The Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed upon a three-team trade which will bring Kevin Love to the Cleveland. The Cavaliers will send Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota in exchange for Love. The T-Wolves will also receive Thaddeus Young from the 76ers in exchange for Miami's 2015 first round pick, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved.
This deal has been in the works for a number of weeks, but has only just been finalized. With this trade, the 76ers will likely run a small lineup. The Cavaliers will have a "big three" in LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving, and the T-Wolves will have restored their future, with Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett.
Let's take a look at how this changes Cleveland's roster in depth, and their hunt for the NBA title:
First and foremost, how does this trade affect Kyrie Irving? First, Kyrie Irving obviously wants the ball in his hands. He's also been talked about being bad on defense. If Kyrie takes some offensive pressure off himself, and Lebron and Love help with that, we could see a beter defensive point guard in Irving. Some say defense is all about effort, which might not be completely true, but he will at least be able to put more energy and focus on that end of the floor.
Second, Love and LeBron take so much focus individually, that if used correctly Irving could find some easy buckets just because he isn't getting double teamed. Irving is real good 1 on 1 and the threat of Love and James can increase the chances of Irving in 1 on 1 situations.
As for Love with Irving, David Blatt's new offense has some wrinkles of pick and rolls. This could become amazing for the two of them because Love is incredible at the "pick and pop."
The threat of the drive allows Love to slip out around the arc for open looks. This should be even greater on the Cavaliers because Irving is handling the ball, not Rubio. Irving's offensive threat is much greater than Ricky Rubio and that could lead to easy buckets for Irving or open looks for Love.
As for where James fits in all of this, one should look at he and Chris Bosh worked together in Miami. Bosh will creep into the corners a lot, for a kick-out from LeBron.
It should be expected that these looks would come about from a LeBron and Love pairing. Tim Duncan saw the threat of LeBron driving and slid so far that it wasn't recoverable to cover the three as well. This will be the main hope offensively for when James has the ball and is looking to pass.
Love's great rebounding also comes into play. Having Irving and James on each sideline waiting for an outlet pass from Love could be hazardous for opposing teams.
The Cavaliers starting lineup looks to be Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Anderson Varejao. The group will likely have a lot of different wrinkles in it, so that Irving and Lebron can get the maximized ball-time on the court, but this group will be the lineup and should be the favorite in the Eastern Conference.