Kevin Love Doesn't Guarantee the Cavs a Title

Kevin Love is headed to Cleveland, as basically everybody knew he would be from the day LeBron James's Sports Illustrated essay was published. The reported deal will send the last two No. 1 picks, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, to the Timberwolves for Love. It's a clear signal that LeBron wants to contend now, rather than spend his remaining prime waiting for a roster of 19-year-olds to develop. In some ways, pushing the Cavaliers to trade Wiggins for Love is a sign of impatience on the part of the four-time MVP, but it's also not. Acquiring Love puts Cleveland much closer to title contention than they otherwise would be, but a look at James's last super-team with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh shows that an immediate championship is no sure thing.

"I'm not promising a championship," James wrote in his open letter announcing his return. "I know how hard that is to deliver. We're not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I'm realistic."

That sentiment—a deliberate 180-degree turn from the Heat's infamous 2010 welcome party and the "not one, not two…" quote—was true the day he signed, and it will remain true on August 23rd, when the Cavs and T-Wolves can make the deal official. There are still questions to be answered, and they won't be answered overnight.

It took no time at all for the question marks to pop up in the Heat's first season together. They lost their season-opener to the Celtics and opened the year with a 9-8 record through their first 17 games, hardly looking like the unstoppable force of nature they promised to be after The Decision. Erik Spoelstra found himself on the hot seat seemingly every other week while the Heat worked out their growing pains. James and Wade didn't fit together right away, and Bosh looked like an awkward third wheel at times, unsure of his role. But they figured everything out eventually. They signed better supporting players like Ray Allen and Shane Battier. Wade eventually conceded the first-option mantle to James. Bosh found his niche as one of the most uniquely effective big men in the NBA. Spoelstra not only survived the rumors but became an extremely well-regarded coach. They made the Finals four straight times, won two titles, and put together the second-longest winning streak in NBA history. The experiment was ultimately a huge success.

Now, LeBron is attempting the same experiment in Cleveland. And like last time, it's unrealistic to expect that the Cavs will cruise to a title without figuring some things out along the way. For starters, who's going to play defense outside of James? The Cavs have been linked to Shawn Marion this week, and he'd help. So will Anderson Varejao, if he stays healthy (and his career has become a perpetual "if he stays healthy" qualifier). But Love isn't nearly the defender Bosh is, and Irving is actively terrible on that end. Last playoffs, with Chris Andersen hurt and Shane Battier no longer effective, a massive amount of defensive responsibility rested on James' shoulders and, combined with the lack of offensive help he got from Miami's supporting cast ultimately did in their bid for a three-peat. If there was an argument against trading Wiggins, that was it.

The good news for the Cavs is that an offense built around James, Irving, and Love looks to be utterly unstoppable. But even that is going to have some kinks to be worked out. James has never played with a ball-dominant point guard like Irving before (he's effectively played point guard on most of the teams he's been on throughout his career). The freedom to move without the ball with Irving running the offense could make James' offensive game even more devastating than it already is. But even for the most versatile, unselfish superstar of his generation, that adjustment will take some time. And that's before new coach David Blatt figures out where Dion Waiters fits in all of this. There's going to be a lot of trial and error.

Despite the early struggles, the Heat finished their 2010-11 campaign with 58 wins, the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. But they blew through the first three rounds of the playoffs, dispatching the top-seeded Bulls in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals before falling apart against the Mavericks in the Finals. By the end of this season, the Cavs could well be the most dangerous team in the East. But it's tough to say they'll finish with the best record in the conference—the Bulls are deeper and more cohesive with a finally healthy Derrick Rose and the additions of Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic. There aren't nearly as many moving parts in Chicago as there are with Cleveland's trio of superstars feeling each other out and figuring out something that works. You have to account for some growing pains into any projection. And all of this is to say nothing of a potential matchup with the Spurs or Thunder in the Finals, should they get there.

Once they figure things out, the LeBron/Kyrie/Love Cavs are going to be every bit as good as advertised. But just as the Heat learned their lesson about patience in 2011, hopefully we have all learned ours in judging James's new super-team. The dominance may not happen right away. We all need to give it time. It will pay off in the end.

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