Love Benched

[Carlos Danger]

Good read for all the Love haters out there:

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/12/27/7454551/kevin-love-benched-cavaliers-magic

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

They have no idea how to use Love. It's kind of baffling to me. They should be able to outscore everyone regardless of the defensive deficiencies. Even if Love were to help defend the rim, he'd be leaving his man open to get the rebound and easily score over anyone else in their small ball lineup. It happens to us whenever Dieng challenges a shot. There's no one big enough left to rebound or protect the rim from second chance points. You have to shut down the dribble penetration and they can't do that. I'd play Thompson and Love to close out games and if the other team goes small, you just have Love post up and destroy the small 4 on the block. I'd also commit Love and Thompson to the offensive boards and just out rebound the other team. There's a reason teams like Memphis, Chicago, Toronto, Portland, etc. don't get beat by the small ball gimmick. They make you pay for going small with their bigs.

[Carlos Danger]

They have no idea how to use Love. It's kind of baffling to me. They should be able to outscore everyone regardless of the defensive deficiencies. Even if Love were to help defend the rim, he'd be leaving his man open to get the rebound and easily score over anyone else in their small ball lineup. It happens to us whenever Dieng challenges a shot. There's no one big enough left to rebound or protect the rim from second chance points. You have to shut down the dribble penetration and they can't do that. I'd play Thompson and Love to close out games and if the other team goes small, you just have Love post up and destroy the small 4 on the block. I'd also commit Love and Thompson to the offensive boards and just out rebound the other team. There's a reason teams like Memphis, Chicago, Toronto, Portland, etc. don't get beat by the small ball gimmick. They make you pay for going small with their bigs.

I tend to agree with you. I mean...I knew Love wasn't going to be Big Man on Campus with LeBron being there. But I think he's better than what they've seen so far. I guess it gives me some hope that the Wolves issues with guys like Bennett and Thad might be similar. Maybe (crossing fingers) coaches/players need more than a couple months to figure out the best way to make all the pieces fit.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm getting tired of all the Love bashing. Kevin is a proven winner who was "the man" during a very successful 5-year period in Minnesota, and has turned Cleveland around this year...they were a terrible team last year, and he has guided them to a solid 5th place position in the always tough Eastern division. It's purely coincidental that the Cavs only started to play well after Blatt benched him in the Magic game. Love is a great defender, an even better clubhouse guy, and will always be a winner in my book.

[Coolbreeze44]

I'm getting tired of all the Love bashing. Kevin is a proven winner who was "the man" during a very successful 5-year period in Minnesota, and has turned Cleveland around this year...they were a terrible team last year, and he has guided them to a solid 5th place position in the always tough Eastern division. It's purely coincidental that the Cavs only started to play well after Blatt benched him in the Magic game. Love is a great defender, an even better clubhouse guy, and will always be a winner in my book.

LST, that's an above average post.

The interesting thing to me is that Love is an egomaniac, and this can't be sitting well. Is it possible that this marriage is not going to end up well? Will be fun to watch this play out. You just gave me an idea for a poll.

[mjs34]

I'm getting tired of all the Love bashing. Kevin is a proven winner who was "the man" during a very successful 5-year period in Minnesota, and has turned Cleveland around this year...they were a terrible team last year, and he has guided them to a solid 5th place position in the always tough Eastern division. It's purely coincidental that the Cavs only started to play well after Blatt benched him in the Magic game. Love is a great defender, an even better clubhouse guy, and will always be a winner in my book.

;)

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

That's always been my goal in life, cool...to shoot for "above average" :) .

While I agree with many here who think the Cavs aren't using Love's offensive skills effectively, I'm also tired of all the excuses for his career-long underachieving. Poor front office in Minnesota, bad coaching in Cleveland, etc etc etc. How long will this incomplete player continue to be given a free pass. Geez, pair him with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, and they're still an average team. At some point the media is going to wake up, and understand that his offensive stats are not an accurate reflection of the true "value" he brings to a team.

