It appears that some fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t taken too kindly to former Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love.
At 17-11, the Cavaliers haven’t gotten off to the fast start many fans were hoping for. They trail teams like Toronto, Atlanta, Washington and Chicago in the Eastern Conference.
Following the 101-91 Christmas Day loss to Miami – LeBron James’ first trip to play his former team – a few fans are focusing their blame on the player that cost them the past two No. 1 picks in the NBA Draft.
One Cavaliers fan even started a petition on Change.org demanding the Cavaliers get rid of Love.
Blogger Josh Hill for the King James Gospel blog on Fansided called Love’s loss of confidence and inconsistency “a deadly thing in all the wrong ways.”
“Love has played well against bad teams and sort of dried up against the good ones. He was a combined 0-for-6 from beyond the arc against the Grizzlies and Heat and managed to total just 13 rebounds between those two games. For comparison, Love grabbed 14 boards against the Nets and is averaging 11.3 rebounds per game. He’s hitting less than 35 percent of his three-point attempts and can’t seem to break out of that slump.”
Love has never been terribly consistent from behind the arc. For his career he is a 36 percent 3-point shooter, whose numbers have had significant highs and lows, but many of his other numbers are also down in Cleveland.
According to the Star Tribune, he is averaging 16.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, down from 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds in his final season with the Wolves.
While Love has spent more of his time on the perimeter to open up the inside for LeBron, one can’t help but ask if Love would have allowed this dunk in Minnesota last season.
After forcing his way out of Minnesota to play with James in Cleveland, Love may have to lay in the mess that he has helped create.
