Cavs: Kevin Love is eager to prove himself again on Team USA - King James Gospel

Kevin Love has had his share of injury woes in recent years for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He played in only 22 games in 2018-19 mostly because of toe surgery, and last season, regardless of the condensed schedule, he appeared in only 25 games. That was mostly due to a right calf injury.

In this now-past season, while he played in just 24.9 minutes per outing in his appearances, Love had just 12.2 points per game, and was not able to get in-rhythm nearly enough. Though his overall three-point shooting hit rate was 36.5 percent, the deep shooting from him was not there nearly as much as we’d expect, and the injury issues didn’t help.

That said, it does appear as if Love’s been able to get himself on the right track this offseason thus far, and he’ll have a nice chance to get in-rhythm to some extent with Team USA in the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo set to kick off later this month.

Even with a down season and him having his share of injury issues in recent years, Love is still one of the NBA’s best shooting bigs when he is right. And he recently expressed how he’s looking forward to this Olympics opportunity ahead and wants to show what he’s capable of when he’s healthy/fully himself.

Here was on that/Love’s response to what he’s looking to show with Team USA, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

“That I can still be the player I was before I had a couple tough injuries,” Love said. “This is the best I’ve felt in a long time. Right after the season ended, I didn’t really take any time off. I continued to rehab and stay in shape and keep myself ready. My number was called for USAB, and obviously there were a couple guys who went down with injuries throughout the playoffs, but I just continued to work my way into shape, not knowing if a call was going to come, but when it did, I felt like it was a great opportunity for me to come out and show what I’m capable of and add value to this team.”

Cavs: Love’s eager to prove himself again, so to speak, with Team USA.

Love essentially touched on how despite the recent struggles he’s had, injury-wise and with him not performing up to how he’s capable of in in the past few seasons, that this Team USA experience can be meaningful for him to get back on the right track, and rep his country on the world stage. He’ll be looking to help the squad again, like he did in the 2012 gold medal run in London.

Now, Love isn’t the player of Kevin Durant or Bam Adebayo, two of the other US bigs, but as Fedor hit on and USA head coach Gregg Popovich did, Love’s rebounding and shooting could make a difference for the American squad. Fedor even noted how in international play, there is no defensive three seconds rule, so Love’s shooting can be invaluable in helping to space the floor for others on Team USA in his playing time, feasibly off the bench.

From there, Love did also state, via Fedor, how at this point in his career, he gets that he’s not a primary option player, and he recognizes that, but he still can be a valuable player when he’s healthy.

It’s evident that still is the case when he’s right, albeit it was encouraging that he wants to help out the US squad, and aid the likes of the Cavs’ youngsters, such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and Isaac Okoro, provided he’s around/not moved.

“I think I understand going into my 14th season that probably being the number one guy, playing 35 minutes and getting 20 touches a game, is probably in my rearview,” Love admitted. “But in how I can affect a game and feeling how I’m feeling now, I know that I can do it at a very high level. I don’t try to put a ceiling or limit on myself at all. So long as I’m feeling good, I know that I’m going to play good. But I do believe that if it’s asked for me and on me to have to pivot in my career for a team to win, I’m more than willing to do that. And even with this year with the Cavs just seeing our bright young guns stepping up and having to play a different role because I wasn’t all the way healthy was amazing to see.”
“I do feel like on that team, or whichever team I end up on, USA team, this is definitely something that I can continue to progress in. It doesn’t matter who I’m out there with, I’m gonna bring my style of basketball and do whatever I need to do to win.”

As we’re well aware of, Love has been a perpetual player mentioned in trade rumors; actual movement of him is still a different story, though, and I’d still expect Love to be around, at least for a chunk of next season.

That’s even while a report from Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required) stated that there is “growing sentiment around the league” that Love/his camp will negotiate a buyout and accept a veteran-minimum deal with a contender for next season. That’s with one of the options being the Golden State Warriors in that case.

Love still has two years left on his deal for roughly $60.2 million still, however, and with the emergence of Cleveland’s young core, and a normal season next year, and also a potential superstar via the #3 pick in the upcoming draft, such as Jalen Green or Evan Mobley, it’s tough to read too much into that report.

This is whether or not Cleveland were to eventually trade Sexton, factoring in recent rumors; that’s anything but a certainty though, particularly with how he just had 24.3 points per game last season and continues to progress as a secondary playmaker.

Along with that, the Cavs could feasibly end up adding a quality veteran piece via the roughly $10 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. In that realm, the likes of T.J. McConnell, potentially Patty Mills, Doug McDermott, Reggie Bullock or perhaps Josh Hart, if he ends up unrestricted, have been mentioned as rumored targets.

Perhaps I’ll end up wrong, but I’d still expect Love to have a meaningful role with the Cavaliers next season, or a chunk of it, albeit one with him reportedly set to play less minutes next season, anyhow. He and Mobley could be an intriguing frontcourt pairing for stretches, too.

Rest assured, he’ll be looking to prove himself again with Team USA, and as seemingly Fedor suggested, maybe this can help Love’s potential trade value for down the road. We’ll have to see.

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