Kevin Love: 'A Lot Of Guys Need to look in the Mirror, Starting With Lebron'

[Who]

LeBron's selfishness is a big problem on that Cavs team. He has to allow his star teammates (Kyrie, K-Love) the room and opportunities to express their own talents. LeBron has the Iverson-like quality where he doesn't work well with other stars. Everything has to be on his own terms. LeBron can't adapt his game to better fit alongside different players.

[Moranis]

Wow, he really said that? Nice try, princess.
What a backstabbing, little female dog.

People really wanted that guy on the Celtics? smh

Why? Because he has the junk to call out the leader of the team. A team that should be dominating the East like GWS and the spurs are dominating the West. It does start at the top.

Kevin Love:

December: 12.7 points, 9.2 rebounds, 37.3% FG%, .474 TS%

January:  11.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 34.7% FG%, .486 TS%

Lebron James:

December:  25.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 47.4% FG%, .541 TS%

January:  24.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 55.0% FG%, .635 TS%

Who is the one who should be looking in the mirror?

The question being discussed a lot on NBA Radio yesterday, was is Lebron getting his numbers at the expense of the team?  or put another way, should Lebron back off a bit and take less of the offensive load and allow his PG to actually be the PG?

[fairweatherfan]

I think people are reading way too much into an off-the-cuff comment made in a locker room after a game.  I read it as: Everyone can play better.  LeBron is going to work hard to fix what he did wrong, and we're all going to follow the example he sets.

Seriously, this is drama created for drama's sake.

I agree - it's just a minor variation on the classic "everybody needs to do better than they're doing" post-loss comments.  It's just the indirect reference to LeBron that gets everyone all lathered up.

That said I'm glad to see some dysfunction over in Cleveland.  Never really cared for Love and my opinion of LeBron is at an all-time high at "mild dislike".

[Tr1boy]

Fitting what he said. He is no leader. Look where he led the wolves to

[SCeltic34]

Love might want to make an effort to become a complete basketball player - i.e. learn to play defense - before he starts talking about leadership.

https://vine.co/v/iOLFbZHA60V

[TheFlex]

LeBron's selfishness is a big problem on that Cavs team. He has to allow his star teammates (Kyrie, K-Love) the room and opportunities to express their own talents. LeBron has the Iverson-like quality where he doesn't work well with other stars. Everything has to be on his own terms. LeBron can't adapt his game to better fit alongside different players.

I don't think this is true at all. His game directly clashed with D-Wade's and they ended up being the foundation to one of the greatest teams of all time.

The solution to this really isn't all that difficult. Put Love in the high post and run the offense through him outward towards the wings, where on opposite sides, he can find either Kyrie or LeBron depending on who has the better matchup. Just sticking Love in the corner not only fails to utilize his post skills and passing ability, it makes him a less impactful rebounder (obviously).

[edit: Who, I should clarify. I don't blame either player -- seems Blatt is the problem here. But Blatt has proven himself in other ways. Maybe he'll figure it out.]

As for the OP, I don't think the comment means much, if anything at all.

[chambers]

Love might want to make an effort to become a complete basketball player - i.e. learn to play defense - before he starts talking about leadership.

https://vine.co/v/iOLFbZHA60V

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).

[Tr1boy]

Love might want to make an effort to become a complete basketball player - i.e. learn to play defense - before he starts talking about leadership.

https://vine.co/v/iOLFbZHA60V

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).

Love is overpaid and overrated.

[chambers]

Love might want to make an effort to become a complete basketball player - i.e. learn to play defense - before he starts talking about leadership.

https://vine.co/v/iOLFbZHA60V

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).

Love is overpaid and overrated.

Thanks for your thoughtful, statistically backed and insightful input as usual triboy. Now you can go back down into mom's basement and watch Jordan Mickey highlights.

[fairweatherfan]

LeBron's selfishness is a big problem on that Cavs team. He has to allow his star teammates (Kyrie, K-Love) the room and opportunities to express their own talents. LeBron has the Iverson-like quality where he doesn't work well with other stars. Everything has to be on his own terms. LeBron can't adapt his game to better fit alongside different players.

I don't think this is true at all. His game directly clashed with D-Wade's and they ended up being the foundation to one of the greatest teams of all time.

I think it's partly true, but Wade was definitely a major exception - Bosh changed his game substantially but Wade didn't do much differently except control the ball less. 

It's clear that LeBron's game doesn't mesh well with Love in particular, though.  Though that's partly due to the number of lane-clogging bigs they've got playing next to him - forces Love to stick to the perimeter.

[SCeltic34]

Love might want to make an effort to become a complete basketball player - i.e. learn to play defense - before he starts talking about leadership.

https://vine.co/v/iOLFbZHA60V

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).

According to basketball reference, when Love is on the floor, opponent eFG is higher (by .01) and opponent offensive rating is 103 as opposed to 101 when he is off. 

Last season, he surprisingly was a net positive on defense.  That I did not know.  His defense often does not pass the eye test.  His playoff numbers are too small of a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions, but the Cavs defense was certainly excellent all of last post season without him.

He's still a major net positive as the Cavs offense is way better when he's on the floor (offensive rating 111.8 vs 100..  I agree that in large part he's being misused - but looking at the offensive numbers you might come to the opposite conclusion.

In any case, I don't think he should be dismissing LeBron like that in front of the media.  He's a star.  If he wants to talk about leadership, he should take it on himself to do better and lead better rather than whining to reporters.

