Kevin Love should carry more of the load while Kyrie Irving is out

Austin Peters at HP Basketball asks the question, "can Kevin Love carry a bigger load?", to which some of his later digging seems to answer, "yes."

Love's usage rate also took a drastic decline last season. In his last season in Minnesota, Kevin's usage rate was 27.7 possessions/40, ninth highest in the NBA. In his first year in Cleveland, that number plummeted to 20.4, the lowest number of his career since his rookie season and 115th in the league. With his usage rate dropping so dramatically, it shouldn't shock anyone that his per game numbers in every major statistical category dropped as well, from points per game all the way to free throw percentage.

This shouldn't lead people to believe that an increased role for him will be a bad thing. The Cavs were nearly five points better on offense when Love was in the game and three points worse on defense when he sat. We also saw in Minnesota that when Love had the ball the majority of the time, good things happened and Love was a statistical monster.

With Kyrie Irving likely to miss the first part of the 2015-16 season, it's likely that Love will should some additional work, and it's nice to know that he's got a track record of handling it well.