When a player carelessly blocks and defends on the court, or even throws the ball directly to the opponent in the moment of emotional outburst, then you must feel that the player is very unprofessional, he must be a tumor in the locker room, but this is what Kevin Love, a 32-year-old championship member last season, did, mentioning That Lefour The first thing that comes to mind must be that he and James and Owen worked together to help Cleveland get the first championship trophy in team history, and Love is also a hero of Cleveland. But after James and Irving left, Lefour alone can not keep the Cavaliers competitive, the rotten Cavaliers need time to cultivate more young people, you will see how low Lefour's position on the court last season, he seems to be able to stay in the bottom corner forever, which will inevitably make Lefour emotionally explode.
But this season's Love seems to have adjusted his mentality, he accepted his substitute role, he diligently led the bench lineup, he is also the dressing room leader of this young Cavaliers, according to statistics, Love has cut 20+ in 4 consecutive games, leveling the longest personal record in the past 4 seasons. And Love shot a total of 57 three-pointers in December, setting a record for the most three-point shots in a single month for a player in Cavaliers history, and finally Love also left his name on the Cavaliers' history. In addition, Love also became the first player in Cavaliers history to score 35+ points and 10+ rebounds in 30 minutes of a single game. Love is now playing efficiently and happily, not only because the team has found a way forward, the Cavaliers are now 6th in the East with a record of 22 wins and 16 losses, but also because Love has set his mind right, and although he is on the bench, his position is much better than last season.
Luck averaged the lowest playing time per game this season, just 21.8 minutes, but he averaged 14.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 44% from the field, 42.6% from three-point range, and averaging 2.7 three-pointers per game, ranking 24th in the league. Compared with last season, Love really played too well, we have all seen Love at the peak, he was also a data monster, in the Timberwolves period two doubles for Love only he wanted to get, came to the Cavalier Love is transformed into the anti-aircraft turret next to James, so Love he has the ability to continue to play efficient performance, not to mention that now he is only 33 years old, this age is the best age for a player experience and technology combination, plus this season the Cavaliers have corrected Garland, the bench is led by Rubio, They prefer to share the ball with their teammates rather than keep the ball in their own hands all the time.
In addition, this season's Love's defense is also the best performance of his career, this season under love, the shooting rate of opposing players will drop from 46.6% to 41.7%, of which the basket is less than 6 feet (frame data), the opponent's shooting rate will drop from 62.6%, to 52.9%, and Love's defensive efficiency is now 39th in the league, which is simply a rebirth compared with Love's previous defense. The reason why Luck rebounded this season is not only related to his own adjustment, in fact, there is also a certain relationship with Love's playing as a substitute, Love as a 5-time All-Star, championship member, his strength faces the bench of other teams or crushing level, looking at the bench of other teams, who has such brilliant achievements as Luck? The 33-year-old Lefour is crushing young players both technically and empirically, and the physical strength of lefour against the elderly players has a relative advantage, so Lefu plays smoothly in the substitute lineup.
In addition, after the Cavaliers traded to Rubio, the substitution lineup control and organizational tasks were fully handed over to him, Rubio is a better passer than Sexton, Lefour naturally got more shots, put Sexton on the bench, which made Lefon play more comfortable, he finally did not have to watch Sexton alone there to transport around. Immediately after Rubio's season reimbursement, the Cavaliers found another replacement player, Rajan Rondo, and the Cavaliers knew rubio's importance to the entire lineup, and they needed a commander with a similar style to Rubio to lead the bench.
LeFou state recovery this is a good news for the Cavaliers, when James announced the departure of Cleveland, the Cavaliers resolutely gave Lefour a 4-year 120 million big contract, originally thought that Lefour would bring more draft picks to the team, but Lefour, which was peddled for two years, was actually unloved, and we can even see that the names of Lefu, Wall, and Westbrook will always be mentioned repeatedly when discussing premium contracts, and now Lefu's performance is indeed likely to bring more future to the team. After all, the Cavaliers want to send away Lefour is not a day or two thing, but now it is the Cavaliers who are in a dilemma, the team is very promising to impact the playoffs this season, these young people need to be trained in the playoffs, if they send Lefour away, the team will lack an important substitute firepower, if they do not send Lefu this season, next season Lefu will have such a state that no one knows, not to mention that few teams will be willing to take over a 34-year-old veteran with a salary of 30 million.
In fact, no matter how Lefour and the Cavaliers end up, for Lefour his career is already perfect enough, he has taken a big contract, he has been the core of the team, he has won the championship, Lefu can already be said to have achieved a height that many players can't reach, as for the later want to achieve higher achievements, this seems to be no longer realistic for Lefour, the best sixth person this season may be a result that Lefu is worth chasing, in short, this season's Lefu also makes people see that it is not me who can't do it, as long as I have enough opportunities to still contribute, The Cavaliers' big brother has finally earned his share of respect this season.