[Moranis]

LeBron's selfishness is a big problem on that Cavs team. He has to allow his star teammates (Kyrie, K-Love) the room and opportunities to express their own talents. LeBron has the Iverson-like quality where he doesn't work well with other stars. Everything has to be on his own terms. LeBron can't adapt his game to better fit alongside different players.

I don't think this is true at all. His game directly clashed with D-Wade's and they ended up being the foundation to one of the greatest teams of all time.

I think it's partly true, but Wade was definitely a major exception - Bosh changed his game substantially but Wade didn't do much differently except control the ball less. 

It's clear that LeBron's game doesn't mesh well with Love in particular, though.  Though that's partly due to the number of lane-clogging bigs they've got playing next to him - forces Love to stick to the perimeter.

Yep.  They would be better with a Love, James, Smith, Shumpert, Irving lineup.

[Donoghus]

Seems like a lot of fuss about nothing.  This Cavs team still has the best record in the East and will probably lock up the #1 seed.  They should have a relative cakewalk to the Finals.  It's not like they're really in disarray.  Most fanbases would kill to have this sort of "drama" right now.

They'll probably lose in the Finals again whether its to GSW or SA but I certainly don't see the point of the "sky is falling, this team is a mess" cries.  Love is also the one who made the decision to resign with CLE.  He's bringing part of this crap upon himself with the comments to begin with.

[spikelovetheCelts]

I think people are reading way too much into an off-the-cuff comment made in a locker room after a game.  I read it as: Everyone can play better.  LeBron is going to work hard to fix what he did wrong, and we're all going to follow the example he sets.

Seriously, this is drama created for drama's sake.

I agree - it's just a minor variation on the classic "everybody needs to do better than they're doing" post-loss comments.  It's just the indirect reference to LeBron that gets everyone all lathered up.

That said I'm glad to see some dysfunction over in Cleveland.  Never really cared for Love and my opinion of LeBron is at an all-time high at "mild dislike".

Losing like they did would make anyone ansy. Lebron has not won his title yet. The first one was Wade and the second was Ray. He needs this one to say he is who he thinks he is. I for one hope he stays at two. Love is right the Leader must lead. Show me how. Nothing wrong for the third best to say. As long as he does follow.

[Monkhouse]

Love might want to make an effort to become a complete basketball player - i.e. learn to play defense - before he starts talking about leadership.

https://vine.co/v/iOLFbZHA60V

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).

According to basketball reference, when Love is on the floor, opponent eFG is higher (by .01) and opponent offensive rating is 103 as opposed to 101 when he is off. 

Last season, he surprisingly was a net positive on defense.  That I did not know.  His defense often does not pass the eye test.  His playoff numbers are too small of a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions, but the Cavs defense was certainly excellent all of last post season without him.

He's still a major net positive as the Cavs offense is way better when he's on the floor (offensive rating 111.8 vs 100..  I agree that in large part he's being misused - but looking at the offensive numbers you might come to the opposite conclusion.

In any case, I don't think he should be dismissing LeBron like that in front of the media.  He's a star.  If he wants to talk about leadership, he should take it on himself to do better and lead better rather than whining to reporters.

I think its more of Love knowing that hes the only remaining star on the team that is going to be a scapegoat; Kyrie has always been the franchises point guard from the start, and Lebron has been the posterchild for greatness even and before he left the Cavs.

And his comment wasn't even that serious, but he should've [dang] well know that anything he comments or posts would be taken out of context by the media.

I wish Love would actually have come out and said, "I think we could've done a better job in closing out shooters. I didn't exactly have my best game, and I'm going to improve and condition myself for the next game." Something along the lines of that. Instead of subliminally pointing fingers, because whether or not that was the true intention, it still sent a message, and even Lebron wouldn't be so stupid or dumb to act as if there wasn't a hint of bitterness in that comment.

Seems like a lot of fuss about nothing.  This Cavs team still has the best record in the East and will probably lock up the #1 seed.  They should have a relative cakewalk to the Finals.  It's not like they're really in disarray.  Most fanbases would kill to have this sort of "drama" right now.

They'll probably lose in the Finals again whether its to GSW or SA but I certainly don't see the point of the "sky is falling, this team is a mess" cries.  Love is also the one who made the decision to resign with CLE.  He's bringing part of this crap upon himself with the comments to begin with.

I think people are reading way too much into an off-the-cuff comment made in a locker room after a game.  I read it as: Everyone can play better.  LeBron is going to work hard to fix what he did wrong, and we're all going to follow the example he sets.

Seriously, this is drama created for drama's sake.

I agree - it's just a minor variation on the classic "everybody needs to do better than they're doing" post-loss comments.  It's just the indirect reference to LeBron that gets everyone all lathered up.

That said I'm glad to see some dysfunction over in Cleveland.  Never really cared for Love and my opinion of LeBron is at an all-time high at "mild dislike".

Losing like they did would make anyone ansy. Lebron has not won his title yet. The first one was Wade and the second was Ray. He needs this one to say he is who he thinks he is. I for one hope he stays at two. Love is right the Leader must lead. Show me how. Nothing wrong for the third best to say. As long as he does follow.

Honestly I think the only team that matches up well with CLE besides GSW is the Spurs.

I think everyone is sleeping on the Spurs.

They have one of the best power forwards in the league, and Pop is still their coach. Kawhi Leonard looks like Scottie Pippen 3.0, and the bench for the Spurs is stepping up.

Ultimately, I don't see the Cavs beating neither of those team. Unfortunately, the Cavs may be facing a potential fatigued Spurs or GSW, as I predict a WCF of Spurs vs GSW. Its going to be a seven game series.