The league's premier outside-shooting big man needs to get his interior game going before he can rain fire from long distance.
The adjustment from being his team's No. 1 option to being a cog in a greater offensive machine was never going to be an easy one for Kevin Love. But since joining LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters in Cleveland, the sharpshooter has found himself lingering on the perimeter far too often for his liking.
Through six preseason games, Love is averaging just nine shots in 24.3 minutes, with 3.8 of them (42.2 percent) coming from long range. Last season, 35.5 percent of his attempts came from beyond the arc. Love's 3-point shot is a major weapon, but he's a multidimensional offensive player.
On Wednesday, Love told Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group that he'd like to see more touches inside to start games:
My entire life I've played the game from inside-out. So the more touches I can get inside to get myself going, the better. I'm not accustomed to starting out a game shooting a three, so it's just something that I see.
I'm 26-years-old and I've been playing basketball for quite a long time. Just finding ways to mix it up. If anything, keeping it around the basket a little bit more and the offense will allow me to get offensive rebounds. That will be tough for teams with Andy (Varejao) and myself and Tristan (Thompson) in there.
It's going to be a balancing act for head coach David Blatt. Love acts as a gravitational pull on defenders due to his shot, so there is immense value in spotting him up outside. But he's also an effective post scorer, and effective in motion.
Love indicated that Blatt is working in more wrinkles to keep him active inside, and suggested he needs to be more responsible for getting himself to the low block instead of fading outside. This is all about adjustments, not complaints.
However they get there, this offense is going to be devastating, maybe even historically so. In the preseason, the Cavaliers have scored 112.6 points per 100 possessions, easily the best in the league and a mark that would be the regular season's best since 2009-10. It's just preseason, of course, but Cleveland has played most of its exhibition slate without a full lineup, and with key pieces still trying to figure out how to play with one another.
