Cleveland Cavaliers: If Kevin Love Isn't A Playmaker Why Not Trade Him?
If the Cleveland Cavaliers really need a third playmaker why not trade Kevin Love for a player who is?
While LeBron James and the front office have disagreed on the way James voiced his opinion on the way the Cleveland Cavaliers are handling the roster, they do agree that they need a playmaker. Even if you ask Kyrie Irving, the team only has two playmakers on the team.
Kyrie Irving asked if he and LeBron James are carrying too much of the load as the "only 2 playmakers on the team" pic.twitter.com/kCBtPu4Dj8
— Matt Medley (@MedleyHoops) January 26, 2017
Yet, lost in all the hoopla are the words you see if you between the lines.
Kevin Love isn’t a playmaker.
Love can score, he can pass, he’s averaging a double-double this season and playing the best basketball of Cleveland Cavaliers career.
However, he can’t handle the ball up and down the court and while he’s been an efficient scorer, he doesn’t create shots for himself. Basically, he’s once again a glorified spot-up shooter in the Cleveland Cavaliers offense. To be fair, that’s not an assessment of his abilities as a player but it’s simply the role that he plays.
So, if that’s all he’ll be for the Cleveland Cavaliers and they want a player who can create shots for themselves or others, why not trade Love?
The team says they don’t want to trade Love because of the role he played in the Cavs securing a championship last year.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Chris Haynes:
“Although James and Anthony are close and have expressed interest in playing together someday, sources said Cleveland is not prepared to surrender Love to get Anthony after the role Love played in helping the Cavaliers win their first championship in franchise history in June.”
In all honesty, the Cavs are overstating Love’s role in the playoffs last year, as Channing Frye looked like a Love clone most of the time. Love averaged 17.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per 36 minutes in last year’s playoffs while taking 6.5 three-point attempts per 36 minutes and making 41.4 percent of those attempts. Love also shot 38.5 percent from the field overall.
Frye averaged 17.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per 36 minutes in last year’s playoffs while taking 7.0 three-point attempts per 36 minutes and making 56.5 percent of those attempts. Frye shot 59.4 percent from the field overall.
Even if they feel like Love was vital to their success in the championship series, is there a sense in rewarding Love for last year’s NBA Finals when it’s clear that against the Golden State Warriors, Love will be limited?
In the 2016 NBA Finals, Love played 26.3 minutes per game and shot 36.2 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from three-point range. He averaged 8.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. It’s likely that, if there was no “The Stop”, Love would have been traded in the offseason. Especially if the Cavs lost in the NBA Finals.
This year, Love is averaging 24.0 minutes per game in two contests against the Golden State Warriors while shooting 31.6 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point range. He averages 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in those two contests.
Even with Love, the team feels like they need – not just another playmaker – a third playmaker. That’s like saying the Cleveland Cavaliers need a Big Four. Or like saying the Cavs need to retool their Big Three.
Unlike last year, Love’s on-court value is sky-high and the Cleveland Cavaliers could trade for a great package of players or a big-time player, like Carmelo Anthony. Though James said that the team can’t play “fantasy basketball”, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where James doesn’t prefer Anthony to Love.
One, the two are best friends. Two, Anthony is a more talented and versatile player on the offensive end.
The New York Knicks throwing in a player like Kyle O’Quinn or Brandon Jennings wouldn’t hurt their chances of acquiring Love so long as the Cavs stop being stubborn. It’s true that they have 14 guys on the roster and the players currently there need to do better. That doesn’t mean that the Cavs have to tie their season’s success to one player who may not be their best option.
Love is a very talented player but he isn’t going to create shots for himself. He won’t be able to play 36 minutes per game against the Golden State Warriors either. The Cavs don’t have many ways to actually get better. Trading Love, in the right deal, could be one.
Should the Cleveland Cavaliers trade Kevin Love? Let us know in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.
More from King James Gospel
This article originally appeared on 
