On Monday night, Cavaliers coach David Blatt told reporters that Kevin Love “isn’t a max player yet.” Understandably, these comments caused some controversy — Love is on a max contract, after all — and Blatt walked it back somewhat on Monday.
From the Cleveland Plain-Dealer‘s Chris Haynes:“I really don’t pay a lot of attention to social media but I think my comment was either misunderstood or misconstrued,” Blatt explained. “I was simply saying that with our team, he does not have a max contract because we aren’t allowed to talk to him about anything until after the season is over.
“That was really where I was going with that. I think that’s very unfortunate the way that turned out. That’s the way of the world sometimes. I guess I have to be clearer in my thoughts.”For his part, Love also downplayed the comments.
“There was obviously a reaction, not from me,” said Love. “I wanted to get the context of it all but once I got the context and what he was talking about, he’s right. We can’t talk about anything about this summer or contracts or anything of that nature so I just let it roll off.”
Love and Blatt are saying all the right things about the comments today, and they’ll go away if the Cavs play better. But they’ve lost their last four games and their record has dropped to 19-19, which is not going to do anything to alleviate the scrutiny they’re under. Even if Blatt had a point, it isn’t the right time to make it.