Cavs' Love participates in 1st full practice; may play next week
Kevin Love is back on the floor with the Cleveland Cavaliers after dislocating his left shoulder during the opening round of the playoffs last season.
He participated in his first full practice Saturday, engaging in five-on-five, full-contact basketball with his teammates.
"I felt good," Love said afterwards, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "Just getting into the rhythm of the plays more than anything, just getting my legs under me and contact - five-on-five felt really good."
It was during Game 4 of Cleveland's series with the Boston Celtics when Love got tangled up with center Kelly Olynyk and suffered the injury, which sidelined him for the remainder of the postseason.
"It had been six months now," Love added. "As far as progressing from the pad into one-on-one, to three-on-three, I was ready to get back out there in five-on-five. As time goes (on), I'll get more and more accustomed to being out there playing, but today was the first step."
Love hinted he could "play a few minutes" Thursday evening when Cleveland hosts the Indiana Pacers in preseason action. Head coach David Blatt will sit him out for back-to-back outings Monday and Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies and Milwaukee Bucks, respectively.
"At this point, we're kind of trying to stay true to our plan here," Blatt said. "And we could throw him out there, but I don't think it's necessary at this point. We're just going to keep working and keep progressing consistently and steadily with him."
No one was more excited to have the three-time All-Star back in the swing of things than LeBron James, who believes Love will have a bounce-back campaign in his second year as a Cavalier.
"He looked well. He looked healthy," James said. "It was great to have him out there for our team and it was great to have another body back out there, especially someone who's going to mean so much to our team, so he looked pretty good coming back."
Love averaged 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds on 43.4 percent shooting in 75 games last season, which was a noticeable drop-off from his numbers with the Minnesota Timberwolves, although that can attributed to him playing as the team's third option behind James and guard Kyrie Irving.
While Love remains noncommittal on his status for the Cavaliers' season opener against the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 27, the latest developments in his recovery are positive indicators he'll be healthy enough to compete by the end of the month.