When Kevin Love joined the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014 and won a title with them in 2016, he was the third option on a championship contender. Nevertheless, his name always swirled around in trade rumors until he ironically became the last player on the Cavaliers’ championship roster to remain on the team.
He made it through a rebuild after LeBron James and Kyrie Irving left, turning from a championship piece into a mentor and role player on a team filled with young talent trying to find their footing in the NBA. That is not an easy thing to do for a five-time All-Star who feels like he can still contribute at a high level.
Kevin Love could be a perfect fit for the Miami Heat
It is even harder, though, to be asked to take another step back now that the team is finally contending again after going through all of that. That is exactly what happened to Love, who had to relinquish his minutes to younger teammates on their way towards stardom.
Love struggled with a thumb injury for a while, and while he was out, the Cavaliers found their rhythm in a nine-man rotation that did not include the veteran forward. As a result, he was racking up did-not-plays despite being active going into the All-Star break, and not surprisingly, he requested a buyout to give himself an opportunity to find a team that could offer him a defined role. Love had many suitors, including the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers, but the Miami Heat emerged as the team that would be the best fit.
The Heat were surprisingly inactive at the trade deadline, considering that they have certain issues to address, most pressingly their lack of a true power forward. Since PJ Tucker went to the 76ers over the summer, the Heat have been looking for someone to take over his role. Caleb Martin has been filling the starting four spot to the best of his abilities for most of the season, but it has led to the Heat being incredibly undersized.
Love is not as good of a defender as Tucker is, but he is bigger and stronger than Martin and can hold his own against physical opponents in the frontcourt. Despite being criticized for his defense during his tenure with the Cavaliers, Love showed that he could rise to the occasion when it mattered the most when he defended Stephen Curry on the game-deciding possession of the last 2016 Finals game.
Considering that there is basically a vacant power forward spot on Miami’s roster, they can offer Love a significant role right away, which is what he craves to provide for a team. He can immediately provide valuable backup minutes at both power forward and center after demonstrating last year that he can be one of the best in a sixth man role. Eventually, Love could also slide into the starting lineup, though, depending on how quickly he can acclimate to his new surroundings.
Love checks all the boxes for Miami.
Theoretically, Love checks all the boxes for what Miami needs in their frontcourt. They currently rank at the bottom of the league in three-point shooting and rebounding. Love has a knack for both of those things. In limited minutes with the Cavaliers, he grabbed an average of 6.8 rebounds this season. That number might still go up in an increased role, but either way, Love could push Miami’s transition game with his ability to secure rebounds and dish out long passes.
As for the three-point shooting, last season, Love shot 39.2 percent from deep and is averaging 37 percent over his career. As a shooting threat that defenses must respect, he can provide Miami with floor spacing that they would otherwise only get from Tyler Herro. They desperately need floor spacing, though, because Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler both like to operate in the paint and from the mid-range.
Defenses know that, and without a threatening three-point shooter on the floor, they can clog the paint and shoot mid-range all they want. Thus, Love should pair well with Butler and Adebayo, as his skillset fills the gaps of what they need to make the game easier, and he knows what it takes to complement the top two players on a team.
Other than that, Love should also fit in well with all of Miami’s ballhandlers. He is a solid screener and especially great in pick-and-pop situations, offering the ballhandler an easy out when their drives are cut off. After popping, Love can either shoot or create open looks for others. He is particularly skilled at finding cutters, but generally, Love can get the ball anywhere on the court. That ability also means that he can provide the Heat with an additional playmaking option outside of pick-and-pop situations, most effectively from the mid- or high-post.
Love could be a big get for the Heat.
After all this time in the league, Love also knows what it takes to win, and in Miami, on a veteran-heavy team, he can use that experience to be more than just a mentor and wise locker room presence. The Heat are currently seventh in the Eastern Conference, competing against powerhouses Milwaukee and Boston, as well as promising up-and-comers Cleveland and New York.
After they did not make a move at the trade deadline, it became obvious that the Heat are now committed to the squad they assembled, and Love can strengthen that group as they make a last playoff push. He won’t singlehandedly improve their playoff chances, but he can still have a positive impact by filling important gaps on their roster, and that might make a significant difference in the end. They are, after all, only 2.5 games behind the fifth-seeded Brooklyn Nets and can still climb the ranks.
After trading Dewayne Dedmon to the San Antonio Spurs, the Heat have two open roster spots and the money to offer Love more than the veteran minimum. They are reportedly also planning to sign free agent center Cody Zeller, but they could still keep Love around after the season is over.
Hopefully, the fit will turn out as well as it ought to because it will give the Heat the means to address their most pressing issues and give Love the chance to spend the backend of his career contributing to a playoff team on the court.