Kevin Love could soon become the center of attention in Cleveland … literally.
Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue said on Saturday that Love could be named the team’s permanent starting center, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“Spacing opportunities, spacing the floor,” said Lue when asked what he liked about Love as a 5. “Being able to play through the elbows with multiple guys.”
The Cavs usually roll with Tristan Thompson as an undersized center next to Love at the 4. But Love is actually the taller of the two as well as an excellent rebounder in his own right. Sliding him up a position could also create an opening for a defensive-minded wing like Jae Crowder in the starting lineup and/or free up the lane so the Cavs could start say, Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade in the backcourt (though their rim protection would definitely suffer).
It seems that Lue has increasingly wanted to emphasize Love on offense the deeper he has gotten into his head coaching tenure, and with Kyrie Irving no longer in the picture, this could be an excellent way to do just that.
