Cavaliers Notes: Love, Trades, Hood

The Cavaliers will need Kevin Love to post the type of numbers he put up regularly in Minnesota for them to remain a playoff contender after the departure of LeBron James, writes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Love had an eventful off-season, highlighted by his 30th birthday last week and a four-year, $120MM extension in July.

Love was an All-Star with the Timberwolves before a trade brought him to Cleveland to be part of a Big Three with James and Kyrie Irving. That trio reached three straight NBA Finals and won the 2016 title before Irving was traded to Boston last summer.

Love played 59 games last season and made his fifth All-Star appearance, but he was sidelined for much of the year by a broken hand. He has become the face of the franchise now, Vardon notes, and the Cavaliers will be expecting much more than the 17.6 PPG and 9.3 RPG he averaged last year.

There’s more news out of Cleveland:

  • The Cavaliers should ignore calls to trade Love and accelerate the rebuilding process, David Aldridge of TNT writes in a mailbag column. Cleveland doesn’t have a great history of attracting free agents, Aldridge argues, and that path would be much more difficult without an elite player on the roster. Love can keep the Cavs competitive for the next couple of seasons, then be traded if the organization decides to commit to a youth movement.
  • Rodney Hood will be competing against a talented group of shooting guards when he becomes unrestricted free agent next summer, notes Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report. After failing to get a contract he liked as a restricted free agent, Hood opted to accept Cleveland’s $3,472,887 qualifying offer, reportedly turning down a three-year deal from the team in the neighborhood of $21MM. Also hitting the open market next summer will be Klay Thompson, J.J. Redick, Tyreke Evans, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Austin Rivers, Mario HezonjaDanny Green, Terrence Ross and Jeremy Lamb.
  • Hood’s body of work through his first four seasons suggests his best days might still be ahead of him despite his playoff struggles, Joe Gabriele of the team’s website opines. Hood could have a breakout season since he’ll have more of a scoring and leadership role with the James-less Cavs, Gabriele adds.
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