Cavaliers’ Kevin Love: ‘I’m not a stretch-four’

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love appeared to express dissatisfaction with his current team role, saying he’s “not a stretch-four.”

After a slow start to the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have righted the ship since LeBron James returned from a two-week sabbatical in January. The Cavs have solved many of the issues that made them a .500 team for the first few months and they currently find themselves at 40-25 and the odds-on championship favorite.

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However, one problem has continued to linger for this team: Kevin Love, the guy who the Cavs traded a future superstar in Andrew Wiggins for last summer, has not fit in well.

Love has had difficulty going from being the No. 1 option that he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves to being the No. 3 option in Cleveland. Love is now being asked to fill the floor-spacing role that Chris Bosh played in Miami alongside LeBron James for the previous four seasons.

While Bosh embraced such a role, Love has not. The Cavaliers big man told Cleveland.com after the Cavaliers’ loss on Friday to the Atlanta Hawks that he does not seem himself as a stretch-four.

"Love is launching 8.1 threes per contest in his last seven games. His highest rate of threes taken in Minnesota was 6.6 last year, and that was along with the inside touches he received. No matter what the statistics suggest, Love is not in agreement on the big-man long distance tag.“I heard some people calling me that but I know I’m not a stretch-four,” Love told NEOMG. “I’m a post player who can shoot. Right now I’m just doing what I’m called to do. For good, bad or indifferent, I’m playing my role and doing what’s asked of me. Tonight, I stayed out on the perimeter.”"

This is not a good sign for the Cavaliers. While Love is certainly a talented post-up player and it’s understandable that he’d want to play in the paint more, he needs to embrace his role for the sake of the team. The Cavs have a real shot at winning at all this season, but that won’t happen if one of its best players is unhappy.

Love is averaging 16.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.

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