The Cleveland Cavaliers took two huge hits in the past couple of years with Kyrie Irving being traded to the Boston Celtics and LeBron James opting to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers this summer. Without the two best players of their successful 2016 championship run, sweet-shooting big man Kevin Love will now assume leadership responsibilities in The Land.
This time, though, LeBron left the Cavs in good faith and Love doesn’t have any ill feelings. Love sat down with SportsCenter and he talked about his former teammate’s move to Hollywood.
“I think he’s always looking for a different challenge,” said Love about James. “He’s always wondering what’s next and it feels like sometimes he’s playing chess and everybody else is playing checkers. He’s very very mentally strong, knows the game of basketball so well and sometimes, there’s things that he sees that other people don’t. So I think making it to four straight Finals, him helping the most in us winning a championship in 2016… I think he might’ve been looking for something different. A change and the next chapter for him and here we are.”
A new and exciting challenge was also the reason why LeBron came back to Cleveland in the summer of 2014. He promised on delivering a long-awaited championship for the city, which he fulfilled after beating the formidable Golden State Warriors in 2016.
This season, Love needs to turn back the clock and go back to the mentality of a main man that he was in his playing days with the Minnesota Timberwolves. It will be interesting to see how he and the Cavs try to become a relevant team in the East as they move on from the LeBron James saga.