Heat Provide A Solid Challenge For Cavs In Round One

The Cleveland Cavaliers had to wait to find out who their opponent would be when they host the first round of the NBA Playoffs, and they will find they are about to get an early lesson about playoff intensity.

The Miami Heat will open the series tonight at Rocket Arena and will be making their sixth consecutive playoff appearance. Yes, they lost in the first-round last season but made the Finals the year prior and in 2019-20, and went to the conference finals in 2021-22.

This is not to say the Cavs won’t win the series, because they should, but the Heat have been there before and have perhaps the best coach in the league in Erik Spoelstra.

Miami is a solid defensive team, ranking 9th in defensive efficiency, but their offense is only 21st. The Cavaliers are actually the better defensive squad, ranking 8th. However, they had the best offense in the NBA this year.

They are led by the physical Bam Adebayo, who has played 74 playoff games in his career, and sharpshooter Tyler Herro, who averaged 23.9 points per game. They added former Cavaliers’ first overall pick Andrew Wiggins in the trade for Jimmy Butler and got defensive stalwart Davion Mitchell in the same transaction.

And rookie Kal’El Ware can be a force inside the paint as a good defender and shot blocker.

This will be a good test for Kenny Atkinson’s Cavaliers because we would expect the Heat to play very physical which is probably the biggest worry fans and experts have about Cleveland. How will they stand up against a physical team?

Davion Mitchell’s presence on the floor could pose problems for Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, more so the former. Garland has had issues against physical defenders in earlier playoff appearances, and he will be presented with this challenge right off the rip.

Spoelstra is known for doing some different things to take advantage of the opponents’ weaknesses, but we feel the Cavs are in a better position with Atkinson to counter those moves. No rap against J.B. Bickerstaff, who did a marvelous job with the Pistons this season, but in our opinion, he was slow to adjust at times to what the opposition was doing.

Besides, the wine and gold offense is pretty diverse. Like a lot of NBA teams, it is not primarily pick and roll oriented. Atkinson made Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen playing together effectively on offense by using player movement.

Cleveland does a lot of big-to-big passing, and a lot of flex cuts off the ball to get lay ups with the defense spread to guard the three-point shot, which the Cavs made at a 41.5% clip as a team.

They are deep too. We would expect Atkinson to stay with his nine or ten player rotation until someone forces their way out of playing time, either offensively or defensively.

The Cavs have been on cruise control for pretty much the last three weeks or so, but we anticipate them being ready right away tonight. They understand last season ended in disappointing fashion and they also realize they have a chance to put another banner up in Rocket Arena.

We think it is a good tone setter to play a team with the Heat’s pedigree right off the bat. The Heat was good defensively, but the Cavs have more weapons on offense. The series will be challenging but that good.

No better time to get in playoff mode than the first series.

Love’s Time Here = Sacrifice

We discussed the Cavaliers’ decision to let Kevin Love go previously and wanted to take the time today to discuss his tenure with the wine and gold.

By now everyone knows Love has signed with the Miami Heat, meaning he is also taking his talents to South Beach, only he didn’t have a primetime special to announce it.

The Cavs have a back-to-back coming up in a couple of weeks (March 8th and 10th) in Miami, and hopefully Love doesn’t play a factor if Cleveland loses either of the two contests.

Time really flies because Love has been with the Cavaliers for nine seasons. It just seems hard to believe.

We would maintain no player ever sacrificed more than Kevin Love. We aren’t talking about money here, because as we all know, Love was paid very handsomely to stay in Cleveland after LeBron James and Kyrie Irving departed. No, we are discussing how he sacrificed his stats in order to win.

When Love arrived in town, he was coming off a 2nd team All-NBA season with Minnesota in which he averaged 25.9 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. He averaged 18.3 shots, and the previous three years with the Timberwolves, got between 17.4 and 18.3 shots with them.

He was also 2nd team All-NBA in 2011-12. Since Irving was 3rd team All-NBA in 2014-15, people should realize Love, not Irving, was the more accomplished player when the deal was made to send the first overall pick in Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett to the Wolves for Love.

