The Cavs won a Finals game! plus Spotify, Twitter and Disney – WFNY Podcast – 2015-06-09
June 9, 2015Thickfreakness—Cavs vs. Warriors Game 3: Behind the Box Score
June 10, 2015In his Tuesday column, Grantland basketball scribe and WFNY favorite Zach Lowe addressed the past, future, perception, and evolution of Cavaliers forward Kevin Love. Lowe rehashed the events that led to Love being traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Cavs, including the Golden State Warriors’ refusal to include Klay Thompson in rumored trades between the two Western Conference sides.
In a nugget that was news to me, Lowe revealed that Cavs GM David Griffin and T-Wolves GM Flip Saunders discussed a swap built around Love for years before it came to fruition. It is little surprise that LeBron James’ return to Cleveland was the final nudge to make the deal happen.
The Cavs and Wolves had been discussing potential Love trades for two years before they finally struck a deal. Cleveland never had anything that tempted Minnesota, and when it finally landed the best possible trade chip — the no. 1 pick — it wasn’t interested in dealing it. It was only when LeBron returned that Griffin decided to go all in. “You have a finite window when you’re dealing with a player that’s 30,” Griffin says of LeBron. “The organization had wanted Kevin for a while, but we paid the price we paid entirely because of LeBron’s presence.”
Lowe wonders what-if about the Love-Wiggins trade, especially in regard to the Cavaliers’ salary cap. Had the Cavs kept Wiggins and instead picked up a player like Thaddeus Young, says Lowe, perhaps they would have won the East anyway — just look at how far LeBron has dragged a team without Love or Kyrie Irving. Lowe doesn’t call the trade a disaster, or anything close to it; he instead discusses the prickly topic with unusual thought and care.
And as Cavs owner Dan Gilbert points out, while hindsight can be 20/20, staring into the past for too long can also drive you crazy.
“You can kill yourself when you think like that,” Gilbert says. “People forget the unforeseen domino effects of every little thing.”
It’s a good read, and one that raises good points as to Love’s value, especially in comparison to a power forward like Golden State’s Draymond Green, who offers superior defensive versatility while providing a good portion of Love’s offensive playmaking.
Still, Lowe is high on Love as a player, and foresees good things for him next year. He notes that other teams have built solid defenses despite a slow-footed power forward (think of the Chicago Bulls with Carlos Boozer or David West’s Indiana Pacers), that Love pulled the shoddy T-Wolves toward playoff contention, that he’s still just 26, and that continuity can be a panacea when it comes to integrating multiple stars. Whether the Cavs want to keep up their smashmouth style or play a more free-flowing perimeter game, Love has the ability to, ahem, fit in.
Lowe’s conclusion:
[Love is] still a top-15 or top-20 guy at worst — a true star.
We have to see Love’s future before definitely declaring the Cavs made a mistake dealing Wiggins for him, though the returns one year out are not encouraging. I hope Love is hungry, and maybe even angry about how this season has gone for him. I hope he’s gearing up to prove he’s not an empty-numbers loser. Because if he is, I’m betting on the redemption of Kevin Love next season — in Cleveland, or elsewhere.
9 Comments
I’ll never understand the Kevin Love nonsense that went on this year. He fit in fine.
But wait I thought LBJ made this trade?? This is what I am talking about with media and the things that get reported.
I won’t go this far I think this year was learning on the fly by everyone not just Love. I do think if Love is back next year he will do much better.
It’s a shame he didn’t play more in the playoffs because it seemed like everything was coming together.
“Thankfully, we didn’t pull the trigger,” Andrew Bogut says. “I don’t know if that trade [Green for Love straight-up] would have gotten us to this point. I didn’t think it would be a huge upgrade. David Lee provides the same output, besides the 3-point shooting. I thought we could have just found a stretch 4 at the veteran’s minimum — someone like James Jones.”
Sadly, Love and Lee are providing the same output. 🙁
In general I thought it progressed throughout the year and we started to see the real fruits of that in the playoffs. On-court chemistry takes time, and I think Lowe is right about continuity.
It’s probably fair to say Love could be better in a system that uses him differently, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t good, or that this team isn’t substantially better with him than without. (those suggesting otherwise after the win on Sunday without him or Kyrie are out of their freaking minds) As frustrating as it is for fans, it’s got to be killing Lebron to know they would have run away with this thing if not for the injuries, because clearly they would have.
Absolutely I mean we can all wonder at full strength (including Varejao) what the Cavs team in the finals could be but it’s like the saying goes, “You run what you brung.” Part of me believes it’s because of all of the things the Cavs have had to overcome that has made them what they are now so lets just keep it going!
yeah – pressure is off now, so it’s maybe easier to play. maybe.
you obviously wrote that BEFORE the game! haha.