The Cleveland Cavaliers received bad news this week when they learned LeBron James is expected to miss two weeks of action due to knee and back strains. It's the latest in a number of setbacks that have besieged the Cavs, derailing what should have been a storybook season. From embarrassing losses to inferior teams to quibbles about the offense to the season-long defensive struggles and the Anderson Varejao Achilles injury, it's been one thing after another for Cleveland. A few weeks ago, I detailed some ways the Cavs could improve their production and chemistry, and, while some of those fixes are starting to bear fruit, the Cavs have a much larger issue at hand: the contentment of Kevin Love.
When the Minnesota Timberwolves were shopping Love in the offseason, one of the major concerns I had was his contract status: Love had two seasons remaining on his deal but holds a player option on the second season. Whomever would be giving up a major asset arsenal to acquire the star would be inheriting the risk of his flight and turning the 2014-15 season into an audition. It's a situation that's not dissimilar to what the Los Angeles Clippers faced a few seasons back when they made their move to acquire Chris Paul; the way they mitigated some of that risk was by demanding that Paul exercise his option, effectively guaranteeing he'd be a Clipper for at least two seasons. This, in turn, allowed the Clippers to shape their roster and their playbook with a certain amount of long-term perspective, rather than knee-jerk, reactionary decisions. For Love, I felt the same requirement should have been made. If the Cavs are going to give up a bevy of assets, not the least of which was No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, they needed to have some assurance that Love would give them ample time to prove Cleveland was the destination for him.
Instead, the Cavs have put themselves in the same position the other Los Angeles team found itself in a couple of years ago when it acquired Dwight Howard. Howard had one season remaining on his deal, so there was no recourse to keep him longer. It was a match made in heaven on paper (superstar teams up with another superstar), but the Lakers behaved as if it were a foregone conclusion Howard would re-sign in the offseason. Sure, they had the CBA-dictated advantage of being able to offer bigger raises and a fifth season, but they failed to recognize the need to show Howard why staying five seasons in L.A. would be his best decision.
While money is a major determinant in where a free agent decides to sign, there are other factors. For stars in particular, because they are slotted into maximum-level contracts, the marginal utility of each added dollar has a diminished effect. Instead, questions such as "How will I be used?" become much more important. For Howard, being Kobe Bryant's designated screener, rebounder and defender was not a satisfactory enough answer; he felt he deserved a bigger role on the offensive end, and he felt that would not happen in Los Angeles. Remember -- it doesn't matter whether he's actually right. In this case, perception is the only reality. At the end of the day, he holds the ultimate decision of whether to stay or go.
Now, the Cavs are facing the same test: How do you "sell" Love on staying in Cleveland beyond the promise of more money and playing with James? So far, they don't seem to be passing that test. Watching Love play, the disenchantment is palpable. He's been reduced to a glorified Ryan Anderson or Channing Frye; no disrespect to those solid NBA vets, but that's a dramatic decline for a player who some were dubbing the best power forward in the NBA last season. To be used solely as a pick-and-pop threat isn't just an underutilization of his talent, but communicates a lack of respect to the player, which then recycles into reduced effort and energy. In Love's last game (against Atlanta), he went through a six-minute stretch to end the first half during which he touched the ball four times out of 14 possessions. That's not four shots or four touches in scoring position -- that's four total touches, including nonscoring threat passes, like swinging the ball around the 3-point line. Not coincidentally, the Cavs scored five points in that stretch.
In that sense, James' injury brings with it a silver lining -- the opportunity to feature Love more prominently on offense. The Cavs have two weeks to incorporate him into more sets, with the idea being not necessarily to get him more shots but to make him more involved in the offense. Like Howard, some of Love's (and the Cavs') issues are self-inflicted, but also like Howard, that doesn't really matter. The onus is on the team to make the star feel wanted and appreciated, or else they just gave up all those assets for a high-priced rental.
News and notes
• Friday night's slate of games features a matchup between two of the best records in the NBA, as the Toronto Raptors visit the Golden State Warriors. Both of these teams feature deep rotations and strong point guard play, but they also have the asset of continuity. As we've observed this season, most of the teams toward the top of the standings (the Raptors, Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, Washington Wizards and Portland Trail Blazers) have had minimal roster turnover, and that continuity produces better familiarity between players and their tendencies, improving execution. Golden State did have a coaching change, but a new playbook is easier to master when you don't also have to adjust to new talents trying to find their comfort zones. It's also easier to overcome the absence of a main cog due to injury (Warriors with Andrew Bogut, Raptors with DeMar DeRozan), as the understudy will often have a clearer understanding of his role.
• Also featured Friday: Rajon Rondo makes his first return to Boston with the Dallas Mavericks. He should get a warm welcome from the Celtics fan base, as he was a pivotal part in many successful campaigns there. One has to wonder whether Celtics GM Danny Ainge sat too long on moving Rondo and whether there was a better deal to be had earlier; however, Rondo needed to play enough games to demonstrate that his prior ACL injury would not be an issue. Rondo will also be an unrestricted free agent at season's end, so it will be interesting to see the Mavs go through the same challenge that Cleveland is going through in making the ticking time bomb feel appreciated enough. Luckily for the Mavs, the asset package they parted ways with was far less lucrative.
• Tuesday night's Raptors-Blazers overtime game featured a lot of stoppage due to video review, with a total of seven consultations with the courtside monitor. While the league has taken steps to streamline the review process by creating the central replay center in Secaucus, New Jersey, it still had a negative impact on the flow of the game, particularly down the stretch. Even so, it wasn't the most-reviewed game of the season -- that honor would go to the Nov. 22 matchup between the Mavs and the Houston Rockets, which had eight reviews -- all in regulation.
• Tweet of the week goes to the Arizona Republic's Paul Coro, who remarked on the Sacramento Bee's Jason Jones' tweet on how the Sacramento Kings look so different than they did a month ago (before the firing of coach Mike Malone).
That Sousa marching band sounded good. RT @mr_jasonjones: Team looks so much different than they did a month ago.
- Paul Coro (@paulcoro) December 31, 2014