It has been a very eventful past seven days in “The Land” as the Cavaliers were embarrassed to the tune of 132-98 at home in a finals rematch with the Golden State Warriors on MLK day. After a win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night, the Cavs decided to fire Head Coach David Blatt despite being 30-11 and in first place in the eastern conference.
Blatt had the highest winning percentage as a coach to ever be fired.
The Cavs followed up the firing with a lackluster performance in a 96-83 home loss to the Chicago Bulls.
While the Cavaliers are elite by eastern conference standards, it is very obvious they are not in the same class as the western conference elite, the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and even possibly the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With absolutely no flexibility or cap space after signing Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson to huge max contracts this past summer, the Cavs only have one real option in order to improve their team defensively, make them more athletic and able to defend and compete with the NBA’s elite: trade Kevin Love.
Love started the season hot, playing great through November and the first half of December, but ever since Kyrie Irving has returned, Love’s numbers have dropped substantially.
Kevin Love Pre-Kyrie Irving (24 games):
PPG: 18 REB: 11 FG%: 44
Kevin Love after Kyrie Irving’s return (18 games):
PPG: 12.5 REB: 11 FG%: 39
Love’s points per possession have fallen from .0991 to .0883 Synergy Sports.
The biggest reason why Love should be traded is because he is a stretch four and an offensive luxury for a Cavs team with plenty of other firepower. He is a defensive liability who can not defend the pick and roll. Opposing players have shot 51% with Kevin Love defending them this season.
The Cavs can hide Love or compensate for his underwhelming defense against most teams, but against teams with elite ball and player movement like the Warriors and Spurs, they are at a stark disadvantage.
The possibility of Kevin Love being traded during or after this season is not as low as you may think. Here is a tweet about players reaction in the locker room when they were told a change had been made, before knowing David Blatt had been fired:
How surprised were Cavs players today? When team meeting was called, some players speculated Kevin Love had been traded
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) January 22, 2016
Here are a couple of Kevin Love trade options and partners that could make sense:
Detroit:
The Pistons are building a new version of what the Magic had in Orlando with one dominant center surrounded by shooters. Drummond is playing the role of Dwight Howard and Love would be an incredible luxury and improved version of Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu. This trade makes sense for both teams as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a great catch and shoot guard and an elite defender who has done as good a job as anybody at defending Stephy Curry. Throw in a stretch four in Ersan Illyasova, Arron Baynes to make the salaries work and a first round pick and you have a trade that more than likely improves both teams. I have to admit a Caldwell-Pope and Illyasova for Love trade was thrown out there by ESPN NBA Reporter Zach Lowe on his ” The Lowe Post” podcast last week.
Boston:
The Celtics have been stockpiling assets in the hopes of landing a star and this may be the way for them to do it. The Cavs would much improved by acquiring two elite defenders in Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley. This would help them defend and match up with any small ball lineup. Plus acquire a stretch four and offensive weapon in Kelly Oylnk. The Celtics may not even have to trade any of their picks to make this deal happen.
Orlando:
This is the wildest trade of the bunch, but the Magic would get a star in Love and break up some of their logjam. A big man quartet of Love-Vucevic-Harris and Aaron Gordon would be an offensive nightmare and dealing Oladipo is something that is reported the Magic may be considering. Getting a young player like Oladipo, who could be LeBron’s new Wade, alongside Irving in the back court and a heady, stretch four in Channing Frye would improve Cleveland as well.
We’ll see if the Cavs pull the trigger on a blockbuster Kevin Love trade, but there are a few enticing options out there that could make them a better team.
