Trouble in the Northeast Ohio paradise? We’re still five days from the regular season, and Cleveland Cavaliers’ third wheel Kevin Love is already griping about a lack of quality touches.
After another frustrating individual exhibition performance for his new team, Love said that more shots from the paint early in games would go a long way toward improving his comfort level. Via Northeast Ohio Media Group’s Chris Haynes:
“My entire life I’ve played the game from inside-out,” Love explained to NEOMG. “So the more touches I can get inside to get myself going, the better. I’m not accustomed to starting out a game shooting a three, so it’s just something that I see…”
His long-ball threat is a valuable weapon; the reason head coach David Blatt is utilizing him in that fashion. Love says the offense calls for him to be out on the perimeter, but he says he has to make sure he remembers to go inside more.
“Yeah, the offense is built that way but I just have to make a conscious decision to get myself in there,” Love said. “There are a lot of times where I just find myself fading to the three-point line. For me, it’s a mentality and that’s easy to fix.”
And so it begins. Love and Kyrie Irving were always due major adjustments to their games once LeBron James announced his homecoming. Not only does The King reign supreme in the post, but he’s also a devastating perimeter playmaker – the areas in which the formerly solo young superstars are most comfortable.
And for Love specifically, playing with two dominant ballhandlers like James and Irving – not to mention the shot-happy Dion Waiters – means that a cleared interior opens driving lanes by helping to space the floor. It’s his ability to strike from long-range with ease that makes Love one of the most unique players in league history, after all.
But sentiments like this were inevitable despite the Cavaliers understanding a need for sacrifice. David Blatt and company would surely prefer that they were kept in-house as opposed to publicly voiced, obviously, but there’s nothing too incendiary here. Love isn’t throwing anyone under the bus, and even put the onus on himself for needlessly drifting to the perimeter on occasion. He also goes onto say that Cleveland will utilize more sets during the regular season that ensure he sees the ball in the post.
This isn’t mutiny or anything close to it, basically. And it makes sense that Love would be irked by his underwhelming preseason play so far: He’s scored 12 points or fewer and shot worse than 44 percent from the floor in four of the Cavs’ six games, and his pair of 25-point efforts came with at least one of James and Irving sitting. Watching Cleveland, it’s been apparent that Love has been a glorified jump-shooting safety valve as opposed to an offensive hub, too. From a personal perspective, he shouldn’t be pleased with how the exhibition slate has played out.
These are the wrinkles on which James keeps harping when he insists that the Cavaliers have a long way to go. On- and off- court chemistry takes time to develop, especially when basketball personalities like those of Love, LeBron, and Kyrie are playing together for the first time. Love’s comments aren’t surprising nor a sign of trouble, but just the next step in Cleveland’s development.
Let’s see if Love and his team make good on correcting his critiques once the regular season begins next week.
What do you think?
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