The redemption of Kevin Love and what it means for the Cavaliers
Coming into last season, Kevin Love was an undisputed superstar, a top-10 player, an All-NBA forward, and if not for LeBron James' homecoming, Love would have been the crown jewel of Cleveland's miraculous offseason.
By acquiring Love, and thereby forming a big three with James and Kyrie Irving, it was thought that the Cavaliers would be unstoppable. To their credit, the team shook off a slow start to finish the regular season on a 34-9 run, before injuries and the Golden State Warriors finally collapsed the great beast of the East.
The Big Three was a smash hit, but Love's struggles were lost in the shuffle.
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He didn't make the All-NBA team. He didn't even make the All-Star team. His scoring average fell by nearly 10 points. Simply put, Love was nothing like the superstar that the Cavaliers were expecting, and while he played an integral role on a 53-win team and finally got his first taste of postseason action, last season was - at best - a bittersweet year from Love's perspective.
Love's numbers took a dive, but that was the least of his worries. That comes part and parcel with the transition from top dog to third banana.
In Minnesota, the offense ran through Love and it was up to him to facilitate as he saw fit. In Cleveland, Love played on Irving and James' terms. Love vacated the post to clear driving lanes, he finished plays rather than making them for others, and mostly, Love stayed along the perimeter to serve as an over-qualified stretch-four.
More frustrating, still, were the occasional media spats with James, the narrative of Love never quite fitting in, getting benched in fourth quarters, and of course, having his season end on a vicious armbar by Kelly Olynyk, only to watch his team charge into The Finals with his replacement Tristan Thompson garnering an endless string of praise.
So on one hand, Love finally made the playoffs for the first time in his seven-year career. But on the other, Love was forced to reinvent his whole game, while being chastised for not being who he once was.
Love got what he wanted, but none of it came on his terms.
Free agency gave Love the chance to leave, and he had plenty of suitors that undoubtedly promised him a return to top-dog status, but Love quickly announced on July 1 that he was returning to Cleveland.
"Every time I went through the different scenarios, I always came out at the same place, and that was to be in Cleveland and try to win championships," Love explained to the Players' Tribune.
"We all have unfinished business and now it's time to get back to work."
The sense of unfinished business concerns the Cavaliers' miserable luck with injuries. Cleveland's starting five posted a net rating of 19.3 last season, a fraction behind the Warriors (19.6) for tops in the league. When the two teams met in the Finals, however, Love and Irving played a combined 43 minutes, leaving James with the Herculean burden of beating the champions without any help.
There's a case to be made that, barring injuries, Cleveland was the best team in the league last season. But games are not played on paper, and attrition turned out to be the Cavaliers' Achilles' heel.
That's where Love comes in. If Cleveland wants to avoid injuries come playoff time, they'll need someone to fill in the gaps, someone to play the role of superstar to minimize the ticks on James and Irving's odometer.
"I think we have enough pieces to (reduce my minutes)," James said during training camp. "And I think Kevin Love will allow me to sit a lot this year just because of his ability, what he's able to do. Kyrie as well. So I won't have to worry about playing big minutes this year."
The challenge now turns to Love and head coach David Blatt to find a system that can help Love recapture the All-NBA quality he flashed in Minnesota.
"I think we have the ability to put him at the elbow and run offense through him a lot more than we did - some of the things he did really well in Minnesota," Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said of Love in July.
Whether it's more touches in the post, better spacing, or just a matter of making him more comfortable, the Cavaliers need Love at his best.
"I just think he's more comfortable in the situation that he's in," James said. "He's got a year under his belt; he knows what he expects out of himself and what his teammates expect out of him. I expect big things from him this year with a year up under his belt."