Love had to make the difficult transition from being the best player on a mediocre team, the Wolves were 40-42 in his last season up north, to being the second or third option on a team with title aspirations. His shots per game dropped to 13.5 per game with the Cavaliers.

There were some adjustments for Love and we all remember the “fit in” of “fit out” comments by James in Love’s first year in town. But in the end, it worked out with four straight Finals appearances.

His minutes also dropped. Some of that was due to the Cavs blowing teams out and some was due to nagging injuries, but he was playing 36 minutes with Minnesota, and his high with Cleveland was his first season here at 33.8 minutes.

Ultimately, Love did make two all-star games with the Cavs, bringing his career total to five. They were in the last two years of “the LeBron era”, 2016-17 and 2017-18 when he 19.0 points (his Cavalier high) and 11.1 boards, and 17.6 and 9.3 respectively.

After he signed the extension to remain here, injuries became more prevalent, and he played just 22 games in the first year after James signed in LA, but he did play 56 of the 65 games in the pandemic season of 2019-20, scoring 17.6 points and getting 9.8 rebounds per game.

Last season, he remade himself as a sixth man, the leader of the second unit, playing in 74 games and scoring 13.6 points as well as grabbing 7.2 caroms in just 22.5 minutes a night. The reduced minutes kept him healthier and he was a key part of a resurgence for the franchise, with their first year over the .500 mark since they went to four straight NBA Finals.

If you want to remember Kevin Love as a Cavalier, remember he was the ultimate teammate. He did the things, the “little things” teams need to be done in order to be successful. He probably could have continued to put up huge numbers, but he wanted to win.

And he was a huge part of putting the only championship banner for the franchise in 2016.

Thank you and fans here will always be appreciative.

Love’s Career Arc Has Not Been Seen Here.

When Kevin Love arrived in Cleveland, he was 26 years old and coming off a season in which he scored 26.1 points and grabbed 12.5 rebounds per game. He made the All Star team, and was second team all-NBA twice in his career.

Cleveland traded the first overall pick in the previous draft, Andrew Wiggins, along with another first overall pick in Anthony Bennett to Minnesota to bring him to the Cavaliers, thus forming a “Big Three” with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

Love’s numbers took a dip, mostly because he was no longer the first option offensively, dropping to 16.4 points a night, and his shooting numbers dropped, and so did his rebounding totals.

No player sacrificed his individual numbers more than Love, and while James remained with the team, no one was more of a whipping boy for the fans. Whenever the Cavs didn’t play well, the fingers usually pointed at Love. We always thought fans figured he was going to average 25 points per game here, but he was getting around 17-18 shots a contest with the Timberwolves. That number dropped to around 13 here.

The deal paid off for the Cavs and Love with the 2016 NBA title, and Love had his signature moment late in the fourth quarter with a great defensive possession against Steph Curry. He was the first player James hugged as the clock ticked to zero.

Irving was traded after the former UCLA standout’s third year in town and James left following the next year, both of which ended with losses to Golden State in The Finals.

When James left, the Cavaliers gave Love a long term, very highly paid contract to keep him in town and he became the best player and the face of the franchise.

But injuries started to hit as Love turned 30. The first post-James season was a disaster, Cleveland finishing just 19-63 and the team’s star played only 22 games, due to a toe injury on his left foot which needed surgery. He averaged 17 points and almost 11 rebounds but shot just 38.5%.

The next year, he clashed with John Beilein and seemed to have a problem with how some of his young teammates played the game. Injuries limited him to only 25 games the following, and folks started to wonder how GM Koby Altman could figure out how to move Love’s large contract.

Last year, Love agreed to have his minutes reduced to stay healthy, and it helped that the Cavs doubled their win total. Now a veteran leader, he played 74 games, scoring 13.6 points and gathering 7.2 caroms in 22.5 minutes a night.

