Getty Georges Niang of the Philadelphia 76ers, Kevin Love formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers
While reporting that Kevin Love would be joining the Miami Heat, Adrian Wojnarowski also revealed why Love ultimately chose them instead of the Philadelphia 76ers, who were also in the running.
“Love’s expectation is that he can play a sizable role in the Heat’s frontcourt rotation as they push into the Eastern Conference playoffs. Love also talked with the Philadelphia 76ers,” Wojnarowski said.
The Heat don’t have much depth in their frontcourt outside of All-Star Bam Adebayo, having relied on the likes of Omar Yurtseven, Nikola Jovic, and previously Dewayne Dedmon to handle their frontcourt minutes. They’ve even relied on Caleb Martin, who is six-foot-five, to play the majority of his minutes at power forward this season.
While the Sixers could have used more frontcourt depth with Love, they have multiple wings who can play power forward, like Tobias Harris, De’Anthony Melton, P.J. Tucker, and Georges Niang. While Love could also play as backup center for the Sixers, he only played 6% of his minutes at the center position this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Record-wise, the Sixers have been the better team compared to the Heat, but the Heat had a potentially bigger role to offer Love if he signed with them.
Insider Explained Why Sixers Don’t Need Love
Sixers Insider Kyle Neubeck explained on a February 16 episode of “Clap Your Hands” why he doesn’t believe the Sixers would need Love on the team.
“I think Kevin Love would get torched in the playoffs. I don’t think he’s doing much,” Neubeck said. “If they didn’t have Georges Niang, I could see the argument for bringing in Love. You play him next to Joel and say, ‘Kevin, you just stand out there and bomb threes,’ but that’s Niang’s job. He fills that niche, so I don’t think Kevin Love makes a lot of sense on this team.”
Neubeck delved further into why Niang’s place on the team makes adding someone like
“If Niang had gotten moved or was not on the team, I see the vision there. It’s a power forward who can’t defend but they have Joel behind him, and he’s going to benefit Joel a ton on offense, but I don’t see the vision on this team with this roster so it’s just not worth it.”
Both Niang and Love will be free agents this coming summer. If Niang does not return to the Sixers, Love could potentially fill his role.
Sixers’ Current Backup Centers
With Love off the market, the Sixers will now have to turn to Montrezl Harrell, Paul Reed, and the newly-signed Dewayne Demon to be Joel Embiid’s primary backups at center. They may also turn to P.J. Tucker to be their backup center in small-ball lineups as he’s done so with some of his previous teams, like the Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, and Houston Rockets.
The Sixers have been relying on Reed for the past several games as Embiid’s primary backup, as Harrell has not played double-digit minutes since the Sixers played the San Antonio Spurs on February 3, when he played 16.
The dynamic could change with Dedmon in the mix, or the Sixers could potentially chase another center available on the free agent market.