A lot has changed in Cleveland since Kevin Love went down with a broken hand a little more than a month ago. The Cavs nearly imploded amid all the on and off-court turmoil, then the front office traded away half the roster at the February deadline in a bold last-ditch effort to convince LeBron James to stick around town after this season.
They certainly managed to improve their overall depth with a bevy of young and talented players, but not only do they face unfamiliar territory in terms of championship expectations, they’ll have to figure out how to make their disparate parts coalesce in a very short amount of time.
Re-integrating Love is a big part of that equation, but with any luck, they’ll have him back in the lineup sooner than expected.
…Love was back on the practice court taking mid-range jump shots Friday, four weeks after fracturing a bone in his left hand.
He is optimistic that he will return to game action before the team’s stated eight-week recovery timeline expires.
“If I can get back before eight weeks, great,” Love said Friday. “I’m hoping that is the case.”
Cleveland is clinging to the No. 3 seed in the East with just 21 games remaining and little hope of catching the Raptors or Celtics, who have a seven-game advantage on them in the standings.
Just three games separate the three through seven seeds, so like the Western Conference, we’ll see a lot of jockeying for postseason positioning here in the season’s stretch run.
(ESPN)
