Senior NBA columnist John Hollinger makes his case for Kevin Love as 6th MOY over the favorite Tyler Herro, citing advanced metrics.
Advertisement
The Cleveland Cavaliers are finally winning games, looking to make a deep run in the upcoming playoffs. The Cavs fans have something to cheer about post the exit of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. The organization has successfully built a talented core around veteran Kevin Love.
The Cavaliers boast a brigade of seven-foot athletes that can play both ends of the floor. The 2021-22 season marked the beginning of a new era for Cavaliers basketball. The team had its first All-Stars since the 2017-18 season with Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.
The 20-year old Evan Mobley is a front runner for the ROTY award. Nonetheless, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, Kevin Love deserves to win the 6th MOY. Hollinger believes Love has been remarkable in his new role of coming off the bench.
The Athletic writer made a compelling argument for Love to win the title over favorite Tyler Herro.
John Hollinger points out Kevin Love’s efficiency in restricted minutes.
The Cavaliers currently have a 43-37 record and are looking to maintain their position as the seventh seed. The young blood played a pivotal role in resurrecting the tanking franchise. One of the turning points was K-Love stepping down in his role as a starter.
The former champion accepted his role gracefully, doing full justice to it. Averaging 13.4 PPG and 7.2 RPG, K-Love is shooting an impressive 38.5% from the 3-point line. The five-time All-Star has been doing so, playing a mere 22.6 MPG.
With only a handful of games left for the season to end, Love has made a strong case for the 6th man of the year award.
“Stop the madness, people,” Hollinger wrote. “Being a sixth man isn’t just about coming out flinging. Herro’s 20.6 scoring average off the pine is impressive, but he’s basically operated as a high-volume, middling-at-best efficiency possession sponge, while his defense makes him a popular target for opposing offenses.
“As for Love, he may trail Herro in points per game, but smokes the field on every available advanced metric. It’s been an important impact, too. His return to being a floor-spacing, rebounding, out-letting menace is one of the biggest reasons the Cavaliers are a winning team again.
“Love has only played 1,629 minutes to Herro’s 2,118, and that’s a significant difference. But in terms of effectiveness, it’s not even close. Love is shooting 38.5 percent from 3 on career-high volume, rebounding like a center, and diming people up when his shot isn’t there (4.8 assists per 100 is elite stuff from a big). Overall, his 19.1 PER and 4.1 BPM lap the field.
“Another player I think needs a strong look here is Phoenix’s Cameron Johnson, who like Love trails Herro by more than 400 minutes, but has outperformed him pretty significantly in terms of two-way impact.
“I don’t mean to dump on Herro – he’s having a good year! The Heat are really good! But this award isn’t reserved for the backup guard who jacks the most shots, despite what recent history may indicate. The voting mindset for this award has become increasingly weird over the past several years and it’s long past time to inject some rationality. Love should be a fairly obvious pick here, and I find it odd that he doesn’t seem to be.”
Well, Hollinger does make an argument with his case. However, whether it is the MVP, MIPY, or 6th MOY, the criteria seem to be different for different people.
