The Miami Heat have explored the possibility of acquiring Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers along with Collin Sexton. Greg Sylvander of Five Reasons Sports stated on June 30th, that Miami approached Cleveland about a trade involving Love and Sexton. Both teams were unable to consummate a deal at that time, but discussions are expected to pick up near the draft.
However, is Kevin Love a good fit for the Miami Heat? The answer is: Yes, and no. Head Coach, Erik Spoelstra, likes to use forwards as floor spacers. The team acquired Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder in February of 2020 from the Memphis Grizzlies.
Let’s take a look at whether Cleveland Cavaliers’ forward Kevin Love has the skill set to excel in the Miami Heat offensive system.
Upon arriving in Miami, they took more than 70 percent of the shots from behind the arc for the rest of the season, averaging 2.2 and 6.4 attempts per game, respectively. At least 78 percent of those attempts were catch and shoots as they averaged 1.9 and 5 per game, respectively.
A significant portion of those threes came from a specific location on the floor from above the break. Iguodala and Crowder took 1.1 and 4.2 above the break threes per game during the 2019-20 season.
Head Coach Spoelstra continued to use the same approach during the following season as Andre Iguodala, Trevor Ariza, and Kelly Olynyk took more than 59 percent of their shots from behind the arc, averaging 2.9, 4.8, and 5.7 per game, respectively.
At least 83 percent of those attempts were catch and shoots as they attempted 2.4, 4, and 4.9 per game, respectively. Just like the 2019-20 season, a significant portion of those threes came from above the break as Iguodala, Ariza, and Olynyk attempted 1.3, 2.6, and 4.5 per game, respectively.
Love has the skills to thrive in the role as he converted 37.5 percent of his catch and shoots on 5.2 attempts per game since 2013. Love has also succeeded from above the break as he has made 36.4 percent of his field goals on 4.7 shots per game.
Potential pitfalls with acquiring Kevin Love for the Miami Heat
Although Love has the tools to succeed within the offense, the issue with acquiring Love is his contract. Love will make over $60.1 million over the next two seasons. Love’s contract is too big for him to be a floor spacer.
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Consequently, the Miami Heat would have to give him a bigger role in the offense to justify his acquisition. For example, Love excels in the low post. He has shot 43 percent from the field on 2.3 shots per game since 2015. The field goal percentage has allowed him to average 3.1 points per game in the post: 18.2 percent of his scoring output.
Unfortunately, the Miami Heat aren’t known as a low post team as they have an average ranking of 22nd in the league averaging 5 possessions per game since 2015. Not only will the Heat not be able to accentuate his strengths, but they would need to give up a lot of assets to make a trade work.
Nekias Duncan of Basketball News suggested on June 30th that the Heat would have to give up Goran Dragic, Andre Iguodala, Tyler Herro, and KZ Okpala to acquire Love and Sexton. The combination of his skill set, with what the Heat would have to give up, suggests that they should look at cheaper options.
A prime candidate to look at would be Harrison Barnes from the Sacramento Kings. Barnes has made 37.6 percent of his catch and shoots on 3 attempts per game. He has also thrived from above the break, converting 36.5 percent of his field goals on 2.4 shots per game.
More importantly, Barnes will make over $38.5 million over the next two seasons, $21.6 million less than Love. Therefore, the Heat could offer Andre Iguodala and Precious Achiuwa in the 2025 first-round pick to acquire him.
Although Love is a good on-court fit, his contract is too big for the Miami Heat to justify acquiring him.