The Cleveland Cavaliers traded for power forward Kevin Love this offseason in an effort to re-create the core of the Miami Heat's championship nucleus, built on the backs of three star players. With LeBron James, point guard Kyrie Irving, and Love the Cavs had built a trifecta that was less accomplished in the NBA, but arguably matched Miami's talent.
In practice though, the trade might wind up disastrous. Love is out for the rest of the playoffs with a shoulder injury suffered in Round 1, and he could walk after just one season in Cleveland. The cost to get him was trading a package centered on 2015 No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins.
Wiggins' season was obscured by the Minnesota Timberwolves' poor record, but he has to be giving Cleveland's front office nightmares. He is already a high-level perimeter defender, and he averaged 16.9 points and 4.6 rebounds as a 20-year-old.
Love, on the other hand, became a glorified 3-point specialist; he took one 3-point shot per game fewer than he did a season ago, but the treys he did fire accounted for 41 percent of his total shots. That's up from 35 percent.
Love's usage dropped considerably as well. He took 12.7 shots per game (down from 18.5) and he lost seven points on his usage rate. He was publicly upbraided by LeBron at times, and Love even admitted he and James aren't "best friends."
Yahoo Sports reporter Adrian Wojnarowski said the Cavaliers are legitimately fearful that Love's rocky first year in Cleveland might send him elsewhere in free agency a la Dwight Howard's toxic stint with the Lakers.
"He's going to look at free agency, I think he's going to look at other teams," Wojnarowski said. "He can always opt in and go into free agency next summer where there's even a bigger pool of money. But there's a legitimate fear within the Cavs that he will just walk."
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