

Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kevin Love in action during an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers Monday. (Matt Slocum/AP Photo)

PHILADELPHIA — Kevin Love didn’t necessarily choose Cleveland, so much as LeBron James and the Cavaliers chose him and sold him on trading in a few points and rebounds for a shiny trophy. Through his first few months along Lake Erie, however, Love has either been underused or misused and probably come close to blowing a fuse.

The Cavaliers haven’t plowed through the Eastern Conference as many expected after four-time most valuable player James returned home and then convinced three-time all-star Love to accept a trade to another cold-weather town that already had possessed another all-star talent in Kyrie Irving. Love has more wins after 35 games than at any point in his career (19) but that total is just two more than his last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves and he probably has to wonder if the actual gold-plated reward for this season will come from Tiffany or an alchemist.

“We’re not where we want to be,” Love said after Cleveland (19-16) lost on Monday to the woeful Philadelphia 76ers, “and we know we have to play better.”

Rookie Coach David Blatt, a success at previous stops throughout Europe, has taken much of the criticism for the team’s sluggish start but Dion Waiters became the first scapegoat Monday when the Cavaliers shipped out the disgruntled former first-round pick in a three-team trade with New York and Oklahoma City. Cleveland needs the Love part of this superteam experiment to pan out since it was a move that turned James’s heroic comeback into an urgent chase for a title, no matter how often Blatt, James and others have tried to downplay expectations.

Love can opt out of his deal this summer and has no hometown allegiance pulling him to stick around, though he has repeatedly stated a long-term commitment to the Cavaliers. Until Cleveland can get going and find a fit for Love, the concern over his future will linger.

The previous all-star Kevin that Minnesota shipped out – Garnett – needed no time to connect with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and win a title in Boston. Pau Gasol has twice been rescued from a struggling organization only to click almost immediately with Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose.

Realizing the stakes for Cleveland and the patience required for most star alliances, Love has kept his grumbling to a minimum. When asked after the 76ers’ loss how this season has gone for him, Love bristled, “It’s not about me.”

Chris Bosh warned Love that the adjustment to playing with James would be “very difficult” after having spent so many years as an offensive focal point in Minnesota. Love never denied he would have to take a step back, but there is a difference between deferring and drifting.

Too many times, Love became the forgotten man, or worse yet, a one-dimensional jump shooter who has to wait for whenever James or Irving decides they don’t want the basketball any longer. Love ranked eighth in touches last season, the highest among non-point guards, but now comes in 34th, with James and Irving eighth and 10th respectively. Love’s usage percentage, which measures the number of possessions a player uses per 40 minutes, has dropped from 27.7 last season to just 20.7 – tied with former Timberwolves teammate Corey Brewer and well below that of James (30.3) and Irving (23.7).

Playing with other stars was theoretically supposed to result in a more efficient player who wouldn’t have to work so hard to produce. Despite maintaining his status as a double-double machine, Love hasn’t experienced a favorable trade-off. Love’s scoring average is the lowest since his second season, rebounding rate is lowest of his career and he is poised to finish with a player efficiency rating lower than 20 for just the third time in his career – and that includes the 2012-13 season when Love was limited to just 18 games with a broken right hand.

LeBron James and Kevin Love share an all-too-infrequent smile. (Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

Acquiring Love meant sacrificing No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, a graceful, breathtaking talent who entered the league prepared to accept the challenge of guarding elite perimeter players but in need of time to develop an offensive repertoire and a demeanor to dominate. James didn’t want to wait for the full Wiggins package to come together.

But with James sidelined for at least another week with a sore back and left knee after carrying heavy assignments on both ends, Wiggins’s absence may have already proven costly — especially with Cleveland 1-5 without James and set to take on what Love deemed “murderers row.” The Cavs next face Houston, Golden State, Sacramento, Phoenix, the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers.

The Cavaliers basically doubled down on the Love trade Monday by acquiring a wing defender in Iman Shumpert, who provides some of what Wiggins can bring without the upside. They also took on J.R. Smith, a streaky shooter without conscience or couth who replaces Waiters.

With the trade going down moments before tip-off at Wells Fargo Center, and with James and Irving (back) both sidelined, Love reprised an all-too familiar position from his days in Minnesota – racking up ridiculous numbers (28 points and 18 rebounds) in defeat. Love stayed on the court long after the game ended, unable to digest a loss to the team that had, at the time, the league’s worst record.

“Any time we lose I’m not in the best of spirits,” Love said. “This is a tough one to have here.”

Love recently shaved his beard and now resembles in both looks and game the player that he was as a lone Timberwolf. In his past three games, Love has averaged 28.3 points and 11.3 rebounds and his usage rate has gone up to 28.7 – but Cleveland has just one win over Charlotte.

“Kevin has had games like this during the course of the year,” Blatt said. “Perhaps not as consistently. Obviously, with other main guys out, he’s taking on a bigger role and he’s responded in a great fashion, but it hasn’t shown me something I didn’t know. At all.”

The time without James won’t necessarily be good for the Cavaliers, who are a plus-4.9 with James on the floor and a minus-5.4 when he sits this season. Cleveland doesn’t risk sliding out of the playoff picture in the annually beleaguered Eastern Conference but it is 4 1/2 games behind fourth-place Washington and only a game ahead of sixth-place Milwaukee.

But removing the dependence on James might help Blatt figure out how to better utilize a two-time second-team all-NBA performer. James might even recognize that Love has more to offer than just ample floor spacing. Love is eager to get everyone back, so that he can experience why he came to Cleveland.

“We’re down but we’re not out,” Love said, “so we just need to continue to keep fighting.”

Around the NBA

Cavaliers shake things up with Waiters trade

Sniff test for NBA’s surprise contenders