You all hear the other day Lebron... "says if he could play with any legend it would be J Kidd because of his ability find you"
Not that Lebron's wrong, Jason Kidd is one of the best producers of quality shots for his teammates that the game has ever seen, but I do think Lebron is still not entirely aware of just how much he effects his team's offense by being the primary ball handler.
Think even Jason Kidd would have trouble finding him if Lebron played the game the way he always had in his career, he's like Rondo, completely ball dominant. When he doesn't have the ball he's not usually the type to make intelligent cuts or sneaking behind off ball screens, he's calling for the ball so he can drive on his match up.
Lebron IMO is the ultimate example of the AAU system hurting a player's growth. Ever since a young age rather than working with coaches on developing a fundamentally sound game he was playing game after game against inferior competition physically dominating his match ups and passing to teammates who are just spotting up from the same spot they always watch Lebron from. He only ever got as good as he needed to. He never really learned to play off the ball because he never had to when he was learning the game.
Which brings us to Love. Whether its conscious or not Lebron pigeon holes Love into the same role that his mental makeup believes a PF should play and Love's strengths are wasted because of it. Love's just there to kick out too on drives, swing too on the perimeter and clean up Lebron's misses. Lebron's never been able to develop real chemistry with his Love or most of his other teammates in the way that Pierce, KG, and Ray did or Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli did because he views his role on the team as the Lebron show and everyone else needs to get out of his way.
Long winded analysis aside that's just my take on why Love has fallen off as far as he has.
TLDR: Kevin Love is putting up pedestrian PF numbers because the primary ball handler Lebron plays as if he's a pedestrian PF.
I agree with you about Lebron's game affecting other players...but I disagree with you that this has much to do with Love's weaker production.
If you break down and analyse his statistics, they aren't all that different from his best years in Minnesota. With the exception of his Free Throw Rate being lower (albeit, still high in it's own right) all of his other stats are very close to what they were in his big Minnesota seasons.
People just don't get the fact that Kevin Love has been changing his game for years now - since back in the late Minny days.
Early in his career he was much more aggressive playing inside. As his career has gone on, his game has gradually moved further and further away from the paint, and closer and closer to the three point line. This started to happen long before he joined the Cavs.
Being on the Cavs no doubt has SOME impact on his change in playing style (and hence, production) but it's only a part of it. A big part of it is due to Kevin Love himself changing the way he plays the game as he's career has gone on.
Personally, I think it's due to his "made of glass" injury history. His push towards less scoring in the paint and more standing around the three point line, seems to have really started to accelerate aggressively after his last major injury riddled season in Minnesota. My suspicion is that he knows he's made of glass, so he tries to reduce the chances of injuries by playing a less physical game, and spending more time out on the 'safer' perimeter.
This impacts his ability to be affective and to dominate games though. He's still a very skilled offensive player, but he's not that elite, dominant guy he once was. At one time people saw him as a legit superstar, and a top 10 player. Now he is kinda more a on Al Horford level - a nice player who can impact the game in a big way, but only really a borderline star.
Topic: Kevin Love isn't special anymore (Read 7915 times)