Kevin Love has spent 15 seasons in the NBA but hasn’t ever joined a fresh team mid-season, until now.
34-year-old Love spent his first six seasons with Minnesota before spending the last eight and half seasons with Cleveland, so you can’t fault the man’s loyalty.
The Heat have taken the third-most corner threes this season as a percentage of all of their shots but they’re only shooting 34.8 percent on those looks – the worst rate in the league.
Lucky for Miami, Love is an above average three-point shooter from corners and is ranked 42nd on the NBA’s three-pointers made list (1,536), ranking him 19th among players in the league right now.
“I felt it was a great opportunity for me to come here and just further what the Heat has had in place for so long and help them with size and shooting and rebounding and everything that are strengths in my game,” Love told the Miami Herald, after weighing up joining the 76ers instead.
“It was a pretty easy decision,” Love said. “Obviously for people, money factors in and location, that sort of thing. But for me, it was looking at the Eastern Conference, looking at what this team needs.”
When asked how he sees himself fitting into the team, Love says he is going to help in any way possible and is particularly keen to partner with defensive powerhouse Bam Adebayo.
“Yeah, I think Bam, definitely Jimmy [Butler], Tyler [Herro], a number of players on this team, but primarily Bam,” Love said. “I think just spreading the floor for him so he can play downhill, get to spots, I can play the five, spread the floor, on the defensive end I can help him rebound. I want to make their lives easier. …I think I definitely complement guys’ skill sets on this team.”
Adebayo is excited about the new addition to the team and clearly has admiration for Love, who is an NBA, Olympic and FIBA World Cup champion.
“Spo’s smart. He’ll figure it out, how we’re going to handle things,” Adebayo told The Associated Press. “It’s exciting. We’ve got fresh legs on the team. We’ve got a guy like Kevin Love, who has been through those wars, came back from 3-1 [with Cleveland against Golden State in the 2016 NBA Finals]. You’ve got a battle-tested guy like that who has won. It’s big for us.”