Kevin Love plays naturally how Miami wanted Bosh to play but..

[Hoopz2332]

with superior rebounding (bosh was allergic to rebounding), passing ability (bosh is a blackhole) and worse defense (Bosh is more athletic with quicker feet). Lebron and Love should mesh easy on offense but Love's defense is going drive LBJ crazy

[Collie]

Weird that Bosh was actually a decent rebounder in Toronto. Averaged 24-11 his last year there.

[GimmeThat]

with superior rebounding (bosh was allergic to rebounding), passing ability (bosh is a blackhole) and worse defense (Bosh is more athletic with quicker feet). Lebron and Love should mesh easy on offense but Love's defense is going drive LBJ crazy

Irving is different than Wade in that he is a natural passer though. He'll be looking to pass before he looks to score. Plus where he operates on the floor is very different than Wade.

What salary Love commands on his next contract is certainly going to influence the degree of LBJ being crazy over his defense.

[GimmeThat]

Weird that Bosh was actually a decent rebounder in Toronto. Averaged 24-11 his last year there.

same way Rodman averaged 3/8 against Malone I guess

[FreezingTsmoove]

same way Rodman averaged 3/8 against Malone I guess

[Hoopz2332]

Irving is different than Wade in that he is a natural passer though. He'll be looking to pass before he looks to score. Plus where he operates on the floor is very different than Wade.

Irving is a natural passer?

[DMAVS41]

with superior rebounding (bosh was allergic to rebounding), passing ability (bosh is a blackhole) and worse defense (Bosh is more athletic with quicker feet). Lebron and Love should mesh easy on offense but Love's defense is going drive LBJ crazy

Love's defense is actually not that bad. The issue is simple. Love can't play center like Bosh could.

So the Cavs, with Love, won't be able to go small with Love on the court. They'll need to always have a center out there.

Honestly though...I don't see that as a big issue. They should have a center out there and their best lineup would be some form of;

Kyrie
Waiters or Wiggins (whichever is there)
Lebron
Love
Andy (or quality defensive center)

Having a front line of Lebron/Love/Andy would destroy teams. Nobody would ever get a rebound and the defense would be fine actually from Love in that example. The issue would be guard defense and center defense because Andy is old and often injured.

It just takes proper team building. No more playing a pf at center like the Heat did with Bosh...Bosh could do it, but it wasn't ideal either...not like they didn't get raped by bigs all the time.

So I do think the defense would be a problem, but it actually wouldn't be because of Love. It would be because of Irving, Waiters, Thompson, Miller...and relying heavily on old Andy.

That is why I think it is so crucial to either keep Wiggins...or if they do trade him...to get Dieng back in return. If they trade Wiggins...don't get Dieng...and take back Martin...then yea...the defense really is kind of ****ed.

[Hey Yo]

Weird that Bosh was actually a decent rebounder in Toronto. Averaged 24-11 his last year there.

Then with Miami, he said he didn't want to bang down low and battle for rebounds anymore. It took to much energy away from being able to play above avg. defense.

[KendrickPerkins]

Irving is different than Wade in that he is a natural passer though.

[Kungfro]

Weird that Bosh was actually a decent rebounder in Toronto. Averaged 24-11 his last year there.

Someone had to grab rebounds, and it sure as hell wasn't Bargnani.

[Kingwillball]

Love's defense is actually not that bad. The issue is simple. Love can't play center like Bosh could.

So the Cavs, with Love, won't be able to go small with Love on the court. They'll need to always have a center out there.

Honestly though...I don't see that as a big issue. They should have a center out there and their best lineup would be some form of;

Kyrie
Waiters or Wiggins (whichever is there)
Lebron
Love
Andy (or quality defensive center)

Having a front line of Lebron/Love/Andy would destroy teams. Nobody would ever get a rebound and the defense would be fine actually from Love in that example. The issue would be guard defense and center defense because Andy is old and often injured.

It just takes proper team building. No more playing a pf at center like the Heat did with Bosh...Bosh could do it, but it wasn't ideal either...not like they didn't get raped by bigs all the time.

