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Cleveland Cavaliers: What’s Up With Kevin Love?

By Will Long

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Kevin Love hasn’t been the superstar that the Cleveland Cavaliers thought they would be getting two summers ago

Kevin Love hasn’t been what the Cleveland Cavaliers thought he would be.

The 27-year-old has been quite underwhelming in Cleveland playing with the NBA’s biggest name.

After being acquired by David Griffin and Cavs’ management, Love has struggled. He’s on pace to put up his lowest points per game averaged (15.6 this season) since his second year in the league (14.0 in ’10). He’s lost touches, yes, but his efficiency has suffered as well – his field goal percentage is the lowest it’s ever been, aside from the injury-shortened 2013 campaign.

Yes, he’s taken more threes, but his two-point field goal percentage is also significantly lower than every other year (omitting the ’13 season once again).

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Nothing is going well now for who was once a superstar. With that in mind, the question around him lately has been, ‘Could Love be traded for, say, a better center?’

With the struggles of him and Timofey Mozgov, and the improving play from Tristan Thompson might cost him a roster spot in the future.

Looking at Thompson’s numbers, few would say he’s even close to Love talentwise. But what he does bring that Love lacks is his energy; the fourth-year player is second on the team in rebounding (behind Love) despite being a backup until recently. Thompson also is a much better defender and a more efficient scorer, though he can’t space the floor quite like Love can.

If Love wants to continue to find star minutes – over Thompson among others – and have star production, then he needs to pick his spots. Obviously, with a 41.3 FG% as a post, he hasn’t been doing that too well. Of course, a huge part of that is due to how many of his shot attempts are three pointers (approx. 44% of all of Love’s attempts are threes), but still, his percentages have all been down. His statistics have progressively gotten worse month by month, and his role has, subsequently, been reduced.

Klove
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The last five games have been an indicator of how poor this year has gone for the former superstar. Including his last two games (which have, surprisingly, gone wonderfully for the big man), Love isn’t even averaging 12 points per game while shooting 37.5% (!!) from the field. He’s shot better from behind the arc than he has from everywhere else – which isn’t something a guy like him should be proud about.

The most apparent struggle this year has been his most recent game against the Golden State Warriors (surprise, surprise), where he “dropped” three points to correspond with six rebounds while looking like a spectator on the defensive end.

Things don’t go well when Love plays poorly, mind you. LeBron can’t save the team if he lays an egg. In eleven losses, Love shoots 37.7% while scoring merely 13.3 points per game. In wins, those numbers jump to 42.7% and 16.6 – which aren’t relatively impressive, but in the midst of such an atrocious season, they are for Love.

Casual fans don’t realize how valuable Love can be to this Cleveland Cavaliers team down the road. A great floor spacer, he’s been great from deep, giving LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and others the ability to attack the basket without being swarmed by defenders.

Next: 2015-16 NBA Midseason Grades For All 30 Teams

With all of that being said, is there a possibility that Love – and potentially Mozgov as well – could be on their way out of Cleveland for an upgrade at the power forward or center positions?

It would be highly unlikely for Love to leave Cleveland, but there’s always that chance. LeBron has reportedly been frustrated with him before, and since “The King” practically runs the Cleveland Cavaliers, if he’s not fond of his team’s starting power forward, then General Manager David Griffin won’t be, either.

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