The Problems with the Cavs and Other NBA Notes

Kevin Love
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After losing six straight games (the first five without LeBron James), the Cleveland Cavaliers have rattled off seven consecutive wins behind Kyrie Irving and James. James has averaged over 30 points and Irving has averaged over 24 during the stretch. Both dropped over 30 last night against Detroit. While that seems like a great thing, there is something looming underneath those two players point totals. Kevin Love dropped only seven points while taking less than half of the shots of the two leading scores (Love had 11 shot attempts, eight of those from behind the arc, while James had 24 and Irving had 23). 

Stats via basketball-reference.com

During this same seven game stretch, Love is averaging 14.5 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. Kevin Love is becoming the new Chris Bosh. Love's current numbers and Bosh's numbers from his first season in Miami are extremely similar and both have had tough times fitting in around James and a high-profile guard. There is one big difference between Love and 2010-11 Bosh. Love can leave Cleveland at the end of the season and the Cavs can get no one in return. Bosh was locked up until 2014 and was only leaving if he was traded. 

If I was Kevin Love, I would, at this point, leave Cleveland at the end of the season. He is not getting the touches he deserves and is slowly becoming the fourth option behind J.R. Smith. Love is the second best player on the team behind James (He is better than Irving) but is being treated like he is a bench warmer. In the last game of the six game losing streak against the Suns, Love was benched at the end of the game, while James Jones, Mike Miller, Smith, and Tristan Thompson all at some point played over him. After the game, Cavs Head Coach David Blatt was highly criticized for benching him and the rumors of Love leaving were at a peak. All of those rumors have gone away for the time being because of the win streak, but that does not mean they are gone for good. 

Kevin Love
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One of the big reasons that Love is having trouble in Cleveland is that he is not a player who creates his own shot. As a big man, he needs to be fed the ball in the post or be the screen setter in a pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop. He has never been a man who can take his defender off the dribble consistently  Because of this, he does not get the ball as often as he should. And if he does not get the ball in a scoring situation, he will not try to create his own shot by taking his defender off the dribble. Love has to pass the ball. On the flip side with Irving, James, and even Smith, these players can receive the ball anywhere on the court and just go one-on-one with the defender. Love cannot go one-on-one with a defender outside of the post and or mid-range area. To add on to that, all three of those players are players who run a lot of isolation plays and take their defenders one-on-one. This hinders Love's offense ability because he cannot get opportunities when the ball stays in only a select few hands. 

Kevin Love is better than Chris Bosh. Love can be a guy who drops 25 and pulls down 12 rebounds every night. He is not going to get that in Cleveland. He is not being treated and used right with the Cavs and if there is not a change for the better, there will be a change at power forward next season.

Kyrie Irving and LeBron James
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The Love Dilemma is not the only problem with the Cavs. The "Big Three" are playing too many minutes. Coming into the season, Blatt said that James would be playing less minutes this season. While he is averaging the lowest minutes per game of his career, James is still averaging just over 37 minutes a contest which is third in the league. Just ahead of him at second in the Association is Irving. For James, he needs to be rested more often so he will not wear down in the playoffs. LeBron is 30 now and he needs to manage his minutes. Irving may be only 22, but his minutes need to be managed better as well. At his current rate, he is going to worn down by the playoffs. Irving has a injury-history and has never played in the playoffs before. He needs his minutes to be managed so he will not crash and burn by the first round of the playoffs. Blatt needs to pace Irving. Also, by sitting James and Irving, the Cavs can play their younger players so they can get experience. Shawn Marion and Mike Miller cannot play forever. There is talent on the Cavs bench that they could exploit when James and Irving are on the bench.

There are problems with the Cavs and there will continue to be problems with the Cavs. Changes need to happen if Cleveland wants to be real contenders because if Love is not happy and James and Irving are playing forty minutes every night, the chances of them winning the title are slim to none.

Other Notes

Brandon Jennings
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Brandon Jennings tore his ACL on January 24. This a major loss for the Detroit Pistons, who are currently two and a half games out of the eighth spot in the East. With Jennings and big men Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, the Pistons had a great trio of players that were beginning to click. If Jennings was not injured, I would not be surprised if the Detroit made the playoffs and were a tough team to beat. Now, the Pistons are going to have a tough time making the playoffs with the current roster assembled.

Andrew Wiggins is having a fantastic January. He is playing great basketball and making a bad Timberwolves team watchable. Yet, the T-Wolves are still 7-37 and are on their way to possibly gaining the number one pick in the upcoming draft. If they end up getting the number one pick and they draft Duke star Jahlil Okafor, Minnesota will have a nucleus to base their team around for the next ten years.

The Golden State Warriors are the best team in the NBA because they not only have stars, but great role players. Everyone knows about Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green, but Marresse Spreights is third on the team in scoring, Andre Iguadola is still going strong, and Shawn Livingston and Leandro Barbosa are playing really well as back-ups to the Splash Bros. The Warriors have the makings of a powerhouse. 

After a bad rookie season where he was oft-injured and could not gain much playing time, Phoenix Suns center Alex Len is having a good season. While the numbers are not much, under seven points and seven bounds a game, he still leads the team in rebounds and blocks. Len is not going to be a star anytime soon, but he is going to be a major contributor to these playoff contending Suns.