He was once again an important player on a winning team, and he seemed to buy in, embracing a leadership role.

This year, with the Cavs off to a 7-1 start, after trading for Donovan Mitchell, he’s at 12.4 and 7.2 a night. Friday night against Detroit, he had 10 assists and was two rebounds shy of a triple double.

We write about this because we can’t think of a Cleveland athlete with the career arc of Kevin Love. From key player on a title team and title contender, to a guy struggling to stay healthy and happy on a losing squad, to a key part of a young team seemingly ready to contend again.

It’s hard to believe, but this is Love’s ninth season with the wine and gold. Most athletes don’t play here long enough to go through that cycle of contention. He’s 9th in franchise history in points, 7th in rebounds, and second to James in three-point field goals.

Someday, his number will be hoisted to the rafters for his contributions to this franchise. And it seems now, the fan base realizes how important he is to winning, now as a long-range shooter, who can still rebound. He’s also the Cavs’ king of drawing charges, and his young mates call him “grandpa” or “uncle”.

It’s great to see, particularly because he sacrificed a lot of numbers in order to win here. Glad to see him get his due.

Defending Love (Kevin, That Is)

Sometimes, it is amazing to us how the news cycle works.

Monday night, Kevin Love got angry and you would think he set fire to an elementary school. His anger was directed to an official, he wasn’t mad at his teammates, and we understand he has shown displeasure towards some of them in the past.

The reaction on social media (yes, we know…) was swift and of course, way over the top, with people calling for Love to be suspended or worse, released by the Cavaliers for his action.

First, let us say, Love was wrong. The game was still close at the time, Toronto was up by four points, and the resulting three pointer, put them up seven. It didn’t mean the game was over, it was only the end of the third quarter.

Second, Love isn’t some kid. He’s 32 years old, and with 12 years in the league, he should understand officials miss calls, and he should keep composure. He didn’t.

He reportedly apologized to his teammates and that should be the end of it.

Love gets a lot of heat in northeast Ohio and really has since he arrived via a trade for first overall pick, Andrew Wiggins prior to the 2014-15 season. Why? We have no idea. Love probably sacrificed more than any other player when he came to the Cavaliers.

He was the man in Minnesota, the number one option. When he came to the Cavs, he suddenly was the third option, so instead of the 25 points, 12 rebounds per game he got with the Timberwolves, his averages dropped to 20 points and 10 boards with Cleveland. He took three to four less shots per game, so naturally he was going to score less.

He also gets criticized for his contract, which isn’t his fault either. We doubt anyone reading this would have turned down the $120 million extension the wine and gold offered him in the summer after LeBron James left for free agency.

We don’t know the conversation management conducted with Love when negotiating that contract, but we believe the front office still thought the Cavs could compete for a playoff spot in ’18-’19, with Love, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver, and Larry Nance Jr. on the roster.

Remember, six games in the Cavs fired Tyronn Lue, and wound up the year with a 19-63 record. Love played in only 21 games that year due to a toe injury, averaging 17 points and almost 11 rebounds.

He put up similar numbers last year, playing in 56 of the 65 games on the schedule.

Our guess is there is some frustration for Love. He wanted out of Minnesota because he was tired of the losing. The best season in his six seasons there was the 40-42 record in his last year with the Wolves. He knows how long a rebuild can take.

And we know he has shown some disdain for the way some of his younger teammates have played over the last three years. After all, say whatever you want about him, Love knows how to play basketball the right way. This year, though, we haven’t seen that.

Darius Garland, in particular, has gone out of his way to say how much he likes playing with Love, and J.B. Bickerstaff has run the offense through him a lot since he returned from his calf injury.

Also, the calf injury the sidelined Love for 43 games this season, also sidelined the Lakers’ Anthony Davis for over two months this year.

It was a bad moment for sure for Kevin Love, but the overreaction was incredible. On the other hand, should the Cavaliers try to move the veteran this off-season? That would probably be best for both parties at this point in Kevin Love’s career.

