Real look at Love and Cavs predicament

[slightly biased bias fan]

The real Kevin Love look I am talking about is about basketball and not about money, if Love wants the most money possible...he signs with Cavs...period. But if Cavs want to play structurally, the best way to win and Love wants to have a leading role as 'the guy' he should leave.

One thing this Finals have showed is not emergence of Delly but Tristan Thompson as someone with Denis Rodman rebounding potential but with ability to develop on the offensive end too. The tandem of Thompson and Mosgov are the reason along with James that Cavs are 2-2 in the finals and have show to be the future front court going forward. With Irving coming back next season they will have enough offence and ball handlers in the starting 5 and Thompson gives them grit and defensive balance, the real weakness with Cleveland is bench scoring depth. Love best role in this team is 6th man, he would give Irving and James relief on offence and the ability to initiate and finish offence without them on the court...something J.R Smith is too streaky to do/selfish to pass.This would give the Cavs the best roster but is not what Love would want. This is why I could see him on the Celtics but I think we need a Ray Allen trade to show Celtics will be competitive and serious about centring our offence around him.

[D.o.s.]

Just to make sure I'm following:

Love is best served as Cleveland's Sixth Man.

Love does not want to be Cleveland's Sixth Man.

Love would come to Boston  if we had a secondary star in place (although the Ray Allen trade meant that we had two star players in Ray and Pierce, which we wouldn't have now).

I guess I don't get it? If he's leaving Cleveland, why wouldn't he go somewhere that was closer to winning a title than Boston?

[jambr380]

Just to make sure I'm following:

Love is best served as Cleveland's Sixth Man.

Love does not want to be Cleveland's Sixth Man.

Love would come to Boston  if we had a secondary star in place (although the Ray Allen trade meant that we had two star players in Ray and Pierce, which we wouldn't have now).

I guess I don't get it? If he's leaving Cleveland, why wouldn't he go somewhere that was closer to winning a title than Boston?

I have to imagine if we were lucky enough to land one of the big-time FAs (like Love), Ainge would go all-in with trading players/picks for another star player. Something like Sully, Smart, Wallace, BKN 2016 and 18 for Cousins/filler.

Of course we would all like to keep Smart and there are other options out there that would allow us to trade players/picks without including Smart, but for Cousins, that's where discussions begin.

[wdleehi]

The Cavs could really use Love right now.  An actual offensive threat besides Lebron.

[Moranis]

Thompson is best suited as a rebounder/energy guy off the bench.  He has terrible hands, is not a good passer, and while he tries and works at it, is still not a very good defender. 

With Love, Cleveland is up at least 3-1 if not a sweep.  He is a game changer on the offensive end and doesn't take much away defensively against a team like GS (I mean it isn't like GS has anyone that can really abuse Love defensively as Green and company basically just stand at the 3 point line). 

[slightly biased bias fan]

Just to make sure I'm following:

Love is best served as Cleveland's Sixth Man.

Love does not want to be Cleveland's Sixth Man.

Love would come to Boston  if we had a secondary star in place (although the Ray Allen trade meant that we had two star players in Ray and Pierce, which we wouldn't have now).

I guess I don't get it? If he's leaving Cleveland, why wouldn't he go somewhere that was closer to winning a title than Boston?

Yes if you remember Blatt was actually playing Love off the bench for some period of time which shows he can see it too, Love can and would probably win a title in Cleveland but it will be a minor role and for someone his age and his talent I don't think he wants.

As for the Ray Allen trade, I'm just using it as a reference to be a symbol that Boston are serious about contending now and here he will be a star and centralised, this is all he really wants, other trades and signings can happen later, Love is 26 not in his 30's like Ray, Paul and KG were...there is time to develop a team around him and another star player.

[slightly biased bias fan]

Thompson is best suited as a rebounder/energy guy off the bench.  He has terrible hands, is not a good passer, and while he tries and works at it, is still not a very good defender. 

With Love, Cleveland is up at least 3-1 if not a sweep.  He is a game changer on the offensive end and doesn't take much away defensively against a team like GS (I mean it isn't like GS has anyone that can really abuse Love defensively as Green and company basically just stand at the 3 point line).

Defensively he has killed GSW and if Love starts it puts even more pressure on Lebron to work on the defensive end and with the resigning of both Thompson and Love there will be no space to sign a volume scorer and a backup distributor (delly is not one) there again lyes there problem

[Who]

I agree -- K-Love should play bench role if he returns to Cleveland. Tristan Thompson has transformed their team defense. K-Love as 3rd option scorer does not provide as much as Thompson has given the Cavs since K-Love went down. Let K-Love be 6th man.

[Roy H.]

The Cavs could really use Love right now.  An actual offensive threat besides Lebron.

Not only that, but Love greatly impacts Lebron's game, because he opens up so much spacing.

Mozgov + Thompson isn't a viable starting combination.  I suspect that the Cavs know this.  The better defense is off-set by the significantly lesser offense.

[jambr380]

I agree -- K-Love should play bench role if he returns to Cleveland. Tristan Thompson has transformed their team defense. K-Love as 3rd option scorer does not provide as much as Thompson has given the Cavs since K-Love went down. Let K-Love be 6th man.

Which is where the predicament lies. We were lucky enough to have IT buy into being a top 6th man in this league, but Love already knows what it's like to be a [near] superstar. I can't imagine he wants to come off the bench. I realize there have been great 6th men in the history of the NBA, but Love doesn't seem like he is buying into it just yet.

