NBA Rumors: 5 reasons Dirk Nowitzki should sign with Cavaliers
By John Buhler
1. Fills the Kevin Love role perfectly
Although he was part of the 2015-16 NBA Championship roster, it’s become increasingly clear that starting power forward Kevin Love doesn’t fit with the Cavaliers as well as James and company would have hoped.
That’s because Love and James essentially play the same position at this time: power forward. Though Love is a skilled three-point shooter, he’s been asked to take on a strictly perimeter-based offensive role with the Cavaliers, similar to what James had Chris Bosh do in Miami: shoot from the perimeter so that so-so jump shooter James will have an easier time of attacking the rim.
The problem is that Love’s offensive game is too well-rounded to be relegated to just catch-and-shoot three-point attempts. He’s a great low-post player and is under-utilized in the current Cleveland offense. It also doesn’t help that he is a tremendous liability defensively. While his value is at an all-time low, Cleveland will look to trade Love this offseason.
Nowitzki, though rapidly approaching 40, plays exactly how James wanted Love to play in Cleveland: a big that lives to shoot jumpers from beyond the arc at a high clip to stretch out the opposing defense.
Yes, Nowitzki does tend to go in isolation and James won’t particularly like that, but the seven-foot German could help give Cleveland even more dynamism on offense with his still elite offensive game. Even in a lesser role than what he has in Dallas, opposing defenders have to respect Nowitzki’s great jump shot and that will make the floor open up more for James and point guard Kyrie Irving to thrive on offense.
For more NBA free agency coverage, please check out our NBA free agency category page.