One More Opinion on Getting Love

Since the return of LeBron James to the Cavaliers, the biggest speculation around town is whether or not the Cavs should deal Andrew Wiggins, the first overall pick in the draft to obtain Kevin Love, one of the league’s premier players.

Because Love is just 25-years-old, it really is a no-brainer. Love IS one of the NBA’s top 20 players, and that’s conservative. Wiggins MAY be one of the league’s top 20 players someday. It is just that simple.

Here is looking at it another way. James will turn 30 years old this December, meaning he will be the LeBron James he is right now for another 4-5 years. That’s the kind of window Cleveland likely has to win titles.

Now think of Kyrie Irving, the first overall pick in 2011, now entering his fourth year in the NBA. We can all agree that Irving is a very good player right now, but he’s not an elite one at this point.

Let’s say that Wiggins has a similar career path as Irving. He makes an impact his rookie season, and gets a little better each year in the league in his second and third seasons. As we just said, that would make Wiggins a very good player, but he still wouldn’t be an elite player.

Kevin Love is that right now.

Some fans have painted a picture of Love as a “stretch four”. To us, that is selling the big man out of UCLA short.

Rashard Lewis is a stretch four. Ryan Anderson is a stretch four. Yes, Love is a very good shooter with three-point range, but he’s also one of the top rebounders in the sport, capable of getting 20 in a game.

He also has the best outlet pass since Wes Unseld played in the league in the 60’s and 70’s.

He’s a lot more than a stretch four.

The other question about Love is his defense. He’s not regarded as a great defensive player. We say that the first thing about becoming a solid player when the other team has the ball is desire. And don’t you think that Love, and Irving for that matter will pay more attention on the defensive end of the floor, particularly when the game’s best player is on their team and demanding everyone give maximum effort on that end of the floor?

Also, coaches can scheme defensively to hide weaker defenders or provide help to those players. Good coaches teach a sound defensive philosophy that will help any player who wants to get better on defense.

A team led by James, Love, and Kyrie Irving would become an instant championship contender. All three can score, and James and Love are both very good passers. James and Irving can get to the rim with the best in the league, and a defense that collapses on them will have to deal with Love on the perimeter and near the basket.

However, the real point is this. The Cavaliers can be a title contender by getting another of the league’s elite players in Love, and if you have to give up a player who has never played one minute in the NBA, the question is why wouldn’t you do it.

Outside of James, who was the last first overall pick, or any rookie for that matter, who stepped right in to the league and was a force immediately. Even if Wiggins is someday going to be a great player, it likely will not be for three to four years, at which time LeBron James will be nearing the end of his dominance.

It really shouldn’t even be a question. If you have to give up Wiggins to get Kevin Love. You have to do it.

No Big Trades Yet for Cavs, But a Solid Draft Night

Many basketball fans in Cleveland thought draft night was going to be something monumental for the Cavaliers.

While it was an important night for the franchise, they simply used the draft picks at their disposal and apparently made one minor trade.

They used the first overall pick to draft Andrew Wiggins out of Kansas. Now, we would have picked Jabari Parker, because he is the more polished basketball player, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like the pick.

In four years, Wiggins could be one of the best players in the league. Our opinion is simply that for a team that claims to want to win now, they took a guy who could be much better down the road than he will be next season.

The newest Cavalier has a lot going for him. He’s an athletic freak and can probably play on the defensive end effectively as a rookie. He won’t be exposed when the other team has the basketball.

Another thing he has going for him is the new coach. The last head coach of the wine and gold didn’t like to play rookies and didn’t know how to handle them or develop their talent.

We have faith that David Blatt will put Wiggins in situations where he will have success. In fact, it’s almost like Blatt will have two high first round choices to coach because of the way last year’s choice, Anthony Bennett was handled.

On the second round, GM David Griffin addressed one of the team’s needs in getting a shooter, Joe Harris of Virginia. It will be interesting to see who wins the battle for playing time in training camp, Harris or Sergey Karasev, another first rounder buried on the bench by the old regime.