I expect a sign and trade to a team like the Cs where Cleveland gets a first and huge TPE - that way Love gets his starring role and also looks like a nice guy without leaving Cleveland high and dry.

[Roy H.]

Thompson is best suited as a rebounder/energy guy off the bench.  He has terrible hands, is not a good passer, and while he tries and works at it, is still not a very good defender. 

With Love, Cleveland is up at least 3-1 if not a sweep.  He is a game changer on the offensive end and doesn't take much away defensively against a team like GS (I mean it isn't like GS has anyone that can really abuse Love defensively as Green and company basically just stand at the 3 point line).

Defensively he has killed GSW and if Love starts it puts even more pressure on Lebron to work on the defensive end and with the resigning of both Thompson and Love there will be no space to sign a volume scorer and a backup distributor (delly is not one) there again lyes there problem

The Cavs will have a $10+ million salary slot to fill by using Brendan Haywood's non-guaranteed deal.  They can find one or two guys there.  Then, they'll have the Taxpayer's MLE to bring in somebody else.

If ownership spends the money, the Cavs are going to be stacked.

[Roy H.]

I agree -- K-Love should play bench role if he returns to Cleveland. Tristan Thompson has transformed their team defense. K-Love as 3rd option scorer does not provide as much as Thompson has given the Cavs since K-Love went down. Let K-Love be 6th man.

Which is where the predicament lies. We were lucky enough to have IT buy into being a top 6th man in this league, but Love already knows what it's like to be a [near] superstar. I can't imagine he wants to come off the bench. I realize there have been great 6th men in the history of the NBA, but Love doesn't seem like he is buying into it just yet.

Expect a sign and trade to a team like the Cs where Cleveland gets a first and TPE - that way Love gets his starring role and also looks like a nice guy without leaving Cleveland high and dry.

I expect Love to take a max deal in Cleveland where he maxes out his earnings and wins 3 or 4 championship rings, waltzing his way into the Hall of Fame.  I mean, is his desire to "get his" worth more than millions of dollars in salary, even more in endorsements, and being remembered as part of great championship teams?

[Roy H.]

Yes if you remember Blatt was actually playing Love off the bench for some period of time which shows he can see it too, Love can and would probably win a title in Cleveland but it will be a minor role and for someone his age and his talent I don't think he wants.

When has Love come off the bench in Cleveland?  He started all 75 games he played this season.

Also, is Love's role really "minor"?  He's a third option, sure, but he's still putting up 16/10 in 33 minutes.  He's essentially Chris Bosh, who played an extraordinarily important role in Miami.

[Ilikesports17]

I agree -- K-Love should play bench role if he returns to Cleveland. Tristan Thompson has transformed their team defense. K-Love as 3rd option scorer does not provide as much as Thompson has given the Cavs since K-Love went down. Let K-Love be 6th man.

Which is where the predicament lies. We were lucky enough to have IT buy into being a top 6th man in this league, but Love already knows what it's like to be a [near] superstar. I can't imagine he wants to come off the bench. I realize there have been great 6th men in the history of the NBA, but Love doesn't seem like he is buying into it just yet.

Expect a sign and trade to a team like the Cs where Cleveland gets a first and TPE - that way Love gets his starring role and also looks like a nice guy without leaving Cleveland high and dry.

I expect Love to take a max deal in Cleveland where he maxes out his earnings and wins 3 or 4 championship rings, waltzing his way into the Hall of Fame.  I mean, is his desire to "get his" worth more than millions of dollars in salary, even more in endorsements, and being remembered as part of great championship teams?

I do not think Love will make a bad financial decision. What I mean by this is that Love will not sign a long term contract with anyone this offseason. I expect him to be back in cleveland after opting  in.

You have well covered how his current situation could be great and opting in lets him give it another shot and also allows him to, even if he has a bad year, sign a megadeal next summer.

However, I disagree on several points. First off, the endorsements. Being the 3rd option and probably the 4th or 5th most popoular player on a Cleveland team does not equal huge endorsements regardless of how good that team is.

If he wants fame and fortune he will go to another NBA team. Perhaps a team in LA or NY. Even being the no. 1 option in Boston or a team like Detroit  probably brings more endorsement money than Cleveland would.

Lastly, getting his is incredibly important. Staying in Cleveland means sacrificing touches and minutes in exchange for a chance to be remembered as that other guy who was pretty good on those Cavs teams that won a few rings and the privelage to be blamed for just about everything that goes wrong.

[jambr380]

I agree -- K-Love should play bench role if he returns to Cleveland. Tristan Thompson has transformed their team defense. K-Love as 3rd option scorer does not provide as much as Thompson has given the Cavs since K-Love went down. Let K-Love be 6th man.

Which is where the predicament lies. We were lucky enough to have IT buy into being a top 6th man in this league, but Love already knows what it's like to be a [near] superstar. I can't imagine he wants to come off the bench. I realize there have been great 6th men in the history of the NBA, but Love doesn't seem like he is buying into it just yet.

Expect a sign and trade to a team like the Cs where Cleveland gets a first and TPE - that way Love gets his starring role and also looks like a nice guy without leaving Cleveland high and dry.

I expect Love to take a max deal in Cleveland where he maxes out his earnings and wins 3 or 4 championship rings, waltzing his way into the Hall of Fame.  I mean, is his desire to "get his" worth more than millions of dollars in salary, even more in endorsements, and being remembered as part of great championship teams?

Oh, you are absolutely right about what Love should do and hopefully for his sake he makes the correct decision. Cleveland should be welcoming with open arms. It makes sense for everybody involved, but would be a bummer for the rest of the eastern conference.