Cleveland Cavaliers: The Curious Case Of Kevin Love And Where He Can Be Traded

Jan 13, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) and guard J.R. Smith (5) (left) watch from the bench during the fourth quarter against the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center. Phoenix won 107-100. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Love has had difficulty fitting in during his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers; where can he be traded to restore his all-star status?

How did we get here?

No, not this particular blog. No, I’m referring to Kevin Love. How did we get to where we are with Kevin Love?

How did we go from viewing Kevin Love as a top-10 player in the league (and some of you, admit it, were saying top-5) to honestly asking whether he should be getting more playing time than 35-year-old Richard Jefferson or 33-year-old Channing Frye? It’s as precipitous of a drop as we’ve ever seen with a player in his prime, and certainly the most bizarre, given that it’s not injury/age/drug/mental breakdown-induced.

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Because even in the afterglow of Cleveland’s unprecedented title run, there was still a nagging question at the back of everyone’s mind: is this actually working out?

Granted, Love had a solid Game 7 but every other indicator in that series was that if the Cavs ultimately failed, a lot of that blame was going to be hurled in Kevin Love’s direction.

So what happened? Has Cleveland really been that bad of a fit for him?

Because if you’ll remember, this was supposed to be an ideal marriage. Given new coach David Blatt’s European background and the return of Cleveland’s prodigal son, LeBron James, Kevin Love was seen as the ideal running mate for the King’s new reign in Cleveland.

Between Love’s otherworldly passing skills, insane ability to be an elite scorer from literally every part of the floor (career shooting splits of 44.4%/36.3%/81.5%), and, at least in Minnesota, the best rebounding skill-set in the league, what was there not to like? Which, to be fair, there were times in Cleveland where it panned out EXACTLY like the pundits predicted. For instance:

But for every one of those beautiful pieces of synergy, there’s an equal and opposite example of basketball-induced puke. For whatever reason, the Cavs seem content to relegate Love to merely standing in the corner as a floor spacer, completely negating his profound strengths as a post-player and rebounder.

Also, while Love’s most profound weakness has and will likely always be his play on the defensive end, it’s not as bad as we like to make it out to be. Sure, he’s never going to be able to effectively protect the rim and is an absolute liability against the pick and roll (particularly when Cleveland asks him to switch through a screen), he’s still no worse than several players we would likely view as superior replacements.

His defensive rating this year is tied for a career high of 102. His defensive box +/- the second highest of his career at 0.9. Neither are necessarily stellar and yet both are indicative of a player who is working to improve his all-around game.

To put the numbers in perspective, Blake Griffin posted a 103 and a 1.6. Serge Ibaka posted a 105 and a 1.0. Even teammate Tristan Thompson posted a 104 and a 1.3. I could go on and on but the point remains that Love is as good or better (particularly as it comes to defensive rating) than many of the NBA’s other elite power forwards.

“Alright already, Fielder. We get that you are a Kevin Love fan-boy. Get to the point already.”

Okay, I’m almost there, tenacious reader! I guess what I’m trying to say is that Kevin Love is not a broken commodity. Obviously, things did not pan out in Cleveland like Love or the Cavaliers would have hoped. Despite all of the overwhelming preceding evidence, Love could only manage to “fit out, never fit in” (thanks for that particular piece of poetry, LeBron).

But we’re not here to dwell on that anymore. We’re here to right wrongs. We’re here to pull a full-John Connor in the original (read: best) Terminator and protect the future. In short, we’re here to save Kevin Love.

It’s been one of the worst kept secrets of the 2016 NBA Finals that the Cavs are going to be looking to shop Love after he became nearly unplayable against the Warriors’ death lineup. So where exactly could he go that would restore him to his former glory?

It’s been one of the worst kept secrets of the 2016 NBA Finals that the Cavs are going to be looking to shop Love after he became nearly unplayable against the Warriors’ death lineup

Important to note before we proceed: I have no idea what Love’s trade value is now. My gut instinct says that every NBA general manager has not forgotten when he was the NBA’s pre-eminent double/double machine…but Cleveland is also in the weird position where EVERYONE knows they’re looking to sell so the market is going to be super skewed by that.

So with that in mind, we’re going to primarily focus on how well does Kevin Love fit versus how likely is it that this trade will actually happen.

Still with me? Alright let’s dig in.

Now, there’s several teams where I like the fit in a fantasy/team-building-in-2K sense but it doesn’t really make sense in a practical manner. Both the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Lakers are good examples of this.

Next: Pistons?