So I do think the defense would be a problem, but it actually wouldn't be because of Love. It would be because of Irving, Waiters, Thompson, Miller...and relying heavily on old Andy.

That is why I think it is so crucial to either keep Wiggins...or if they do trade him...to get Dieng back in return. If they trade Wiggins...don't get Dieng...and take back Martin...then yea...the defense really is kind of ****ed.

The Cavs will play small at least half the time however.. Irving,Wiggins(Waiters,Allen,Martin),Miller,Lebron ,Love will not be an ideal defensive team especially if Wiggins is gone but man will they space the floor even more than the Heat could..Love can somewhat guard the Pau Gasols of the World but obviously would have a tough time covering D12 ect.. Lucky for Cavs there is only 4 or 5 true centers left in the NBA that can dominate down low with a mismatch.

[DMAVS41]

The Cavs will play small at least half the time however.. Irving,Wiggins(Waiters,Allen,Martin),Miller,Lebron ,Love will not be an ideal defensive team especially if Wiggins is gone but man will they space the floor even more than the Heat could..Love can somewhat guard the Pau Gasols of the World but obviously would have a tough time covering D12 ect.. Lucky for Cavs there is only 4 or 5 true centers left in the NBA that can dominate down low with a mismatch.

The difference is the Heat had Chalmers (way better than Irving defensively), Wade (way better than Waiters defensively), and younger Lebron (probably way better than aging Lebron defensively)...and in Bosh they had a pf that could play center...and play pretty well defensively.

It's completely different. I really don't think this Cavs team could ever get by consistently playing Love at center.

I mean...Irving, Waiters, Miller, Lebron, and Love out there? Ugh....that is horrendous defensively unless Blatt is able to come up with the best zone ever.

[Kingwillball]

The difference is the Heat had Chalmers (way better than Irving defensively), Wade (way better than Waiters defensively), and younger Lebron (probably way better than aging Lebron defensively)...and in Bosh they had a pf that could play center...and play pretty well defensively.

It's completely different. I really don't think this Cavs team could ever get by consistently playing Love at center.

I mean...Irving, Waiters, Miller, Lebron, and Love out there? Ugh....that is horrendous defensively unless Blatt is able to come up with the best zone ever.

Thing is there is no reason for Waiters,Kyrie and Love not to be good defenders.. Defense is at least 75% trying and bad teams going nowhere don't try nearly as a title contending team. Waiters could be EASILY as good as the Wade we saw in this years playoffs but that is not saying much but he has a similar body type and has young fresh legs. Irving again should improve with Age on defense and honestly Chalmers was overrated in every aspect of his game including defense. Lebron improved ALOT on defense from year 3-8 so some of these young guys still have hope. Same goes for Love who has a big strong body and should at least try harder on a better team. Lebron will not LET the young guys slack so Im not as worried. BTW- Mike Miller is a decent Defender and good rebounder for his size as well.

[bizil]

Well the Heat liked playing a small lineup and having Bosh being a stretch big man. Love is arguably the best rebounder in the world and is more physical than Bosh. And the only big man Love has to take a backseat to in terms of a stretch big is Dirk. So Love at center when they go small is a better fit. And Love is just flat out a better player at the PF spot anyway. Bosh has the edge on Love though in terms of athletic ability, defense, and slashing to the rack.

[DMAVS41]

Thing is there is no reason for Waiters,Kyrie and Love not to be good defenders.. Defense is at least 75% trying and bad teams going nowhere don't try nearly as a title contending team. Waiters could be EASILY as good as the Wade we saw in this years playoffs but that is not saying much but he has a similar body type and has young fresh legs. Irving again should improve with Age on defense and honestly Chalmers was overrated in every aspect of his game including defense. Lebron improved ALOT on defense from year 3-8 so some of these young guys still have hope. Same goes for Love who has a big strong body and should at least try harder on a better team. Lebron will not LET the young guys slack so Im not as worried. BTW- Mike Miller is a decent Defender and good rebounder for his size as well.

Love will never be able to protect the rim. I think that is what you are missing. He doesn't have the athleticism or long arms required to protect the paint at center.

It won't work.

Not a big deal though...Love is a fine defender at PF as long as he's got a decent center next to him.