Veteran forward Kevin Love reflects back about his troubling behaviour during the Cleveland Cavaliers rebuild.
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The Cavs are thick in the playoff race for the first time since the departure of one LeBron James with an impressive 27-19 record, sitting as the 6th seed in the Western Conference. However, life wasn’t always this rosy for Cleveland over the past few years.
The team went 19-63 in 2018-19, 19-46 in 2019-20, and 22-50 in 2020-21. Losing that much would anger any competitor. The same was the case for Kevin Love, who was part of winning basketball pretty much his whole career. As a result, his emotions and frustrations boiled over.
During a game in 2020, Love didn’t like a particular play call, so he demanded to receive the ball from Collin Sexton and then chucked it toward teammate Cedi Osman. In 2021, 5x All-Star frustratingly smacked a ball that a ref passed to him for an inbounds play, resulting in an opponent basket.
Recently, Love sat with JJ Redick and opened up about his behaviour during the Cavs rebuild. So, what did he say? Read on and find out…
Kevin Love regrets his actions and behaviour during the Cavs rebuild.
Similar to Cleveland, their forward Kevin Love is also making a resurgence this season. The 33-year-old is averaging 14.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists off the bench. Just to put things into perspective, Love has already played 38 games this year, compared to only 25 the whole of last season.
As a result, the veteran looks back at the tough time he was having the Cavs during their rebuilding phase, and opened up his actions –
“I look back on my life in general, but basketball career … just like things I would’ve done differently. People are like, ‘Oh, I don’t regret anything. I wouldn’t have changed anything.’ It’s like, ‘OK, bulls***.’ There are things I would have done differently. I think a lot of times, either my emotions got the best of me, I said things without just digesting and reflecting on what had just happened. And just moments of maturation and growth.”
Amazing perspective from @kevinlove on his journey with the @cavs and this year’s team https://t.co/4GGnDJDzFI
— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) January 21, 2022
However, he later clarifies that despite what happened, he is glad that it did as it made him a better man. It seems as though Kevin Love has learned from these incidents, as he is now using his experience to lead and guide a young Cavs squad.