Love isn't a #2 guy. He is a #3
Based on what exactly?
I'm going to tell you upfront that Lue is just not a good coach.
He doesn't utilize Love the way Adelman used to...
Based on watching him play more than most on this board over the last 4 years as I live in NE Ohio. Love is an excellent rebounder and a + outside shooter, but he is very slow, he is often injured, and isn't consistently reliable enough offensively to be a #2 guy. As others have said, he is a poor defender. He tries, but physically he just can't defend well.
Consistently reliable? You don't think Lue isn't using him correctly? They rarely use elbow screens to give him the space necessary. They also rarely use guards to set screens for him while he can pick and pop. They have literally relegated him to a spot up shooter... Kyle Korver is a spot up shooter. Kevin Love is not.
For a list of how much elbow touches have differentiated, take a look at this.
Year Elbow Touches Per Game
2013-14 8
2014-15 2
2015-16 2.1
2016-17 1.9
2017-18 1.6
His touches have decreased, and he's no longer the 2nd or 3rd option on offense, which is funny, because the writing on the wall should've dictated after Kyrie left, that this should've been a no brainer. LeBron has quite literally DOMINATED everything. He touches and has the highest USG % and literally dictates everything. Kevin Love may never ever be the same Minnesota Love, but it doesn't mean he can't take advantage of mismatches or create opportunities from the top of the key, or zip screens.
You're absolutely discrediting Kevin Love, and it's quite a sad state of affairs to see.
Even after playing out of position, Love averaged 17.6 PPG, 9.7 RPG 1.7 APG, and had one of his better FG% along with his 2nd best 3PA % considering the amount of volume of shots he was taking.
He's not a defender. I think we all have known that. But he's clearly able to play as the 2nd, or above average 3rd option. And you can definitely hide Love next to a great defender at the 5, or strong perimeter defenders. The notion that Love is so bad on defense, that you can't offset his offensive production is quite ridiculous, and overstated with no factual proof.
He would absolutely fit well on the Jazz, and even the Spurs. LMA/Love may not be the best defensive front court, but with Leonard/Murray at the helm of the perimeter, and Pop being Pop, I don't see why he couldn't co-exist on certain teams.
Love isn't a #2 guy. He is a #3
Based on what exactly?
I'm going to tell you upfront that Lue is just not a good coach.
He doesn't utilize Love the way Adelman used to...
Based on watching him play more than most on this board over the last 4 years as I live in NE Ohio. Love is an excellent rebounder and a + outside shooter, but he is very slow, he is often injured, and isn't consistently reliable enough offensively to be a #2 guy. As others have said, he is a poor defender. He tries, but physically he just can't defend well.
The defense is one thing, but on offense, there's something to be said about not being used properly.
Love in Minnesota used to be a force inside the paint. He was a monster who would get 30 points and 20 boards pretty frequently from living in the paint.
On Cleveland he's relegated to a 3 point shooter. One of the premier young rebounders and inside scorers in the game relegated to a 3 pt shooter. Something's just not right about that.
Cavs should have just gotten Channing Frye and kept Wiggins if all they wanted was a 3 pt shooting big man.
The problem is Love has been trending towards shooting 3's. His uptick in production has started from 3% in 2008-2009 to 46% in 2017-2018. He has slowly been going from the down low and post 4 with rebounding numbers, to the stretch 4 in today's NBA.
I mean if you can get at least 16/9 from him, along with decent passing, that's still pretty excellent production. Something I think Lue HAS never ever used correctly, that is still a great player to have regardless.
I could totally see a Porter for Love swap. I think that trade actually makes a great deal of sense for both teams.
That depends on which team has the pick. I honestly cannot see MPJ falling any further than the 10th pick.
Cleveland waits, thinks team's are low balling them.
Teams think this is what Kevin Love is now. Cleveland hopes he will increase in value if he plays like Minnesota Kevin Love again on a Cleveland team centered around him.
Toronto desperate to give their title hopes one more chance try to trade Ibaka for Love straight up, which Cleveland rejects, rumors persist all season, but Toronto can't get creative enough with a 3 way to make anything work.
Rumors also float around that Philly is interested after striking out in free agency, but they decide to hold onto their cap space to make a run at Klay Thompson or Kawhi, rather then waste it on Love.
Ultimately he's moved at the trade deadline to a low level playoff team like Portland or Washington trying to shake things up to appease their star (Lillard/Wall).
low ball?
The guy produced the way he did with the Wolves because all he did was throw up shots , not play defense and focus on rebound opportunities (at the sacrifice of playing solid D)
IF Love plays like he did back with the wolves (posting up more, offense oriented), say goodbye any type of transition D from him
Just going out on a limb, but something tells me you didn't see much of Love while he was playing with the Wolves and are just throwing random stuff out there as usual.
How quickly you forget just how good Love actually is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llbUuB1EyiY
It's not just Love that struggled with James, but look at Bosh too. For some reason, be it James dominating the ball or those players spotting up to spread the floor rather than being involved in action, but bigs with that type of skill-set don't tend to have good numbers playing with James. It will be interesting to see what happens with Horford's numbers if indeed James comes to Boston.
You crack me up. How many of these stiffs that play no defense are you a fan of?
Bender, Love etc
Love has become a 3 pt specialist because at the highest level (playoff basketball) ... this is where he belongs. He is a liability on the defensive end. Can only guard a pf or C and is not even good at this
This is how your all nba stiff unit looks like so far
Poeltl
Bender
Love
thats impressive
Poetl is a pretty solid prospect and widely believed to be the next upcoming and big prospect for the Raptors.
Jury is still out on Bender, although I too, am convinced he won't be anything special than a role playing stretch 4.
Love is still at worst, 16/9 stretch 4 big that plays below average defense... There are 20 players I can name that has worse numbers...