NBA Week 12 Power Rankings: Questions for each team after the break

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25. team. 156. . 14-23. Previous: 25th. Cleveland Cavaliers

Last Week: Lost to New Orleans Pelicans 116-82

This Week: 3/14 at Atlanta Hawks, 3/16 at Miami Heat, 3/17 vs. Boston Celtics, 3/19 vs. San Antonio Spurs

Question: Can Kevin Love give the team anything at this point?

Kevin Love made his return to the court for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. He has been out with an injury since Dec. 27 and since then the team has taken off and subsequently floundered. So does the return of Love help or hinder the progression of the young Cavs?

It should be telling that the return of Larry Nance, Jr. projects to have more impact on the team than that of Love. Nance also returned on Friday. For as long as he remains with Cleveland (trade rumors abound), he will remain the anchor of their defense.

Nance played in 18 of the first 20 games of the season for the Cavaliers. Over that stretch, the team ranked eighth in defensive rating (108.3). Since the turn of the calendar to February, that has plummeted to 28th (117.6). Kevin Love is not going to help on the defensive side of the ball so for the time being his impact is suspect at best.

This may be the pessimistic view, but Kevin Love’s most likely trajectory at the moment seems to be the one facing his teammate Andre Drummond. With two years remaining on his contract after this one worth a combined $60.2 million, he may, unfortunately, have to wait a while.