Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[Gus Zing]

LeBron's gotta help out on the boards more with TT out of the starting lineup. As long we rebound well we should kill teams on the break.

I know it's only a few true centers left, but can't imagine love guarding towns, cousins, embiid, basil, Whiteside, etc.

Only have to put up with most of those guys just twice a year. Never know with Embiid's health how many times we'd see him either.

Whiteside would be a problem though. Just because of how physical he is and we know Kevin can get nicked up at times. Probably one team you might have to start TT.

 

[catfish]

The Cavs are going to kill teams with Love at C. That's an elite lineup. Y'all are crazy for not seeing that.

Might be a couple teams we have to adjust for because of low post guys...but I doubt any low post guy in the league could out-gun our offense even if he's playing his best game.

I also think Zizic is actually going to shock people and become a staple in the rotation for 15/20 regular season minutes.

As I noted in the other thread not sure what Boston was thinking with this deal

 

[Gus Zing]

The Cavs are going to kill teams with Love at C. That's an elite lineup. Y'all are crazy for not seeing that.

Might be a couple teams we have to adjust for because of low post guys...but I doubt any low post guy in the league could out-gun our offense even if he's playing his best game.

I also think Zizic is actually going to shock people and become a staple in the rotation for 15/20 regular season minutes.

Would be nice, but I only see that happening if injuries occur in the front court. Hard to see him playing anywhere close to 20 mins with the roster as is.

 

[catfish]

Boston is quite small. I dont think they are the second best team in the east.

 

[fan0283]

One more thing, if Love defends the bigmen of opposing teams who will rebound and throw passes out to leaking LBJ and Rose? He'll get his hands full with centers defensively and his rebounding numbers will take a hit, unless he doesn't defend and just go for every rebound.

Blessing in disguise? No more leaking. It keeps getting exposed in the finals when the other team uses rebound by commitee to outnumber our bigs.

Expecting only the bigs to gobble up all the boards while others run up the court had given some of our players a lazy approach to rebounding (JR, Kyrie) where they would stand idly expecting someone else to grab it. Rebounding should be a team exercise and most importantly you don't start a fastbreak before it has been secured

 

[Gus Zing]

Boston is quite small. I dont think they are the second best team in the east.

Baynes played pretty well today.

However, I think the Wizards are going to give the Celtics all kinds of problems. They are really going to miss Crowder and Bradley out on the perimeter.

 

[fan0283]

Anyone else seen highlights of the scrimmage? Love finding cutters from the elbow is gold. Just need to get LeBron to buy in to having his buckets come off this kind of action

 

[czvo]

Why am I not surprised that Lue actually makes a good decision, that's also out of the box, and is still getting shit on?

The fact of the matter is there are maybe, what, four teams in the league that actually throw the ball to their big man in the post? Miami, Memphis, Philly and Toronto are the only ones that come to mind. Even then, the only players you're probably "concerned" about are Gasol and Embiid. Whiteside and Valanciunas aren't creators, and throwing the ball to them in the post only keeps the ball out of the hands of better creators.

Love may not block a lot of shots, but what he does do is play really good position defense. It also keeps him near the basket where he's a great rebounder, and as we all know, the best outlet passer in the league.

On the other end, he is going to TORCH fives that try and keep up with him on the perimeter while also pulling shotblocking bigs away from the paint. If you're Miami, Detroit, LA, or any of those teams that has a shotblocking big, you're going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you try to keep a guy like Whiteside (just as an example) near the basket, Love will have far too much space to shoot. If you make Whiteside play close to him, you give LeBron and Rose lanes to the rim.

I like it and think it makes a lot of sense, and I honestly think it helps balance out the second unit a ton.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

If the team's going all-in on Love as starting center, it makes you wonder why the hell they didn't pull the trigger on the TT/Carmelo trade. And with Zizic displaying sound fundamentals, honestly, it hurts...

 

[LennoxLewis]

Feel like this move opens up so much for us on both ends.Love at the 5 with his passing and shooting will be great for the other players, LBJ can take more of a PF role at times offensively, as well as hopefully more off ball opportunities. On defense, LBJ can be that roamer on defense with Crowder taking on the defensive assignments.

 

[Gus Zing]

If the team's going all-in on Love as starting center, it makes you wonder why the hell they didn't pull the trigger on the TT/Carmelo trade. And with Zizic displaying sound fundamentals, honestly, it hurts...

Fair point.

Love/Zizic
Melo/Crowder
LeBron/Korver
JR/Wade
IT/Rose

If they'd fit it would be unreal offensively. Issues defensively though. However, with Love's health issues they probably feared how screwed we'd be if he got hurt.

 

[bigfoot5415]

Boston is quite small. I dont think they are the second best team in the east.

I have them as the 5 seed believe it or not. They lost too many key pieces, defensive players and heart to make me think they'll gel quickly and over compensate for their defeciences.

Cleveland
Washington (I still don't want to face them)
Toronto
Milwaukee
Boston
Miami
Philly
Charlotte

Everyone else is actively tanking.

 

[buzzdog]

I also think Zizic is actually going to shock people and become a staple in the rotation for 15/20 regular season minutes.

You realize we're talking about Coach Lue here, right? He's probably more likely to give 20 minutes a game to Perkins than Zizic.

 

[FrontPageNews]

I have them as the 5 seed believe it or not. They lost too many key pieces, defensive players and heart to make me think they'll gel quickly and over compensate for their defeciences.

Cleveland
Washington (I still don't want to face them)
Toronto
Milwaukee
Boston
Miami
Philly
Charlotte

Everyone else is actively tanking.

I don’t fear Washington in the least. Make John wall shoot and make Beal drive. The book is out on them. I much more fear a healthy bucks team. That’s so much length and athleticism.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

Fair point.

Love/Zizic
Melo/Crowder
LeBron/Korver
JR/Wade
IT/Rose

If they'd fit it would be unreal offensively. Issues defensively though. However, with Love's health issues they probably feared how screwed we'd be if he got hurt.

I was thinking about this as well.

I'm still not sold on the Melo/Love frontcourt defensively. In OKC with Adams and the perimeter D of someone like George and Roberson, it makes up for Melo's shortcomings.

Here it would be a different story, Crowder brings a defensive presence that helps balance out the lineup a bit.

But yeah offensively that lineup would be scary.