Kevin Love was officially introduced by the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday afternoon. He will wear the number 0. During his introduction, Love had many things to say, most importantly that he wanted to be traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers once LeBron James made his decision.
“LeBron signed to come back, and a few hours later he called me and I said ‘I’m in,’” Love told reporters during his news conference. “That had a lot to do with my decision. It means a lot to be part of this organization.”
Love, James, and Kyrie Irving will now form their own big three. Love believes that he has an excellent chance to win a title in Cleveland. In his six years in the league, Love has yet to make it to the playoffs.
“We know LeBron is the focal point, but we have a lot of damn good players,” Love said.
Even though he is on a winning team, Love says that he will not sign an extension. Nevertheless, he plans to stay in Cleveland long term.
“[An extension] hasn’t been talked about. I’m committed to this team and committed long term to the end goal, which is to win a championship,” Love said.
The Cavaliers do not mind the risk. They are confident that Love will remain with them because of LeBron James and were aggressively pursuing him once the Minnesota Timberwolves placed him on their trading block after Love indicated that he will opt out of his deal with Minnesota next summer.
During his conference, Love also touched a bit on his number change. “I thought this was a chance to start fresh, to pick a new number that would suit me,” Love stated.
Only time will let us know how the trio of Love, James, and Irving will fit in together, but the Cavs definitely have an incredibly talented roster on hand.
In addition to all this, in Minnesota, Timberwolves’ owner has made some strong statements about Love.
“I question Kevin if this is going to be the best deal for him because I think he’s going to be the third player on a team. I don’t think he’s going to get a lot of credit if they do really well. I think he’ll get the blame if they don’t do well. He’s going to have to learn to handle that,” Minnesota’s owner Glen Taylor said.
“Now I’m not saying that Kevin’s not good, but I think where maybe he got away with some stuff, not playing defense on our team, I’m not sure how that’s going to work in Cleveland. So I would guess they’re going to ask him to play more defense. And he’s foul-prone.” Taylor continued.
“I think Kevin, his offensive skills got better than I think we estimated. The only thing that I still have a question mark about will be his health. I had that concern then, I still have that concern and I think Cleveland should have that concern, too,” Taylor added.
Shots have certainly been fired in Minnesota. Kevin Love spent his entire career with the Timberwolves, averaging 19.2 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, but it seems like their owner Glen Taylor was not satisfied with Love’s lack of defense, which will be tested in Cleveland.
Nonetheless, the Cavaliers feel like they are the biggest winner in this trade and believe that they will soon be a championship team with Love on board.