Kevin Love shows that post-LeBron Cavaliers install in the most delicate reality of the NBA



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In the current NBA, there are basically three types of teams: very good teams with legitimate and short-term aspirations, really bad teams that are clearly taking over and a lot of teams stuck. somewhere in the middle. From a construction point of view, life is a little easier for the first two types of teams – which can work, for the most part, with reasonable clarity, although there are always calls difficult to do.

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For teams stuck in the middle, there are only difficult calls.

Tuesday, Cleveland Cavaliers and Kevin Love agreed on a four-year, $ 120-million contract extension . With the signing, it looks like the post-LeBron Cavs have voluntarily signed up to be one of those teams stuck in the middle – not good enough to compete for anything beyond a playoff spot, but with a Star in Love, an exciting recruit to Collin Sexton and some remnants of the LeBron era, potentially not bad enough, especially in the humble lower half of the Eastern Conference, to get a choice of lottery with a strong leverage effect.

These days, we tend to evaluate teams, at least from the outside, through an extreme prism: Either you are a true title contender, or you are not – in this case, some would say, your best course of action is to start making moves to become one, whether it's tanking flat, trading big money stars with whom you have apparently stagnated, or at least not exacerbate the problem by signing a more expensive talent that is not I will take you to the next level.

Hello, Pistons and Blake Griffin.

That's why we heard at least rumors for a moment that the Wizards might be willing to swap John Wall. That's why we started hearing Damian Lillard's name in trade rumors, because Blazers, perhaps, might be feeling more and more stuck in the middle. Or maybe they fear that Lillard himself may begin to feel this way, and they are afraid of losing their star for nothing – the new big fear around the league.

Anyway, there is more glory to be a good team. The Raptors were clearly fed up when they sent DeMar DeRozan to Spurs for Kawhi Leonard, because Kawhi gives them a chance – even if it's only for a year – to be awesome. And if it does not work, they officially start to be bad. More medium.

It's a shame in the sense that every year in the NBA, there are maybe four or five teams, at most, who can consider themselves title contenders, and if each team does was not part of the other Of course, you would have 25 teams, sort of, throwing in the sponge. The Cavs can still end up moving Love. In fact, with it locked up in the long run, there is a reasonable scenario in which a team with a captains room – a team that will fail on the big free agent class next year – would be happy to # 39; acquire love, and would in turn give Cleveland an asset or two to speed up its seemingly inevitable reconstruction.

Personally, I still think it's the game. The Cavs lose their first-round pick of 2019 for the Hawks if they are not in the top 10, and that's a very interesting choice to give up just to finish seventh in the East. Do not exclude that love is processed before or at the February trading deadline. Beyond that, the Cavs have been clever in charging Love's contract and making it more attractive to other teams in the last two years, when he will earn less money. It will be just as the Cavs' books begin to get rid of all these dead weight contracts. You can see a long-term piece here that does not necessarily mean that they can still win with love as their centerpiece.

Yet, for the moment, the Cavs simply choose to put their best team on the floor, and there's something refreshing, just as there's something refreshing in the Mavericks that give 24 million $ to DeAndre Jordan. This is only for a year, but nevertheless, after drafting Luka Doncic and without any real way to any kind of short-term conflict, the Mavs could easily have tried to find another good choice next summer . But they did not do it. They simply watched their team and tried to improve, regardless of where it might place them in the Western Conference hierarchy. They are competing.

After all, it's easy to watch only your team versus the teams you're pursuing. We are not good enough to beat Golden State or Houston in the West, or Boston or Toronto in the East, so what's the point? With this goal, wizards could look like a useless team. The Blazers, Pelicans, Nuggets, Bucks, Pacers, Wolves and even the Spurs, who have decided to stay a middle-class team to acquire DeRozan rather than chasing younger assets, could look like useless teams . in the big scheme.

But is not it a sad way to look at the competition? Is there not something to be said for these teams believing that they can achieve this, even if all the "experts" look at their team on paper and reject it as pretenders? Is not it cool that Thunder is willing to pay a cargo of money to bring back a lost team in the first round? They believe in themselves. They do not want to step back for maybe, if they are lucky, take two at some point in the future. They want to play ball, and I must say that I am really excited to see if they can do anything that no one thinks they can do. OKC was becoming a very good team last season before Andre Roberson was injured. Without Carmelo Anthony, it may be the best defensive team in the league.

Indeed, much of this momentum comes back to the spirit of your team: are you going up or down? Or, maybe worse, are you flat? The Thunder, the Nuggets, the Jazz, the Pacers, the 76ers, the Bucks, the Lakers and maybe even the Pelicans are all teams on the rise, teams that at the moment can feel good in the world. Hope of something more. At the same time, the Wizards, realistically, are probably a greater threat to make the final than any of these teams, with the exception perhaps of the Sixers. The Blazers could finish in front of each of these Western teams. They did it last year. They feel different because they have not managed to qualify for a conference finals, which may be the case for most teams in the league.

The fact is, whether you're on the right track, downhill or stuck in the middle, a good team is a good team, no matter what the perception, and all of these teams are good teams. The more I look at it, the more I think that there is nothing wrong with being good. Personally, I am so tired of the predictability of the NBA that I find myself quietly hoping that every team that does not currently threaten the highest level in the league will refit itself. It's a selfish position. And a little silly. [SérieusementsivousêteslesBlazersparexempleetquevousvousdébarrassezdeDamianLillardquellessontleschancesquel'&#39undesjoueursquevousrécupérezquthey'?AgissederepêchagesoudejoueursactuelsseraaussibonqueDameencoremoinsmieuxPasgénialOndiraitquevousêtesentraindedéchirervotreéquipejustepourretourneraumêmeendroitsivousavezdelachanceJesupposequelamêmechosepeutêtreditepourlesCavsetLovequiaperdubeaucoupdesonlustreenprenantunrôleréduitau-delàdeLeBronetKyrieIrvingaucoursdesquatredernièresannéesmaisresteungarscapabledegarderuneéquipecompétitivetouslessoirs

Remember, this is still a very good player. Of the players who shot at least five points per game last year, he had the eighth highest percentage (41.5) in the league, which is almost dead, even with Kevin Durant. With Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins ​​and Karl-Anthony Towns, Love is one of four players to have averaged 17 points and 10 boards in the past four seasons. As an option # 1, there is still a potential of 20 years and 10 years.

Who knows what it will ultimately mean for the Cavs. Perhaps the defense of Love – and by extension their overall defense – will be too detrimental for them to be a playoff team. Maybe they keep the love and always end up missing out on the playoffs and getting that top-10 pick. This is entirely possible. The Cavs, after all, had only 4-15 over the last four seasons in games in which LeBron did not play, so it 's not like Love that is guaranteed for them. make good. But for the moment, at least in appearance, the Cavs are at least trying to be a good team more than trying to be a bad one team. And I guess what I say is good for them.

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