Simmons: Kevin Love is Underrated

As we tend to do when shiny new toys show up wearing our favorite team’s colors (especially at the cost of other players), many are heading straight to the discussion surrounding value and what fans can expect on a going forward basis. In sports, it’s considerably more nuanced than adding a 2 to a 2 and expecting 4—there’s fit, chemistry, career arcs and all of those pesky human-based elements that we tend to forget when pouring through box scores.

While Clevelanders attempt to wrap their hands around the fact that last year’s All-Star game MVP is suddenly the Cavaliers’ third-best player, Grantland’s Bill Simmons digs deep in to Kevin Love, the Wine and Gold’s alleged newest player, and what he brings in the way of all of the aforementioned. And of course, as we banter about whether or not the three-time All-Star is top-12 or top-5, Simmons gives his opinion on just what Cleveland should expect to see for at least the next season from a player who has put up monster numbers but has yet to get a taste of the postseason. Spoiler alert: It’s all good.

Has Love become this generation’s Jerry Lucas, a gifted power forward who chases his own numbers without making anyone else better? Did he become a not-as-gifted, more depressing version of Barkley in Philly, a statistical marvel who wasted a piece of his prime carrying subpar teammates? Could he become a better version of Bosh, someone who submitted big numbers on bad teams before recalibrating his game to fit in with a champion? Is he doing something wrong? Or has he been wronged? Or both? […]

When the collective personality of an NBA team is off, you can see it. There isn’t a more naked sport, especially if you’re seeing these games live. We watch the players interact on the court and in the huddles. We study their body language. We come to know their every expression. It’s like going out to a marathon dinner with another couple — you just know them better after the check comes. And anyone who watched the 2014 Timberwolves regularly, or fairly regularly, knew something was amiss. Love has always been a lead-by-example star, not a galvanizing, get-on-my-back guy. […]

You can pick apart Kevin Love’s first six seasons in a variety of ways … just as long as you admit that he was the league’s secret League Pass MVP last year, as well as someone who needs to be seen in person to be believed. For one thing, he’s a freak rebounder — as gifted as Rodman and Moses at their respective peaks, blessed with magically soft hands and a psychic ability to read where caroms are headed. He’s just inventive enough on the low post that you probably need to send a second guy at him, and he’s good enough from 24 feet that you can never leave him alone. He’s a flat-out weapon and an underrated heat check guy. And whenever he grabs a rebound and flicks a 60-foot outlet in one motion, it’s genuinely breathtaking to watch. […]

I see Cleveland playing Love as a small-ball 5 much like Coach K did.

I see David Blatt pushing them to run and run and run some more.

I see Love’s extraordinary outlet passes being celebrated around the globe.

I see him becoming a legitimate threat to be a 22-15-5 guy and maybe even average 16 boards a game (which hasn’t happened since Rodman).

I see my favorite Cavs lineup being their small-ball group with LeBron, Love, Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and a spread-the-floor shooter … and not-so-coincidentally, looking very ’93 Suns-ish.

I see Love thriving on the pick-and-pop with LeBron or Kyrie to frighteningly efficient degrees.

I see anyone who said this week that (a) Cleveland gave up too much, and/or (b) Love isn’t as good as people think, feeling stupid.

Rather than blockquoting all 5,000 words, we highly recommend that you give it a look for yourself. Say what you want about Simmons—the guy knows his hoops.

Don’t forget that the Cavaliers, just last season, were a Kevin Love buzzer-beater away from losing a game they had been winning by more than 20 points with just minutes left, a night where Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic (two well-compensated teammates) combined to go 3-for-19 from the floor. Simmons hammers home the point that Love is exponentially better than LeBron’s former Big 3 power forward in Chris Bosh, ratchets in some very captivating comparisons to a young Charles Barkley, and simultaneously makes me wish I can remember the details of seeing any of those early-90s players in person. He also calls Cleveland the “league’s newest signature team.”

The fact that Kevin Love, a guy coming off of a 26 and 12 season, may very well be underrated—well, that’s all an added bonus.

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(AP Photo/Jim Mone)