As the last man standing from the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2016 NBA title team, Kevin Love is now spilling some tea about that era.
In an episode this week of Bleacher Report’s “Full-Bodied” with former Cavs teammate Channing Frye, Love made an interesting admission about the 2016 squad led by LeBron James.
“We didn’t realize exactly what we had,” said the veteran Love. “What we had was so special … We were the most talented, underachieving regular season team of all-time. Without question. We didn’t care until the playoffs.
“We were ‘Days Of Our Lives,'” Love added. “We had so many storylines. We thrived under chaos. But when it came time, we had fun. We had the best times … Best years of my life.”
It is definitely interesting for Love to flat-out admit that the Cavs did not care about the regular season that year. While they had just made the Finals in 2015, the Cavs had yet to win it all before that season. The team was also integrating a new head coach in Tyronn Lue, who took over in the middle of the season, as well as new rotation players like Frye and Richard Jefferson.
In hindsight, the fact that the Cavs were coasting during the regular season was pretty apparent at times, especially on the part of their leader James. While the Cavs won a championship that year and made two more Finals appearances after that, it is probably not a practice that other contenders should imitate.
Photo: Feb 9, 2020; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) reacts in the second quarter against the LA Clippers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
