Kevin Love’s Extension: What it Means
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been in the last 4 NBA Finals. That won’t be the case this upcoming season. The Cavs lost debatably the greatest player in NBA history a few weeks ago. There is no recovering from that. The team is left with Kevin Love as their best player. Cleveland just gave Love a 4yr/120Mil extension. In Love’s time with Cleveland, he has averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds as their second or third best player. Being their top guy, these numbers are sure to improve. Kevin Love’s extension means way more than just him being on the team another season. Let’s dive into it.
The Cavs won’t be Tanking
Initially, many people believed that with Lebron leaving, the Cavs would just tank for a top spot in the draft. First, Ty Lue and the organization believes that they are still a playoff team without Lebron. Most of the guys on the team were the same guys who were in the past few finals. Also, with a move or two they could hypothetically be good in the east. Tristan Thompson, Jordan Clarkson, and Cedi Osman have somewhat tradable contracts. If they resign Rodney Hood they can also use him in a deal. Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, and Hassan Whiteside are names that have been thrown around as trade candidates next season. Therefore, if the Cavs make trades to get any of those guys, they can make it to be a 6-8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Cavaliers Reality
Extending Kevin Love for 4 more years sounds nice and hopeful. In reality, it’ll more than likely only benefit Love. I predict the Cleveland Cavaliers to be a bottom 4 team in the Eastern Conference next season. The bottom 4 teams this previous season were the Hawks, Magic, Bulls, and Nets. With D’Angelo Russell coming back next season and the acquisition of Faried, the team will still suck a bunch but at least try to get some wins. The Bulls team is young and just signed Jabari Parker. Lavine, Parker, and Markkanen are a sneaky good trio that will be trying to prove themselves next season. For those reasons on top of the Cavs not having an identity, I believe Cleveland will finish worse than the Nets and Bulls. A full restart post Lebron might be good for Cleveland anyways. Collin Sexton looks to have some potential as the next young point guard, and a high draft pick next season could join him as the new hope for the Cavs.
Overview
Kevin Love received a 4-year $120 million extension to stay with the Cavs. Happy for the guy getting paid, but it doesn’t mean they’re a winning team. However, it does show that Cleveland will be trying to stay relevant in the horrendous Eastern Conference. The team can go all in and have Kevin Love be a resemblance of Minnesota Kevin Love. It isn’t far fetched to see Kevin Love average 20 points and 15 rebounds once again. I really hope Love becomes an absolute stud again in Cleveland even if the team sucks.
-Brandon Black (Follow @bhblack02)