The recent departure of LeBron James officially marked the end of the Big 3 era for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Kevin Love is the only remaining member of the once fearsome trio, and the 30-year-old has now become the Cavs’ undisputed cornerstone superstar.
Head coach Tryonn Lue is equal parts hopeful and excited with the prospect of Love taking back his role as the team’s alpha dog. The 41-year-old coach recently shared his thoughts on this matter, and made it abundantly clear that he is 100 percent behind his “new” star player.
“I hope it’s kind of close to what he did in Minnesota,” Lue said of Love’s role, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “In Minnesota, carrying that franchise, being a focal point, playing a lot from the elbows, posting a lot more, we know he can do that. When he came here he sacrificed to win a championship and he did that. He had to be the one to sacrifice most of the time. Now he’s back in this role and pretty excited about it so I’m excited as well.”
Before making the move to Cleveland in 2014, Love was the franchise star of the Minnesota Timberwolves. In six seasons with the Wolves, the 6-foot-10 big man averaged 19.2 points on 45.1% shooting, 1.2 three-pointers, 12.2 rebounds (he was the league’s top rebounder in the 2010-11 season when he grabbed an average of 15.2 boards per contest), 2.5 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.5 blocks.
As Lue explained, Love needed to take the back seat when he teamed up with LeBron and Kyrie Irving. This is not going to be the case this season, and Lue is more than excited to see Love bring back the glory days of past.
The Cavs are obviously hoping a peak version of Love is ready to roll.