Kevin Love: 'I'm just trying to find myself in this offense'
Struggling though they may be, the Cleveland Cavaliers still boast the NBA's fifth-best offense. The frightening thing about that fact is that power forward Kevin Love, who averaged 26.1 points per game and shot 45.7 percent with the Timberwolves last season, is scoring just 16.7 on 38.9 percent shooting so far in 2014-15.
Conventional wisdom holds that Love will figure things out, but early in his Cavaliers tenure, he's struggled both to find his shot and to understand his role in an offense that doesn't feature him as its centerpiece.
"It's come to a point where I'm just trying to find myself in this offense," Love said after scoring just 10 points (his lowest output of the season) in Cleveland's 92-90 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday. "It's almost related to when you come into the league; usually the guys that dominate the ball so much tend to learn a lot quicker than a guy like myself, a big man. So, I'm just trying to find different spots in the offense.
"I'll just say we're 10 games in, we're looking at different stuff. I need to find myself. I think everybody knew coming in that we'd have to sacrifice, but at some point we're going to need some low-post scoring and some outside shooting."
Love's ability to get comfortable with his new teammates in rookie head coach David Blatt's offense is worth monitoring, not just for how it will impact the Cavs this season, but how it might impact them down the road.
Love will be an unrestricted free agent at season's end, and while recent evidence dictates that so-called "superteams" like the nascent one in Cleveland tend to take some time to hit their stride, there's no guarantee Love will decide to wait things out if he doesn't feel like the fit is right.
For now, though, he's saying all the right things, acknowledging his struggles while making sure to temper any reactions with the it's-still-early doctrine that's fast becoming a Cavaliers rallying cry.
"Like anything it's going to take time," Love said. "I'm not worried about it. I'm not mad at it, don't feel any sort of grudge or anything like that. I just want to help this team. I think I came here to win and we're going to figure it out. It's still early."