Remember that the latter played for the new coach on the Russian National Team a year ago, so he is well aware of his ability. Still, shooting was a big problem for the wine and gold, so the more they bring in the better. It is likely both youngster could figure into the mix as early as next season.

Harris looks like he has a quick release which is important in the NBA with defenders flying at you.

Later in the second round, it has been reported that Cleveland acquired another big man in 6’10” Dwight Powell from Stanford. The scouting report on him is he is a good defender and has a high basketball IQ, which is another thing Griffin mentioned when he was hired. He wanted smart players.

To get Powell, and veteran big man Brendan Haywood from Charlotte, the Cavs gave up Alonzo Gee, a small forward who didn’t have much of an offensive game, and had fallen out of the rotation for an extended period last season.

Haywood, originally a first round pick by Cleveland in 2001, but dealt for Michael Doleac, was probably included for salary reasons, but he’s a veteran big man. He missed all of last season with an injury. At 34 years old, it is doubtful he has anything left in the tank.

Now comes the trading season. The guess here is Griffin will deal Dion Waiters and one of his collection of power forwards, probably Tristan Thompson in the coming weeks to add more talent to this season’s roster.

Remember, Cleveland has a lot of available cap space. So, even though there was no blockbuster deal on draft night, it doesn’t mean there won’t be one when the league calendar flips the page in the next couple of weeks.

The restructuring has begun. Sit back and enjoy the excitement coming.

Big Night Looms for Cavs Tomorrow.

Tomorrow night could be a huge new beginning for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have a new GM in David Griffin making the selections, including the first pick in the draft.

They also introduced a new coach in David Blatt. In his introductory press conference today, he proclaimed himself, not an offensive coach or a defensive coach, but a basketball coach. That is music to the ears of all critics of Mike Brown.

We still remember Brown’s ridiculous comment when the Cavs were struggling on the offensive end early in the year, and he said they didn’t spend any time on offense during training camp.

The new head coach realizes you have to play well on both ends of the court.

We believe the new team of Griffin and Blatt will make wholesale changes to the current roster, with at least 1/3 of the players (that’s at least five guys) being turned over this summer, and it could all start tomorrow night.

Will the wine and gold hold on to the pick or will they make a deal to bring in a proven young player to add to Kyrie Irving.

If they keep the number one choice, we feel they should take Duke forward Jabari Parker.

Parker, listed at 6’8″ and 241 pounds (although it has been reported he weighs 15 more than that) averaged 19.1 points and almost nine rebounds for the Blue Devils last season.

Why take him over Kansas forward Andrew Wiggins? Because although Wiggins is the better athlete, Parker is the better basketball player.

Many experts say Wiggins has a huge upside, but will he reach that vast potential? He shot just 44.1% from the floor for the Jayhawks last season. Parker shot 47% from the floor and has a better mid-range and post up game than his Kansas counterpart.

Of course, if Joel Embiid hadn’t broken his foot, it would be a moot point. Embiid might be the best big man to enter the league in many years, but the injury factor is too much to ignore. He also missed time this season due to a stress fracture in his back.

Still, Embiid may have impressed Griffin enough that he would trade down to the 4th to 6th pick range, pick up another young player and still take the big man later in the first round.

If the Cavs’ brass truly think the injuries are not career threatening, then they may do just that, thus having their cake and eating it too.

One thing the front office needs to ignore is the temptation to make moves on draft day to entice LeBron James to come back to Cleveland, because if he doesn’t sign with the Cavaliers, it could set the franchise back a few more years.

If James wants to come back to the Cavs, and we feel he will either do that or go back to Miami, then that will just be icing on that cake.

Cleveland has several good young players and could move some depth at the power forward and point guard spots to get another big man and a shooting guard. Even if James doesn’t return, they would still be set for the future.

After having the top choice in the draft in three of the last four seasons, here’s hoping we don’t have it again for a long, long time. That is, of course unless James leaves the Heat and we get it again through their first round pick.