Love getting run through the meat Grinder

[thedoper]

That spotlight is getting hot. Just what he was looking for I guess.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/cleveland-cavaliers-interior-defense-kevin-love/


I think Goldsberry is calling Love a chucker too.

[mjs34]

Not a very good article in reference to his 3pt shooting. His 1.11 pts down low isn't that much better than what I believe to be 1.07 pts from 3pt before figuring in fouls that may have occurred. He may well be more efficient outside. Not sure I would call that infuriating. I also don't think there is anything earth shattering about his defense as the author himself points out, so why even write the article. Sounds like Love is doing exactly what most of us expected.

[thedoper]

Not a very good article in reference to his 3pt shooting. His 1.11 pts down low isn't that much better than what I believe to be 1.07 pts from 3pt before figuring in fouls that may have occurred. He may well be more efficient outside. Not sure I would call that infuriating. I also don't think there is anything earth shattering about his defense as the author himself points out, so why even write the article. Sounds like Love is doing exactly what most of us expected.

Overall that was my point in posting this. It is just interesting to see the debates we were having about Love finding its way to the national spotlight now. He really is an enigma in terms of his unique abilities on the court. I think if he would have ended up in Chicago it probably would have been a better move for him in terms of positioning himself for a championship.

[mjs34]

I agree completely doper. Chicago did seem like the perfect landing spot with Noah next to him.

On a different note about Chicago, is Butler the next superstar in this league? He is lighting it up offensively on top of his great D.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling that Kevin Love and I may have different reactions to this article...well, at least it made me smile :) . Rest assured that Love has already read it, and that steam is coming off him right now.

From everything I read, the Cavs' fan base has not turned on Love yet...they continue to say that the problem is that Kevin is not getting enough touches inside. There may be some truth to that. But Kevin had to know that he would get a lot fewer touches when he left a team where he was easily the #1 offensive option to a team where he is one of many offensive stars. It was logical to predict that Love's FGAs would decline sharply. But it was also logical to predict that his FG% would drop too...it's easier to get into a shooting groove when you know your team is counting on you to shoot and score...an elite shooter like Love can easily find the groove when he's the man and never has to hesitate when you have a shot at the basket. But when you are teammates with LeBron, that has to lead to a more deferential attitude, and some doubt about whether you should put up a shot or not. And any over-thinking prevents a shooter from getting into a groove. Take a combination of fewer FGAs and lower FG%, and it's easy to predict something closer to 17PPG than the 26 he put up last year.

But this article is about defense...something the typical fan doesn't concentrate on as much because it's not as much fun and much more difficult to evaluate statistically. As this article documents, Love continues to be one of the worst interior defenders in the league. It was easier to accept Love's defense when he was at the same time the most productive PF in the league. But where do you rank Love among the league's PFs when he is at or near the bottom in defense, and his 17.54 PER ranks 24th among NBA PFs, or right between Jonas Jerebko and Kenneth Faried? It's early in the season, but you can't objectively rank him in the top ten PFs based on his performance to date, even if you give him some credit for his performance in previous years.

The Cavs are 5-5 and they have a young hungry Wizards team ready to give them their best effort tonight. I have been subscribing to the "it's early...they'll figure it out" mantra, but I'm starting to wonder. I'm beginning to think that they will get better offensively as the season progresses, but when you start Irving, Waiters and Love, your defensive ceiling is very low. The longer they stay close to .500, the more interesting their clubhouse is going to be to monitor.

[Carlos Danger]

It seems like every day there is another write up about the Cavs and how things are not going as planned. I think a lot of people probably are rooting against that team and the writers are just giving those people what they want. Here's another write up today:

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/21/lebron-james-if-kevin-love-demands-ball-in-the-post-well-give-it-to-him/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

[Monster]

What was Miami's record after like 20 games after the superfriends went there? Seems like there were plenty of articles back then and there aren't as many writers to write things as there is now. If I was a Cavs fan I seriously wouldn't be worried.

[bleedspeed]

Would the Cav's been better off with Wiggins? It is starting to seem like they really need a wing defender and depth at PF. Wiggins and Bennett would have been nice to have.

[Monster]

Would the Cav's been better off with Wiggins? It is starting to seem like they really need a wing defender and depth at PF. Wiggins and Bennett would have been nice to have.

I'll take that line of thinking a little farther. What if the Cavs kept Wiggins and moved Bennett and those non-guar deals for Young instead of adding Love? I know Thad isn't nearly the player Love is but just giving up Bennett for him might have worked out well since he would compliment Lebron and Kyrie on offense and help more on D short term and Lebron TT and AV would grab boards that Thad didn't. What were the Cavs thinking eh????? Lolol

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

1st: How does Wiggins solve their interior defense problems? Thompson is not that big of an upgrade over Love defensively to the point where the extra perimeter defender was going to help greatly. Their points per 100 possessions defensively are 113.6 (Love) and 113.4 (Thompson) when they are on the court.

2nd: Defense was a known issue with Love so the lack of touches on offense are a little troubling considering that is where his biggest impact on the game comes from. He's getting 5 less shots per game and taking less shots is reasonable, but there is never an excuse for that team to go iso unless it is for a game winning shot and even then it is questionable. At a minimum they should be running the pick and roll through Love over an iso situation. It's not possible to guard a Kyrie/Love, Lebron/Love PnR for 48 minutes. If you get Love to roll to the hoop a little more often which is something he struggled with in MN as well the shot quality should go up for him leading to a higher percentage. I also think Blatt should be staggering a little better so there is never a point in the game where one of the big 3 isn't on the court. They just haven't used him the way he should be used. Giving up a 108 defensive rating should be nothing compared to their offensive rating, but right now they are struggling. They've fallen into the Lebron trap of relying too heavily on him instead of building a system that can be sustained around him. Lebron is always going to be efficient and reliable. It's the guys around him that you have to get going for them to be a great team. I don't get how they can't develop an offensive gameplan around Kyrie and Love and let Lebron be the guy to score within the flow of the game versus trying to make Love do that. I'd focus more of Lebron's energy on the defensive end where he can have a bigger impact on the game when they already have two offensive juggernauts next to him.