Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 goals for Kevin Love in 2017-18

Finding himself in a new role with the Cleveland Cavaliers, here are five goals for All-Star Kevin Love in season 2017-18.

The league-wide trend of going smaller has claimed yet another scalp.

Despite becoming a four-time All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist playing as a prototypical stretch-4, Kevin Love will enter this season with the Cleveland Cavaliers as their starting center.

Love revealed recently in an interview with Dave McMenamin of ESPN that it was in fact his teammate LeBron James, and not head coach Tyronn Lue, who informed him of the switch.

"“….a funny thing happened the third day of practice. I had asked about a certain play on the defensive end and whether it was the different coverages on the 4 or 5 man, and ‘Bron kind of stopped me and goes, ‘You know you’re gonna be starting at the 5, right? “So I kind of looked at him and didn’t really fully understand that was going to be the case….So that’s when I kind of knew that was coming into play, and I slowly and surely started to pick it up.”"

Entering his 10th season in the league, this represents somewhat of a new challenge for Love. Coming off his best season with the Cavaliers in which he averaged 19.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, his importance to the Cavs has never been higher after the offseason blockbuster trade that saw Kyrie Irving head to the Boston Celtics.

Just over a month ago in an interview with Zach Lowe of ESPN, coach Lue was notably bullish about Love’s prospects this season:

"“Kevin is going to have the best year that he’s had here. I thought he was great anyway. You keep bringing up Bosh. What did Bosh average in Miami? Kevin averaged almost 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds] with two other All-Stars. If you are on a championship-caliber team, you have to sacrifice. But this year is going to be a big opportunity for him.”"

The Cavaliers’ roster has a distinctly different look entering the regular season. Come opening night, the team will feature three new starters in Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Jae Crowder. Furthermore, All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas, acquired in the deal for Irving, is still months away from returning to full health with his hip injury. So not only does Love have a new position to deal with, but also a host of new faces.

With the regular season tipoff just a day away, here are five goals for Love in 2017-18.