Kevin Love outlines need for Cavs, other teams not in Orlando, to get back on the court

Cavs forward Kevin Love says he’d join in teammates in the bubble if asked.

“Absolutely,” Love said when asked about it on the Talkin’ Blazers, co-hosted by his friend and ex-teammate Channing Frye.

“I understood why we weren’t asked to be down there, because we were out of playoff contention,” he added. “But moving forward, absolutely. Like, I want to be there now. As someone who had my 12th season cut short — you’ve had a season taken away from you — it wasn’t an entire season. ... But for me it was like ‘man, 17 games left, we had really, really good momentum and progress with J.B. [Bickerstaff] at the helm.’ And we wanted to see what we were capable of and have good momentum going into the offseason. But as you know, it was all taken away.”

Love, who called not knowing what the plan is for him to ramp is “odd”, said he just wanted to get backing playing.

“Hopefully, moving forward, we can find a way to mayabe create our own bubble no matter how short or long they want to make that for the teams that weren’t invited. Even if that’s just us getting together as a team and running 5-on-0, maybe 5-on-5, put the plays in just so there’s not that much of a disconnect because Channing’s been a part of teams, we’ve been a part of teams — you have to have that sense of camaraderie, you have to have that togetherness, I feel, if you’re going to make something really special or have a really special season.”

He stressed that the Cavs being able to play again is especially important for the Cavs’ young players.

“For us, I just hope we’re able to get all of our young guys out there on the court, get those guys up to speed because it’s different for me, finishing my 12th year in the league,” Love said. “I know what it takes to keep my body right. I know what it takes to be ready for the next season. It’s guys like Dylan Windler, who didn’t play an entire year with his surgery and his leg. It’s Kevin Porter Jr., who didn’t play as much in college, came into rookie season, wasn’t getting many minutes and played himself into a lot of minutes. Darius Garland — only played four games at Vandy during his college career and didn’t really get to play against every point guard a couple times throughout the league. He had a few tough moments like every rookie does, but he was pushing through the wall and, the last 17 games, it was great to have him and Collin Sexton going back and forth playing the one and two in the backcourt.

“Collin’s another guy. And Channing, you know this — his willingness to be a creator and a passer has gotten so much better. It might not say that in his overall numbers, but just in what we’ve seen in practice and how that’s translated to the game, it’s been great to see. And not a primary scorer, even though he is a primary scorer — being a guy that can facilitate from the point guard and two-guard positions, it’s going to be great for him.”

You can listen to the full podcast here.