National Basketball Association

Reminder of how valuable Kevin Love is to the Cavs

Published Jun. 29, 2015 12:22 p.m. ET

foxsports

by Scott Sargent

The Cleveland Cavaliers made a run to the NBA Finals without Kevin Love, and with the power forward looking for a maximum-level contract, some fans are wondering why the team should pay an injury-prone big man who failed to live up to incredibly unfair expectations. Thankfully, we have ESPN.com’s Kevin Pelton to remind us all—you know, since we haven’t seen Kevin play in quite a while—as to why the Cavs’ front office is preparing a very, very large offer for their tall and bearded No. 0 despite the perceived successes following Love’s season-ending shoulder injury.

Here’s Sir Pelton on the Cavs’ balance with Love at the four:

The Cavaliers’ starting five (481 minutes) was one of 33 lineups in the NBA that saw at least 250 minutes of action during the 2014-15 regular season, per NBA.com/Stats. Of those 33, the Cavaliers’ fivesome ranked fourth in offensive rating (116.1 points per 100 possessions) and sixth in defensive rating (96.8 points allowed per 100 possessions).

But, but, Tristan Thompson played way better defense than Love. Oh?

When Cleveland survived — thrived, even, through the first three games of the NBA Finals — as a defensive-minded unit without both Love and Irving in the playoffs, it reinforced the widespread view of Love as one of the league’s worst defensive big men. The Cavaliers got better on D with Tristan Thompson joining Mozgov in the frontcourt, the theory went. Alas, that doesn’t square with lineup data from the regular season. Of the three combinations of big men David Blatt used after Varejao’s injury and Mozgov’s addition, Love and Mozgov was Cleveland’s best defensive pairing.

But what about LeBron James? Surely he needs to command the ball more and show us all the dominance he unfurled during the NBA Finals, no?

While James is better equipped to ramp up his usage rate without losing efficiency than mere mortals — enabling him to post an above-average true shooting percentage while responsible for finishing more than half of the Cavs’ plays with a shot, free throw or turnover as the lone All-Star on the court during the regular season — he was predictably most efficient in a smaller role when playing with both Love and Irving.

Pelton later gets into the pesky fact that if the Cavaliers were to let Love walk, they wouldn’t be able to adequately replace him. But you knew all that because you’ve read Jacob Rosen’s most excellent offseason primer at least three times over, now served with a side dish of LaMarcus Aldridge impossibilities.

The Cavaliers can offer Love a new contract on July 1 and appear prepared to do so. It would appear that Love is going to willingly negotiate, spending his free time with the four-time MVP in the interim. The whole piece (Insider) is well worth your time. Here’s another link to save you from scrolling all the way back to the top.