Report: Kevin Love Wants More Paint Touches
The Cleveland Cavaliers are still getting to know each other from the top down. When LeBron’s return and hefty recruiting also gifted the Cavaliers with superstar forward Kevin Love, 26, they obtained one of the best scorers in the league.
Of course, in Minnesota, Love putting up 20 and 10 was simply all in a night’s work. Him being the sole source of offense gave him freedom to do his damage wherever he pleased.
With his new Cavaliers team, Love will still certainly thrive. One thing he does want – more touches inside, as he told Northeast Ohio Media Group (via Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer):
My entire life I’ve played the game from inside-out. So the more touches I can get inside to get myself going, the better. I’m not accustomed to starting out a game shooting a three, so it’s just something that I see.
I’m 26-years-old and I’ve been playing basketball for quite a long time. Just finding ways to mix it up. If anything, keeping it around the basket a little bit more and the offense will allow me to get offensive rebounds. That will be tough for teams with Andy [Varejao] and myself and Tristan [Thompson] in there.
One of Kevin Love’s particular strengths is being around the basket and using his knack to be active on the glass. It’s easy to fall in love with the fact that Love is also a lethal shooting threat, plus, David Blatt’s offense encourages more 4-out basketball for spacing, which keeps Love out on the perimeter,
Yeah, the offense is built that way but I just have to make a conscious decision to get myself in there. There are a lot of times where I just find myself fading to the three-point line. For me, it’s a mentality and that’s easy to fix.
We’ve been putting in stuff like different pin-downs, cut-across and cross-screens to get me open in there. You’ll see a lot more of that during the season. That’s always how I played and I know that coach wants me to play that way, as well.
Like any pure scorer, Love has his “sweet spots”. His activity, unselfishness, and IQ allow him to be effective in any system and in any role, but at the end of the day you give your scorers the ball where they want it whether it’s within the confines of the offense or not.
Remember when Chris Bosh said Kevin Love should be worried about having to adjust his game with LeBron and such? That adjustment could very likely be much easier for a player of Love’s caliber.
