the ball. Posts ups do not occur very often in this offense. They mainly occur in the first quarter or when a big gets good position in transition.
Kevin Love is known as one of the best offensive rebounders in the game. The unfortunate part is he is stuck out at the three point line so often, so he cannot crash the boards in time to get a rebound.
(9:07-9:11)
Here is Love's great offensive rebounding at work. This is one of his best assets, and part of the reason why he put up such crazy numbers last year. Unfortunately he cannot crash the glass a much as he did in the past because he is stuck on the three point line spacing the floor on plays.
Look as both these players are shooting the ball and Love has no chance to get in position for an offensive rebound.
Don't get me wrong, Kevin Love is an extremely talented offensive player. But the Cavaliers could pick and plug many NBA players into his role and could have the same record or an even better record than they have now. Could Blatt make an effort to run the offense through Love so he gets going? Yes he could but why would he do that, Love is not better than Kyrie and Lebron. Giving more touches to Love means taking away touches from Kyrie and Lebron. Who would blame him for allowing Lebron and Kyrie handle the ball at all times. Kevin Love does not hurt the Cavaliers on offense. But what he brings offensively does not cover up for his defensive deficiencies.
Defense? What is Defense?
Yes, Kevin Love is a phenomenal rebounder, outlet passer, and great at drawing charges but his defensive is horrendous. He has a defensive plus minus in the negatives. He often looks lost on defense. The only rim protection he provides is his attempts to take charges, but the other players know this and avoid most of his charges. Teams look to expose Love, this will cause Cleveland trouble in the playoffs. His lack of defense is what makes him expendable to the Cavaliers in the future.
(5:49-6:00)
This play perfectly sums his defense up. Scola sets the screen and Lebron goes under it, expecting Love to show a little so Hill will not drive right to the basket. Love doesn't ever take his eyes off the deadly Louis Scola and essentially sets another screen on Lebron James. Allowing for Soloman Hill to drive for an easy 2. Lebron body language after the play show that Love's defense irritates him as well. Lebron has showed this body language toward Love on defense multiple times this year.
(3:35-4:41)
Here Lebron gets screened by Monroe. Love for some reason studder steps when Singler fakes his drive away from the screen, Love is not athletic enough to recover from that mistake. Allowing KYLE SINGLER to beat him to the rim for an easy 2. Kyle Singler who weighs 20 pounds less than Love is able to push him around like Lebron pushes people around.
(3:35-4:00)
Back to back possessions where Love gets exposed on defense. First time down Andrew Wiggins vs JR Smith, as the help defender there Love has to be thinking Smith is going to get beat. Which he does and Love just watches him go up for the dunk, no contest. Next time down the floor Love looks lost the entire possession.
Often times in the fourth quarter David Blatt pulls Kevin Love in favor of Lebron playing the 4 position. By doing this Blatt is showing that he believes Love's offensive upside is not worth his defensive downside. He would rather have Lebron defend the other 4, and guys like Marion and Shumpert to fill in for Love's role on offense.
Final Thoughts
On the Cavaliers Kevin Love will never be able to play to his full offensive potential. There is no way Blatt will take away touches from Lebron and Kyrie. Love needs to accept that this isn't Minnesota anymore, and buy into his role in Blatt's offense. He needs to spend the all star break finding ways to improve his defense and three point shooting. If he can make these wide open 3's he gets then the Cavaliers can live with his poor defense.
I believe if the Cavaliers and Lebron did not rush their decision in acquiring Love this summer that they would not have traded for him. If they got a legit trade offer involving Kevin Love right now they would do it in a heartbeat. But nobody will offer a legit trade for Love who could opt out net year. Barring some championship run this year, I do not believe that the Cavaliers will offer Love a max contract if he opts out. When they could find a couple players who can shoot the three and defend better than Love.
I believe if the Cavaliers and Lebron did not rush their decision in acquiring Love this summer that they would not have traded for him. If they got a legit trade offer involving Kevin Love right now they would do it in a heartbeat. But nobody will offer a legit trade for Love who could opt out net year. Barring some championship run this year, I do not believe that the Cavaliers will offer Love a max contract if he opts out. When they could find a couple players who can shoot the three and defend better than Love.
