He's a net positive defender.
The Wolves and Cavs both post better defensive ratings with him on the floor- but their offensive ratings go way up
His DPRM is fine this year too.
Defensive issues are way overblown.
Kevin Love is an alpha scorer with a wing man mentality when playing with Lebron.
He's completely misused by the Cavs. I mean completely and utterly misused.
Let me ask people this.
If Kelly Olynyk can look good on the Celtics, what would Kevin Love look like shooting twice as many shots?'
His last 3 years in Minny he was averaging 18 shots a game and 8.2 free throw attempts per game. His numbers this year are 12.8 field goal attempts and 3.7 free throws per game.
Kevin Love's problem in Cleveland is that he doesn't get to play inside next to Mozgov and Lebron and thus doesn't take any free throws.
He's Lebron's towel boy shooting threes when Lebron bails on a drive to the basket.
If he simply took 17-19 shots a game (like he did in Minny), he'd be averaging something like:
25 points, 12 rebounds and we'd be praising him as the Celtic's next chosen one.
This quote I posted was more to create a bit of buzz and fun as we come up to trade season- it's the media blowing something up which was probably not intended to be a 'I hate Cleveland get me out of here' comment. More of a 'we need to man up, everyone, even the boss' kinda comment.
But for me, as a fan of Kevin Love, the thought of getting him at a buy low price when Lebron wants him gone is something to get excited about over the next 6 months.
Anyway, IMO Kevin Love would THRIVE under the Brad Stevens offense, and our defensive cohesion would help cover any of his minor issues on help. With Jae Crower, Smart, Amir and Avery Bradley out there with him we wouldn't be discussing his D.
-Although I will admit that to get any Love deal done, at least two of the above mentioned defensive pit bulls would have to go back to Cleveland in return.
A line up of:
IT
Smart
Crowder
Love
Amir
Brooklyn pick
Rozier
Mickey
Hunter
would be a great starting point for the next 5 years.
Kevin Love is 27 years old and only just turned 27.
If he becomes available, Danny Ainge will give up pretty much anything except that Brooklyn pick (unless it's not top 3 when the time comes).
The Lebron/Cleveland effect on Love's inside game is overrated IMHO. Not saying it isn't affecting his game, but I don't think it's affecting it nearly as much as people seem to believe. If you take a look at his career stats you will see that his "outside happy" trend started before he got to Cleveland.
Love started his career in Minnesota, where:
* In 2008-09 Love took 52.8% of his shots inside three feet and 2.8% from three
* In 2009-10 Love took 42.7% of his shots inside three feet and 16.4% from three
* In 2010-11 Love took 35.2% of his shots inside three feet and 20.6% from three
* In 2011-12 Love took 33.5% of his shots inside three feet and 26.6% from three
* In 2012-13 Love took 32.2% of his shots inside three feet and 30.9% from three
* In 2013-14 Love took 25.3% of his shots inside three feet and 35.5% from three
After the 2013-13 season Love was traded to Clevleand, where:
* In 2014-15 Love took 21.3%% of his shots inside three feet and 41.2% from three
* In 2015-16 Love took 22.2% of his shots inside three feet and 43.4% from three
I think there is a very obvious trend here - pretty much every season he's been in the league, Love has been shying further and further away from playing in the post, and depending more and more on his outside shot.
Not only have his attempts around the basket reduced, but his Offensive Rebound Percentage has similarly reduced as well (from 15.1% his rookie year, to 8.5% in his last season with the Wolves) which is a clear indication that he's been choosing to spend less time around the basket, and hang around the perimeter more.
The only statistical drop-off that correlates with his move to Cleveland is his drop-off in free throw rate. It was above 43% his entire career but dropped significantly in 2014-15 (33.7%) and 2015-16 (29.2%). These are, however, still pretty solid numbers which indicate he's still getting to the line at a decent (if no longer elite) rate.
Regardless, Kevin Love's scoring has dropped from 25.9 Points Per 36 in with the Wolves in 2013/14, to 17.5 Points Per 36 since he's been with the Cavs. That's a dramatic drop of about 8.5 Points Per 36, and yet his Free Throws Made 'Per 36' has only dropped by about 3 (6.7 in 2013-14 versus 3.7 in 2014-15 and 3.3 in 2015-16).
That suggests that you can realistically justify a drop of about 3.2 Points Per 36 if that) as a direct result of his reduced Free Throw Rate in Cleveland, meaning if he was taking free throws at the same rate as in Minny his scoring would be up around 20.7 Points Per 36.
That is still a far cry from the 26 Points Per 36 he averaged in 2013/14 and the 24 points Per 36 he averaged in 2011/12 (his two best seasons).
Look deeper however, and you might find why. Kevin Love's "superstar" status was set by his two huge seasons in 11/12 and 13/14 where he averaged upwards of 24 Points Per 36 (about on par with what Isaiah Thomas has averaged since he's been with the Celtics).
If you disregard those two seasons, then over the other 6 seasons of Love's career he has actually only averaged 17.97 Points Per 36 - which is actually extremely close to what he has averaged in his pas two seasons with the Cavs.
So it's worth noting that the Kevin Love people like to think of (the 26/12 version) is actually the exception, rather than the rule. Maybe he was just extra fired up those years. Maybe he just had the right guys around him. Maybe he just simply took a TRUCKLOAD of shots.
The fact of the matter is that the true Kevin Love is much closer to the 17.5 Point Per 36 guy we are seeing right now, then he is to the 26/12 guy most of us remember him as. If we got him to come to Boston, you would be dreaming if you expect him to go back to being that guy. That Kevin Love was a fluke.
My suggestion is that if you want to know who the real Kevin Love is, look at his career numbers. He's played enough years to provide a nice sample size, and is still in the prime of his career. Loves career averages are 18.5 PPG, 11.7 RPG and 2.4 APG (20 / 13 / 2.7 Per 36) on 44.6% / 36.3% / 81.3% shooting.
If we were to trade for Love, that is basically the best case scenario of what you should expect to get out of him.
Whether you would still trade major assets for him is your call - I probably wouldn't given he has a significant injury history and is on a contract that pays him $20M/year until he's 32 years old. But for those who would, that's fair enough. Even 18/11 is a pretty impressive stat line in this league.
My biggest concerns with Love are:
1) His health history (has missed about 1/3 of his career games due to injury)
2) His locker room impact (he seems to have a history of not getting along well with teammates)
3) His lack of leadership (doesn't seem like a guy who can lead a team in the locker room or on the court)
All of the above makes me feel that have a Kevin Love can't be your #1 guy if you want to get anywhere far - he needs to be your #2 or #3 guy. Are you willing to commit $100M to a #2 / #3 guy?
Topic: Kevin Love: 'A Lot Of Guys Need to look in the Mirror, Starting With Lebron' (Read 15841 times)