Really hard to imagine Kevin Love staying in Cleveland

[CelticSooner]

Love and Rondo will be joining Colby next year in Laker land.

[Ilikesports17]

It makes too much selse to stay another year I my opinion.  Get another shot at a ring and try to make a potentially great situation work and if not just wait and cash in on the raised cap in FA 2016

[zubi.anaba]

I don't have a tool that summarizes his last 8 games on ESPN for me, and it is harder to calculate because he has missed games in the middle of it. It looks like somewhere I did make a mistake in my math, I was putting it on a calculator. So apologies for that. To make it less abstract I was including these games

11pts 4 rebounds
10 points 10 rebounds
18 points 7 rebounds
22 points 10 rebounds
9 points 3 rebounds
11 points 11 rebounds
10 point 11 rebounds
8 points 5 rebounds

Those are not horrible games, but aside from a really strong game against Memphis those are probably not max-level numbers.

They might not be MAx level numbers but his presence on the floor gives max level impact for the team especially offensively. Pretty sure someone already posted a quote about his on/off numbers for them team. Thats all CAvs will care about when offering him the max

He also is really a legit 3a option with JR Smith as 3b on their team right now. Smith plays a few more minutes and they take a really similar amount of shots.

All Jr does is shoot 3s. They dont post him up, They dont run elbow plays through him. Jr being trigger happy hardly makes him a 3rd option. Plus as Loves gains more chemistry with the team, they are going run more more plays through him. All Jr is ever going to do is shoot 3s. Really not sure what the problem is

This goes back for roughly the last month of the season. He was playing well in the beginning of March, but he has also had other poor stretches this season. As for your points about minutes in all of these listed games they were all between 27 and 39 and it appears he is going to play about 33 minutes a game now so none of this is totally out of whack.

Cavs usually sit Lebron at the 6min mark for the 1st and 4th quarters while Love and Kyrie play till close to the end of the 1st and 3rd. Lebron checks back in As Kyrie and LOve go to sit so that he can play the 4 with the second unit (Thompson and shooters). Love then doesnt check in till like 8-7mins left in the 2nd and 4th. Kyrie checks in a little earlier while Lebron rest then checks back in with 5-6mins left

AM saying all that because its clear you didnt watch any of the Cavs games you just used as examples of Loves bad play

vs Bull (Tough game against atheltic bigs after a week break)
vs Philly (struggled all night with the back till he had to check out in the 3rd)
vs Nets (decent game)
Vs Grizz (Great game)
Vs Bucks (Game turned to a blowout so Love didnt check back in the 4th. Neither did Kyrie)
Vs Pacers (ANother tough game vs an strong PF in David West)
Vs Nets ( Another blowout before the 4th. So didnt check back in)
Vs Spurs (Going up against stong PF in Timmy/Diaw plus has back issues so had to sit)

So out of all the games you just cherry picked, his subpar performance is pretty self explanatory. Games were either blowout or he was going up against strong PF that he has alway struggled with. FActor in the constant back issues and his struggles are hardly surprising. Again I would advise you watch more Cavs games before making your conclusions rather relying strictly on box scores

[kozlodoev]

Cavs will offer him the max but sure he leaves for LA or NY. He can sign a deal with an opt-out then cash in with new TV cap for $. Cavs blew it with Love. I think he is a great fit yet they just don't go to him enough to satisfy him as a competitor.

He's such a great "competitor" that he'll bolt the second-best team in the East to join the worst team in the East or the second-worst team in the West.

Yup, makes perfect sense. 

Personal success/stats are important to some competitors. Especially pro NBA players.

He could have stayed in MN. He would have gotten all the minutes/stats he could handle. Apparently that's not what it is.

[kozlodoev]

is Lebron the greatest passive-competitor of all time?

looking back on his career, its interesting how he maintained his alpha-all-star status, to an extent, by getting his biggest advisories to join him.  Almost like removing your opponents pieces from the chessboard before the game starts.  First Wade & Bosh, then Ray Allen, and now he's on to the next generation of threats with Kyrie & Love.

