Kevin Love eager for playoff credibility with Cavaliers

Kevin Love's career statistics are stellar. In six NBA seasons, Love has averaged 19.2 points and 12.2 rebounds, including 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds last season. Since joining the league in 2008-09, Love has registered the third-most double-doubles (256), leading the league 65 last season.

His credentials are also impressive: three-time All-Star, All-NBA second team in 2011-12 and 2013-14 and gold medalist at the 2010 World Championship and 2012 London Olympics.

But there is one conspicuous omission on an otherwise strong résumé. Love, one of the league's best power forwards, has never made it to the playoffs.

That's expected to change this season now that Love is playing for the star-laden Cleveland Cavaliers — the new Big 3 of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Love — and if all goes as expected, Love will be playing deep into May and possibly into June in the NBA Finals.

"I'm just looking forward to learning from the guys who have been there and done that before, LeBron included, and all the way through our entire lineup," Love said. "There's a lot to be learned. I'm just going to try and be a sponge and absorb as much as possible. Stay grounded and have the humility that a lot of people have taught me. Continue to get better every day."

Despite Love's lack of playoff experience, the Cavaliers need him to play like a playoff veteran this season. His willingness to learn from teammates — guys who have won titles — such as LeBron James, Mike Miller, Shawn Marion and James Jones will be critical.

His scoring, including his ability to stretch the floor and make three-pointers, his rebounding, his on-the-money outlet passes and yes, his defense — a commitment he needs to focus on this season — will help determine Cleveland's fate.

James' decision to return to Cleveland made the Cavaliers a contender in the East, but Love's arrival made the Cavs the favorite to win the championship.

Marion blurted out that he would not have signed with Cleveland had James not come back, but he also said he wouldn't be with the Cavaliers had they not acquired Love in a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"LeBron here coming wasn't enough," the ever-honest veteran and NBA champion said. "It was more so finalizing the deal with Kevin Love. That sold it. That made it more realistic like we do have a shot to win the championship this year."

Landing Love was a tricky proposition. As soon as James announced in July he would re-join Cleveland, the Cavaliers had serious interest in Love. But the Timberwolves played hardball with every team that inquired about Love and they weren't trading him without their demand being met.

When Cleveland called, Minnesota made it clear Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft, and another one of Cleveland's young lottery picks were necessary to get a deal done. At first, the Cavaliers were reluctant to part with Wiggins and his superstar potential, but ultimately they acquiesced because if James is going to lead the Cavaliers to a championship sooner rather than later, getting Love now was imperative to that goal.

But even then, it wasn't a simple deal. When the Cavs signed Wiggins to his rookie contract on July 24, they weren't allowed to trade him for 30 days.

"We were kind of in legal purgatory for about a month or 30 days," Love said. "It wasn't over until it was over for me. I had to go through the entire process of doing the physical, taking the blood, doing my due diligence and finally on that day, I got the call from my agent Jeff Schwartz that it was a done deal.

"It took me until after the press conference and all the way to now — moving here to Cleveland and getting settled in for it to really hit home."

Love doesn't know yet what's required to win in the playoffs, he has figured out that sacrifice will be a big part of Cleveland's success. Those gaudy numbers Love generated for the Timberwolves likely will decrease with the Cavaliers. James, Irving and Love can't all average 20 points and Love isn't the only one who likes to rebound. James, Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson hit the boards, too.

How Love responds to a bigger spotlight, more scrutiny and decreased statistics will be an important storyline to follow. So far, he has the right answers.

"I'd be lying to myself and everybody here if I was telling you I didn't have to sacrifice," Love said. "It's going to have to be an effort throughout the entire team to do what's best for the Cleveland Cavaliers. We don't know what that is really yet, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes for this team to win because at the end of the day, what we want is to win."

Interestingly, Miami's Chris Bosh might be a rough blueprint for Love. In 2009-10 — the season before Bosh joined the Heat — he averaged 24 points and 10.8 rebounds for the Toronto Raptors. In four seasons with Miami, Bosh never averaged more than 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds. Bosh sacrificed scoring and rebounds, but it also turned him into a more versatile player offensively and defensively. It also led to two NBA championships.

Love will need to re-shape his game, just as Bosh did.

"I don't know one stat in particular that will have to take a hit," he said. I've been fortunate and unfortunate. Very, very, very bittersweet to say the least that I've had to watch playoff basketball for the last six years. I've watched Bosh. I've watched guys like (Dwyane) Wade and different players throughout that team sacrifice."

There's even a part of Love that appreciates he won't need 26 points and 13 rebounds a game for the Cavs to win games — like he had to do for the Timberwolves.

"Whether it was 2010 or 2012, in Turkey or in London, when I played for Team USA, that was one of the things I realized: the onus doesn't necessarily always have to be on me," Love said.

Love's exact role will be a work-in-progress, but first-year Cavs coach David Blatt is a creative offensive and defensive mind. For starters, it's easy to envision Love spreading the floor at the three-point line or running pick-and-roll sets with Irving or even James. How would you like to defend those two in pick-and-roll? Or how about Love grabbing the rebound and firing an outlet pass to James or Irving.

"It's a very gratifying feeling to throw an outlet. … Now, it's going to be 3-on-2, 2-on-1, 1-on-0 situations whether it's Ky, Dion (Waiters), LeBron leading the break and giving us easy opportunities," Love said. "That makes the game fun. It opens the game up."

One fact is certain: James loves Love's game and told him that repeatedly when they played for Team USA at the 2012 London Olympics.

"I don't care about the 26 (points) and 12 (rebounds per game), I care about the basketball IQ," James said. "His basketball IQ is very, very high."

Likewise, Love wanted to play on the same team with James in the NBA.

"In our first conversation that we had after he had signed this summer, we had just mentioned to each other how unselfish by nature both of our games are and how that would bode well with this team and have a snowball effect with this team," Love said. "It's been appealing to play with a player like LeBron because he's a threat every night on both ends of the floor. He can pass it. He can shoot it. He can rebound, a triple-double threat.

"He's been where I want to go and a guy like Kyrie wants to go and guys who haven't made it to the Finals or won a championship. He has an ability to teach us all, and we're all in a position to really learn from him."

Love is going from a team that never made the playoffs during his six seasons there to a team expected to reach the NBA Finals at the least. It's a daunting challenge, and Love isn't afraid of those expectations.

"Nothing's going to be given to us this season," he said. "I know a lot of people want to say championship or bust. That's going to be a good mentality to have because we want the pressure. We want people to look at us as one of the best teams because we're going to have to hold ourselves accountable for everything that we do and our actions on and off the floor. It's a whole different culture from what I'm accustomed to but I'm looking forward to building with these team."