The Portland Trail Blazers have Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the end of their bench this season, and they are much the better for it. One of two Blazers on NBA 2-way contracts, high-scoring Caleb Love enjoys another distinction: he might be the most maligned star in the league right now.
Say what? Yeah, Caleb Love is a bona fide star—23 points a game on 46% shooting overall, 48% from deep and 100% from the free-throw line, along with 5.5 rebounds and 3 assists in 32 minutes per contest. Those were his combined stats in games versus the Golden State Warriors on November 21st and Cleveland Cavaliers on December 3rd.
This evidence notwithstanding, Caleb’s numerous detractors across the Blazers fanbase maintain he is not even an NBA-caliber player and should never be on the court. The criticism even spills over on Acting Head Coach Tiago Splitter, whose sanity is called into question every time he dials Caleb’s number.
You may wonder what is wrong with these critics, and it’s a fair question. The honest answer is they quite possibly are not wrong, because Caleb Love is actually two players—the one described above and the one who has put up end-of-the-bench numbers in aggregate for the season. Those numbers are just under 9 points a game on 37% shooting from the field, 28% from three and 79% from the line, stats that rankle the rank-and-file because he seems to shoot first and aim later in spite of these meager results. Ever heard the cliché about players who have never seen a shot they don’t like? Yeah, that’s the Caleb his detractors don’t Love.
But here’s what you need to understand to make sense of Caleb’s role on the Blazers right now—his “I’m always open” attitude is not a bug, it’s a feature. Asked for his take after the Cleveland game, Splitter described Caleb’s value as directly related to the fact that “he’s not afraid of any moment.” On a lot of days, the inveterate gunslinging that comes with that absolute lack of fear seems to hurt the team more than it helps, which is what understandably drives his detractors crazy. But on other days, he’s a guy on a 2-way contract quite capable of coming off the end of your bench and winning a game for you. Or two. Or maybe even more.
So here’s my question for the critics: You might be right–he may not ultimately make it in the NBA–but is there a 2-way player in the league for whom you would trade Caleb Love? I can’t think of one.
If you can, share that name in the comment section! If not, are you glad Love is with the team this year? Either way, he’s certainly making an impression.