NBA Rumors: Kevin Love, who is currently sidelined with an injury, is expected to make his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers lineup in late March
One thing that the Cleveland Cavaliers don’t exactly have a lot of right now, is time. After making a flurry of roster moves at the NBA trade deadline, Cleveland doesn’t have time at its disposal.
In the 20 or so odd games left before the NBA playoffs, the Cavs need to figure out a way to mesh quickly.
At the trade deadline, Cleveland swapped out Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas for Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, George Hill and Larry Nance Jr. That’s four new rotation players that Cleveland needs to get up to speed in a limited amount of time.
On top of that, Kevin Love isn’t even able to play at the moment. He is recovering from a fractured left hand and says he’s “about a month” away. If his timeline holds true, that means he likely returns in late March.
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"[via NBC Sports]“I’m probably about two weeks out from getting this movable cast off for good, and then from there about a few weeks after that before I get back,” Love told NBCSports.com about his recovery from a fractured left hand. “So I have a good amount of time, about a month.”"
If Love doesn’t return until late March, that gives him just a handful of games for him to get acclimated to his new team. Assuming he returns March 21, which might actually be a more aggressive target date, that leaves him with 12 games to get to know his new team.
The good news is that Love usually just fits in where he can. He doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be the most effective player, and does most of his damage on catch-and-shoots and/or pick-and-pops anyways.
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The new team looks good so far, though. And if they can continue to build off their first few games together, then implementing Love, even with only a few games left in the regular season, won’t be all that difficult for a LeBron James led team.