Wade, Bosh, Allen, Irving, Love... all second bananas and/or players in decline. Please. Call me when he gets Anthony Davis or Stephen Curry to join.

Not in their minds is what poster meant. They all have shown the desire and attitude to be the man. But all gave in to LeBron eventually.

Right, I may have misread that a lil bit 

I don't care much for the "brand", but on the court, with a basketball, LeBron is good. Like, really, really good.

[GC003332]

Kevin has been reduced from a 26 year old all star to a 3rd sometimes 4th option who in some of the Cavs biggest games this season hasn't been on the floor in crunch time, all in an effort to fit in, It is not like he needs a championship as a Lebron sidekick to validate his legacy at this stage of his career, he has potentially 8 to 10 years left in his career, it is Lebron's urgency to win in Cleveland that got him into this situation, let the season play out and see how the off season plays out, there could be several options better for his career going forward than this junk in Cleveland, what exactly is Lebron sacrificing in all of this, he should be working on fittin in his free throws in crunch time so they don't fit out.
Only in the Eastern conference can you be .500 at the half waypoint of the season and work your way back into the second seed. Imagine trying to pull that act in the west .

It is funny how they get home involved in the offence every few games to appear to keep him happy , otherwise he is just a witness.

Get yourself into a better situation , pull a Ray Allen and join a team in contention in the last few years years of your career if need be.

Gavin

[zubi.anaba]

Your arguments are really all over the place and I am not sure what your general point is.
You seem to be saying he is a really great fit for the Cavs because they can run the defense through him on the elbow, he can abuse weaker defenders on the box and can give them a lot of rebounding.

Yes none of the stretch 4s you mentioned can give Cavs all those qualities along with elite 3point shooting. Not to talk of Cavs getting those players without giving up a key part of their core. Whats so hard to understand about that???

You also seem confident that he is going to sign a 5 year contract extension with them this offseason. I have not seen anyone even loosely associated with the NBA suggest the second point is going to happen this offseason.

Probably cuz such a story is not getting clicks. Controversy sells. Kevin Love re-signing does not breed controversy/click baits. IF he was fully healthy this season then he would have opted in and gone for the money in 2016 but with the current back issues lingering, it is very unlikely that he would risk it. Again simple logic

Related to the first, he has himself discussed the challenge of adjusting to the role. If someone wants to dig up some quotes from Blatt about better integrating him into their offense I would happily give a TP. However, acting like it has been a really smooth fit seems a bit over the top.

Cavs have had some many moving pieces over the summer and mid season and this is their 1st season together also with a new/rookie coach. Of course it would never be smooth. Anyone who thought it would be is naive

I am assuming at this point that you are a Cavs fan and really want to keep him. That is totally cool, but lets keep it somewhat realistic. By that same token, I don't think the Celtics are going to get him at all, and I am not even sure he is a great fit for us without other roster moves.

Actually not a Cavs fan. I am a bball fanatic. I read tons of forums to educate myself as much as possible about the game. The Kevin Love story started picking upmid season so I started following it a little closer and watching Cavs more and more. It really is a whole bunch of nothing

If a team like Portland or Memphis were to lose Gasol or Aldridge this offseason those are two situations that I think would immediately become better fits and also be contenders. Heck if Duncan and Ginobli retire, maybe he becomes an amazing fit in Pop's offense. Lots of possibilities that we wont know until sometime this offseason.

Now this makes wayyy more sense than linking him with Lottery teams Like LA and NY

[/quote]

[Vermont Green]

I heard someone on the radio (Brian Windhorst I think) who had the theory that Love's back is bothering him.  He backed this up by comparing stats for games with 1 day, 2 days, and 3 days of rest.  There was a dramatic increase in production with increase in rest.

I don't know what Love is going to do.  LA certainly seems like a possibility, but I think Cleveland is just trying to pace him so he can hang on through the playoffs.  Kind of the San Antonio approach to player preservations and playoff success.