[Carlos Danger]

That's always been my goal in life, cool...to shoot for "above average" :) .

While I agree with many here who think the Cavs aren't using Love's offensive skills effectively, I'm also tired of all the excuses for his career-long underachieving. Poor front office in Minnesota, bad coaching in Cleveland, etc etc etc. How long will this incomplete player continue to be given a free pass. Geez, pair him with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, and they're still an average team. At some point the media is going to wake up, and understand that his offensive stats are not an accurate reflection of the true "value" he brings to a team.

I'm curious why you think Love has under achieved? I think he actually over achieved - at least based on what I felt at the time they drafted him. He's been an All-Star the last 3 or 4 years. Advanced stats i.e. PER and Win Shares reflect very kindly on him. He has a Gold Medal from the 2012 Olympics. When I look at that draft, I'd say Beasley and Mayo under achieved. But I think Love has done pretty well for himself (at least from my perspective).

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Advanced stats are great for measuring a player's offensive performance, but defense and leadership are equally as important if not more important to winning, and advanced stats don't help there. I'm all about wins and losses, Carlos, and Love has never delivered where it counts most...in the standings. And since some here like to call him a top five NBA player, I call five years of not making the playoffs the definition of underachieving. He has had his apologists in Minnesota who refuse to attribute any blame to him for the Wolves' ineptitude. But top five players need to lead their teams to victory, and Love just hasn't done it, And now he is underachieving in Cleveland with another team. So many expected the Cavs to dominate with their new big three, including the best player in basketball. In the pre-season there was talk of the Cavs easily winning 60 games. But those optimists misread the impact Love has had on a team throughout his career, and now almost a third of the way through the season, the Cavs find themselves in 5th place in the East. And the so-called top 5 player finds himself on the bench in the fourth quarter when the Cavs are trying to avoid a 2-game losing streak against mediocre competition in Florida.

I hear your point, Carlos...that Love's offensive stats are better than most expected they would be coming out of UCLA. I agree that he has overachieved as a fantasy basketball player. But fantasy basketball isn't reality, and reality is that Love is just not a winner.

[Carlos Danger]

Advanced stats are great for measuring a player's offensive performance, but defense and leadership are equally as important if not more important to winning, and advanced stats don't help there. I'm all about wins and losses, Carlos, and Love has never delivered where it counts most...in the standings. And since some here like to call him a top five NBA player, I call five years of not making the playoffs the definition of underachieving. He has had his apologists in Minnesota who refuse to attribute any blame to him for the Wolves' ineptitude. But top five players need to lead their teams to victory, and Love just hasn't done it, And now he is underachieving in Cleveland with another team. So many expected the Cavs to dominate with their new big three, including the best player in basketball. In the pre-season there was talk of the Cavs easily winning 60 games. But those optimists misread the impact Love has had on a team throughout his career, and now almost a third of the way through the season, the Cavs find themselves in 5th place in the East. And the so-called top 5 player finds himself on the bench in the fourth quarter when the Cavs are trying to avoid a 2-game losing streak against mediocre competition in Florida.

I hear your point, Carlos...that Love's offensive stats are better than most expected they would be coming out of UCLA. I agree that he has overachieved as a fantasy basketball player. But fantasy basketball isn't reality, and reality is that Love is just not a winner.

I don't know LST....I mean...Love was drafted #5 overall. Compare his career to some of our other top picks and tell me he's still a disappointment :-)

Randy Foye #7 overall
Corey Brewer #7 overall
Ricky Rubio #5 overall
Jonny Flynn #6 overall
Wes Johnson #4 overall
Derrick Williams #2 overall

The fact that he's not a consensus top 5 player shouldn't mean he's been a dissapointment. He's certainly had a nice career (especially compared to the list above). It might be too early to say things won't work out for him in Cleveland. Granted - it hasn't started out smooth, but there's still a long way to go. He won at UCLA and he's winning at Cleveland. The only place he hasn't won is in Minnesota aka the black hole for a lot of guys. You can't hold that against him.