There were reasons to believe Kevin Love‘s career might be nearing the end when he agreed to a buyout with the Cavaliers during last year’s All-Star break, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Instead, the past 12 months have included a trip to the NBA Finals and a new contract with the Heat, as well as the birth of his first child, all of which have combined to make Love very content in Miami.
“I think the thing that’s most gratifying to me is that going to a new location or a new team or a new organization, new city, especially at this stage in your career, you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “And after that run last year, I got so much fun out of it, as well as guys I’ll have relationships for life, bigger than basketball. My daughter was born on June 10th, right after Game 4 (of the NBA Finals). We bought a new house in Miami. It’s almost like we got to start our life in a place where we have a lot of friends and a lot of great teammates and people in the organization who have become family in a pretty quick time, so it has been a very happy year.”
Love was stuck on the bench in Cleveland, but a big forward who could shoot and rebound and had previous Finals experience was just what the Heat needed. He started 17 of the 21 regular season games he played after signing with Miami and maintained a rotation role throughout the team’s playoff run.
In addition to his on-court contributions, Love has become a veteran leader in the locker room, especially after the retirement of Udonis Haslem, Winderman notes. Love believes he can play for at least another year or two and then may transition into a mentorship role.
There’s more from Miami:
- Alondes Williams was impressive in Friday’s Rising Stars competition, and he might get a shot at more playing time after the break, Winderman states in a mailbag column. Winderman speculates that the two-way player may be in line for a standard contract if the Heat decide to waive Dru Smith, who’s out for the rest of the season after undergoing ACL reconstruction surgery.
- Delon Wright was likely promised regular minutes to get him to commit to the Heat, Winderman adds in the same piece. However, the extent of Wright’s rotation role won’t be clear until Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson return from their current injuries.
- Jaime Jaquez, who jumped over Shaquille O’Neal for his first entry in Saturday’s Dunk Contest, said clearing the Hall of Fame center was a difficult thing to prepare for, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “Listen, I ain’t gonna lie. I didn’t practice jumping over Shaq,” Jaquez said. “I used Bam [Adebayo] as practice. But there’s a big height difference. So I was really nervous when I saw Shaq out there. I’ve seen him a bunch of times. But when he’s standing there, I was definitely feeling nervous.”
Which young Heat trio would you rather have on your team if you could have them for their whole careers, Tyler Herro/Jaime Jaquez/Bam Adebayo 2024, Steve Smith/Glen Rice/Grant Long 1992, Voshon Lenard/Kurt Thomas/Alonzo Mourning 1997 or Dwyane Wade/Rasual Butler/Udonis Haslem 2005? Rank if possible…
Man, that’s hard. I want to pick the D-Wade trio just because Wade is far and away the best player listed, but Haslem and Butler might be the lesser of the number 2 and 3 options. Glen Rice was awesome and Steve Smith was very good, making that trio really appealing. If JJJ keeps up this rate, then the current trio can get there, I just don’t think I’m ready to crown them yet. I think the Mourning trio is my last choice. K. Thomas doesn’t quite have the offensive or defensive numbers to prop that group up and Voshon Leonard’s impact wasnt quite as strong as the other groups’ number 2s. I think I’d go:
1992
2005
2024
1997
with the caveat that 2024 can easily rise up these rankings to #1, I just want to see more of each of their careers before declaring them over either of the other two. I’m open to altering my rankings with other perspectives or rationales. Would love to know your thoughts.
Think your take is right on point.
I dig your thought process & your final list. Me personally I’d prob have to ride with Bam & the new kids. Bam is a future HOFer. Tyler is prob a fairly efficient 25/gm type scorer in his prime & a borderline all-star similar to Smitty & Rice. And the rookie def has potential to be a high level 2way player for a long time too. After that I’d prob have to go with Zo’s crew just bc it’s so much harder to find an elite 2way big than it is an elite guard like Wade. Zo would def be shooting 3s if he played nowadays too, sorta like getting KAT & Rudy in 1 guy. Also I think you’re underrating Kurt Thomas a lil bit. That is the exact type guy I want on my team as a big. He can play the 4 or the 5, can shoot, can rebound, can defend. And more than anything he exuded toughness and infused his teams with toughness. Bobby Portis got a lot of Kurt Thomas in his game.
I have too much affinity for most of these guys to use my brain well enough to choose…
Zo means everything to me, as does UD, and D-Wade, but Bam is right there with them, and I also loved Glen Rice and Steve Smith in a different way. Jaime Butler Jr is on his way there. I also met Rasual Butler a couple of times, and he was a really cool person, and it’s really sad what happened to him. He would have been a much better player nowadays too. I also have a lot of memories of Voshon Lenard in big moments when I was a kid, and Kurt Thomas was always a Heat culture guy, though I remember him more for his time away from us
It also depends what time periods. Is it going forward from now, or the times in which they played?
If you could those guys at the ages they were back then but in today’s game. Tbh I don’t think era would change much bc Lenard would be as good or better now, same for Smitty & Rice. KThomas prob would been even more valuable nowadays tbh. Grant Long was a prototypical 80s/90s power forward & might be the most impacted by playing in today’s NBA but he still would been a rotation player bc he could shoot
1. Herro Jaquez Bam
2. Smith Rice Long
3. Wade Butler Haslem
4 Lenard Thomas Mourning
May I have Wade, Mourning, and Rice? :P
1992.
If the Heat waived Dru Smith at this point, which I wouldn’t necessarily be a fan of unless they can bring him back in the offseason, they should either promote Jamal Cain, finally sign Justin Champagnie, or sign someone similar. Man-Man has done a great job; he really has improved in certain areas I wanted to see, but it doesn’t make sense to give him the spot, especially now that we lucked into Delon Wright, who was a perfect fit before the unfortunate trade, and is even more imperative now. If he can continue to improve the jumpshot, and decision making though, I do think Alondes Williams is an NBA player on the right roster
Still salty we lost Drew Peterson to Boston to keep Swider and Hampton, who should have been the ones they let go instead of him, and Champagnie
I’ll continue to emphasize how amazing Kevin Love has been here. This dude has been significantly important in multiple ways. It really hurts losing Kyle, with the fit he had with guys like Love and Jaime, but he has done a great job around guys like Jimmy and Bam, J-Rich, and Highsmith, and Caleb as a spacer. His passing has been incredible, and at the 5, his team defense has been extremely underrated. He had been improving in certain areas defensively before he got here, but when he did, it was like a switch went off. I still believe UD showed him some things with his positioning (you could tell UD really went out of his way to immediately establish that relationship with him), and he has been able to take up his mantle in a lot of ways, which is a large task.
I honestly thought he arguably could have won 6MotY w/Cleveland a couple of years ago when Herro won it, and he has arguably been better this year