At this point, I’m just going to assume everyone here knows what love is, what it does, and how it both can be both the sweet and the sour. And of course you’d never know what sweet is unless you tasted sour, which is why Chinese food is just so darn good. Having a problem? Feeling down? Feeling up? Feeling all the directions? Just eat some Crab Rangoon, easy. But despite getting myself hungry just now (eternal life struggle), we have to move forward and make the pun work, so therefore, I insert one Kevin Love into this content. And discussing his season thus far seems apropos based on last night’s performance where he led the Cavs in scoring with 20 points in a game that he only played 24 minutes and literally just shot threes. I’m not quite sure what a figurative three is, but since all of his field goal attempts (12) were beyond the arc, my statement still stands true. A relief to everyone, I’m sure…
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Along with adding 11 rebounds and three assists with a +7, Love is setting himself up for a run at the Sixth Man award, though this still just might be Tyler Herro’s to lose just based on playing time, but that’s a different conversation. (If you were curious, I think Trez and maybe Oubre are in the conversation as well.) But it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise with what Love pulled off last night since this is kinda been his thang all season, basically just coming in for 20 minutes and landing threes and hyping all of us with fantasies de jour when extrapolating to per 36 numbers. I’m already getting hot and bothered with a 30/16/4 on 9/16 line. And I guess that might be part of the fallacy here, something everyone should note, Love is never going to get 36 minutes because if you’re not too familiar with Kevin Love, or the Cavaliers in general (who could blame you, does Cleveland even have paved roads yet?), the team itself has a pretty loaded front with Allen, Markkanen and Mobley, and his defense has been suspect.
But to address what’s out there immediately, no, Kevin Love is most certainly not washed up, nor do I think, especially as the season has played out, will he be fulfilling some of the hater’s wildest fantasies of putting himself on medical retirement. To be fair, some of these conversations had some merit the previous two seasons which saw Love not exactly at a 100% physically and mentally, that cannot be denied. But there’s no question where he is now, and that’s on a team he enjoys playing with based on a lot of outlet sourcing in the media, along with a role that he’s willingly embraced. And there’s no question that this resurgence has brought him to a place that gives flashes of his time with the Timberwolves. Momentary flashes, but still flashes.
Averaging 14 points in 21.4 minutes this season, obviously expectations should be measured, but there is plenty of value to have at here with the added bonus of potential growth at moderate levels. That gobbledygook is to say, he’s an above-average asset with a little more room to grow, even at this stage in his career. And it isn’t just the scoring achieved in the finite minutes he has, but also the peripherals in both rebounding and a sprinkling of assists, blocks, and steals.
So just know that while this Love may not be able to endure the test of time, he certainly has found something this year and based on how well the Cavs are doing, how well they are utlizing him, and how much legitimate fun it looks like he’s having, this could be the rare instance where the tangibles mix with intangibles and provide us with a contributor at low cost in a situation that is built to maximize his presence and efficiency. Match made in heaven? That’s what Love is, baby.
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell. You can follow him on Twitter @jaywrong.
