Cleveland Cavaliers: Kevin Love expects to play center this season
By Wes Goldberg
Kevin Love will play some center for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season
With LeBron James and David Blatt now working for the Cleveland Cavaliers, there stands to be plenty of changes for everyone involved as two of the brightest minds in basketball put their imprint on the organization.
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For Kevin Love, who fills out the NBA’s newest Big Three, it could mean changes for him, too. Unlike his time in Minnesota, Love won’t be the primary scoring option. In fact, he figures to be the third option behind James and Kyrie Irving.
To learn how to handle this, Kevin Love should look no further than the Miami Heat’s Chris Bosh. In order to make his impact felt, Bosh learned to stand out in more ways than just scoring. Coaches moved him to center in order to best utlize his shooting and make him an even more powerful floor-spacing weapon.
According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Love could find himself doing much of the same as Cleveland continues to use Miami’s model.
Love says he expects to play some center this season. Imagine CLE putting him at the 5, LeBron at the 4, Marion/Miller at 3 then Kyrie/Dion
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 5, 2014
Playing center isn’t necessarily a rarity for Love. During his six seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Love played at center 35 percent of the time, according to basketball-reference.com.
At 6-foot-10, 260 pounds, Kevin Love is one of the better rebounders in the NBA. He has the size and strength to play center, but his positioning on defense could be an issue in long spurts.
The Heat did the same thing when moving Bosh–an offensive-minded power forward–to center. In four years, Bosh has become of the better defensive centers in the league. Kevin Love won’t likely be played exclusively at center, but it stands to reason he could still improve in this sense.
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