Despite having played in less than a third of his team’s total games this season, Cleveleand Cavaliers former All-Star big man Kevin Love has still made quite a significant impact for the Cavs.
According to team general manager Koby Altman, Love has been great in terms of aiding in the development of the younger players in the team’s roster.
“Kevin spiked the growth of our younger guys,” said Altman, via Terry Pluto of cleveland.com. “Kevin is a big part of where we are going as well.”
The Cavs are indeed a pretty young side, with only five players on their 15-man roster above 26 years of age. Love, 30, is a tested veteran with championship-caliber experience, so surely, he was able to teach the younger guys on his squad a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in the league.
Altman went on to say, however, that although his impact off the court has been tremendous, Love’s presence on the floor absolutely lifted the game of the entire team.
“When Kevin came back, we were playing competitive basketball,” said Altman. “It was fun to watch.”
After an extended spell on the sidelines, Love returned to action in early February. Since his comeback, the Cavs were able to record seven wins out of a total of 18 games played with Love in the lineup. That certainly isn’t much, but considering the fact that the team won only 19 games this season, those seven victories with Love already accounts for more than a third of the Cavs’ total wins this year.
In his fifth season for Cleveland, Kevin Love was able to put up averages of 17.0 points (on 38.5 percent shooting), 2.4 three-pointers, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 27.2 minutes of action.