Kevin Love is reportedly nearing a buyout with the Cleveland Cavaliers. When that turns into official, Love will likely be a free agent with no scarcity of suitors.
NOTE: Everything you are about to learn with regard to how Love, particularly as a 3-point shooter, can nonetheless present worth is barely true if he is wholesome. He fractured his thumb again in November and struggled to shoot when he got here again. He fell out of Cleveland’s rotation largely due to this, and of late hasn’t performed in any respect.
But groups will do their analysis. They will not signal him if he cannot shoot. Assuming he does nonetheless have some sport left in him, under is a have a look at seven groups, in no specific order, that may make various ranges of sense as a Love touchdown spot.
The Lakers addressed their capturing deficiencies with the trade-deadline additions of D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley, and to a lesser extent Mo Bamba, however they nonetheless want all of the succesful marksmen they’ll get to house the ground round LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The Lakers have made simply 10.4 3-pointers per sport to date this season, the second-lowest mark within the league. Love, who’s only a season faraway from capturing 39 % from deep on over six makes an attempt per sport, helps that, and we all know he is snug in a LeBron-led system as a shooter/rebounder from the success that they had collectively in Cleveland.
The Knicks might use a capturing large and so they have open roster house. Jalen Brunson would make nice use of a spacing/popping shooter like Love. The Knicks are a high-volume 3-point capturing staff, however don’t confuse that with being a great 3-point capturing staff; solely six groups join from deep at a worse share.
The attainable concern right here? Tom Thibodeau loves protection and he tends to rely closely on his top-rotational guys. Seated towards the deeper a part of the bench, would Love get sufficient minutes to fulfill him in New York?
Not buying and selling for Love throughout his prime was among the finest strikes the Warriors by no means made, deciding to as an alternative grasp on to Klay Thompson, and a dynasty ensued. Obviously Love is not wherever close to the identical participant as he was again then, however he nonetheless makes some sense for the Warriors, who made good use of stretch large Nemanja Bjelica on their championship run final season.
The Warriors lack for high quality depth typically. They’d like a greater defender than Love, who may very well be seen as one thing of a less-athletic JaMychal Green towards the again finish of Golden State’s potential playoff rotation, however Green is hardly cemented. He and Love may very well be a game-to-game, who-has-the-hot-hand sort factor.
The Suns are loaded, however like several staff that trades a number of rotational items for a famous person, they now lack depth. Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson and Jae Crowder, three large elements of what they’d turn out to be the previous few years, are gone, and Love represents an NBA champion veteran who can fill out the bench lineups.
Also, Love is snug in large, late-round playoff video games, the place the Suns anticipate to be come May and — they hope — June. This is a confirmed, role-accepting winner with loads of expertise supporting the efforts of a famous person, of which the Suns now have two in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Chris Paul will make nice use of a man like Love.
The Hawks really want 3-point capturing. Particularly from an enormous man, as neither Clint Capela nor Onyeka Okongwu matches that invoice and John Collins, who has turn out to be an also-ran in Atlanta’s offense, has fallen off a cliff as a 3-point shooter — from 36 % final season and 40 % the 2 seasons earlier than that to underneath 25 % this 12 months.
The Hawks rely fully on Trae Young and Dejounte Murray creating from both pick-and-roll or isolation. In isolation, Love offers spacing and a succesful shooter when these guys collapse the protection, and the choose and rolls can turn out to be pick-and-pops with Love.
The Hawks take the fewest 3-pointers within the league as a share of their complete shot eating regimen, per Cleaning the Glass, and join on these lengthy vary makes an attempt on the sixth-worst price. All advised they make simply 10.5 3-pointers per sport, tied for the third lowest mark within the league. Love makes lots of sense right here manning second items with certainly one of both Young or Murray.
Shams Charania of The Athletic, who broke the information of Love’s anticipated buyout, famous that the Heat have emerged as an early candidate to signal Love. It would make sense.
The Heat misplaced PJ Tucker on the 4 spot over the summer time, and whereas Love clearly does not present Tucker’s defensive worth, he represents a floor-spacing risk who can even make an impression as a connective passer in Miami’s drive-and-kick system, as Tucker did.
The Heat like to launch 3s, however their 33.4-percent success price to date this season is third worst within the league. Love addresses that, as he does for all these groups.
I discussed earlier that the Lakers made the second-fewest 3-pointers per sport within the league. The solely staff that makes even fewer is the Bulls. It may very well be price noting that Chicago is without doubt one of the potential touchdown spots for Russell Westbrook, who was a school teammate of Love’s at UCLA.
The Bulls, who do lack front-court depth, did not do something on the commerce deadline, and this might be at the least a marginal transfer to maybe encourage some pleasure, although I might warning in opposition to pondering that Love could be a real needle-mover on what’s a reasonably flawed Chicago staff.
