Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Cavaliers buy out Kevin Love, sign Danny Green

    This isn't breaking news but I did want to offer a few thoughts on the Cavaliers deciding to buy out Kevin Love's remaining contract and sign Danny Green for two million dollars for the remainder of the season.

Green was bought out by Houston after the Rockets traded with the Memphis Grizzlies at the trade deadline and was therefore available,

Green played in three games for Memphis earlier this month, scoring nine points in those three appearances.

Green played thirteen minutes for the Cavaliers in their final game before the All-Star break, scoring three points.

The thirty-five-year-old Green played for Philadelphia last season, averaging 5.9 points in sixty-five games but spent most of his career in San Antonio with the Spurs after Cleveland waived him after playing twenty games as a rookie as the Cavaliers second-round draft choice from North Carolina.

At his best, Green could fill the role that NBA people call a "3 and D" player, hit an occasional long-range shot, and play tough defense but Green isn't being added for his playing contributions as much as for giving a team that doesn't have a lot of playoff experience (especially after buying out Kevin Love) a jolt of that "veteran locker room presence" that the Cavaliers will need in a few months.

Kevin Love came to Cleveland in 2014 as the player that was going to be the third star in the Cavaliers sky when LeBron James decided to return to Cleveland, join Kyrie Irving, and demanded that the team acquire Love, rather than keep the top overall pick in the draft at that time in Andrew Wiggins.

I wondered about the trade at the time, mainly because I really liked Wiggins (who started to turn his career around after joining the Warriors), and I did have concerns about how Love would fit into the third-option position after being the man in Minnesota for his entire career.

Love wasn't the player that finished with the double-digit averages in points and rebounds that he did as a Timberwolf, although he did accomplish that twice in Cleveland, but he wasn't asked to be with James and Irving around.

Instead, he shot more from three-point range as the game changed and even when Cleveland signed him to a huge contract after LeBron James decided to become a Laker, Love never returned to the player that so fiercely hit the boards and that was a major factor in why Cleveland wasn't at least average to mediocre rather than terrible for most of the post-James years until 2021-22.

Love had well-publicized bouts with depression and anxiety and was usually the subject of the odd LeBron James passive-aggressive behaviors, which certainly didn't help Love's confidence or his game.

Kevin Love lost his first season with a first-round elbow injury in the series against Boston and Cavaliers fans insist to this day that had Kelly Olynick not clamped an armbar to end Love's season that the Cavaliers would have won that championship as well as the following season's title.

Love also struggled with his post-James term, never embracing the role of star, even though he was being paid as one. and twice since 2018-19, played twenty-five games or less due to various injuries.

Several times, Love had on-court tantrums during games and had other issues in practices towards teammates and coaches, and Love made more than one trade demand or ultimatum during this time too.

His play was often uninspired and he spent many days as nothing more than a huge drag on the salary cap with a big reputation, all of his requests weren't going to change that Love's numbers weren't matching his salary and no one was going to bust their cap for a disgruntled veteran that spent more time griping than rebounding.

Yet, Love had a comeback story waiting to be written as he accepted the role of instant offense veteran off the bench for the 2021-22 Cavaliers and helped a group of younger players win forty-four games as a leader and as the runner-up for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

Love averaged thirteen points a game for those Cavaliers, and shot thirty-nine percent from three-point range but couldn't sustain that performance this season, suffering a thumb injury that affected his shooting to under forty percent, dropped the points to just eight points a game, and had deteriorated to the point that Love had fallen out of the rotation in order to give his playing time to Dean Wade.

Love was signed by the Miami Heat and the Heat appear headed to the postseason, perhaps even to face the Cavaliers with Miami's frontcourt offering more playing time to Love to prove that he still deserves playing time for a contender.

I couldn't write a Kevin Love post and not mention what he will always be remembered for by Cavalier fans- "The Stop".

Never a standout defensive player or an overly athletic one, Love found himself guarding the smaller and far quicker Stephen Curry at the end of game seven with the Warriors needing to score to tie the contest.

Love shuffled and stuck to Curry without biting on any fakes for ten seconds or so and Love's tenacity didn't allow Curry to set himself or get off a good shot and when Curry missed with LeBron James grabbing the rebound, Golden State's reign was completed, and Cleveland finally had its elusive world championship.

That's what I'll remember most about Kevin Love, that he stepped up and did what he wasn't normally adept at doing at the time that his team needed him most, and on the biggest stage that a basketball player can play on, Kevin Love made his team better.



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