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Cavaliers' Kevin Love talks NBA schedule, mental health on TV appearances

Canton Repository - 4/2/2020

Cavaliers' five-time All-Star forward Kevin Love believes the NBA will finish the regular season in some fashion and remains hopeful that the coronavirus pandemic will not affect the league's schedule for 2020-21.

Speaking on "The Daily Show" with Trevor Noah Tuesday night on Comedy Central, Love said he had been discussing scenarios for '20-21 with a number of players and a couple of coaches and former coaches.

There has been speculation that the with the current season suspended and the likelihood that the playoffs will finish later than June 21, originally set as the last possible date for a Finals Game 7, the start of next season will be pushed back.

"We have the best schedule, it's a scholastic schedule, you get summers off," Love said during his remote appearance. "So selfishly, and I've done it for 25 years now of organized basketball, we've always had that schedule where it's been September and October through, if you go all the way to the Finals it's through June. We have it really good. That's not lost on any of us."

As for the present situation, Love said he would like to play a few more regular-season games and mused that perhaps some playoff series could be shortened to best of five. The Cavs stand 19-46, the second-worst record in the league behind the Golden State Warriors (15-50), but are 5-6 since J.B. Bickerstaff was elevated from associate head coach after coach John Beilein stepped down.

The NBA suspended the season with the conclusion of games on March 11.

"Obviously drastic times, drastic measures, but we would like to keep the same schedule, 82 games," Love told Noah in regards to 2019-20. "I would see a situation where because guys might come in a little out of shape and don't know how to get through this time, because it is new, they will then have like a two-week training camp, play 10 games, then it will go into some sort of a playoff scenario. I don't know if they'll play seven games or they'll play a five-game series that we haven't seen in a long time and then we'll have the Finals.

"But I do think because we've had so many of these sports taken away from us that the ratings will be incredibly high and it will be, in basketball how it is, it will be anybody's game, anybody's championship. As a fan myself, that will be fun to watch."

Love also appeared on "CBS This Morning" Wednesday, fielding questions from Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil. The focus was on Love's mental health advocacy and him pledging $100,000 to help pay workers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. That prompted donations from others in the league, including teammate Larry Nance Jr., who committed $50,000 each to the Greater Cleveland and Akron-Canton Regional food banks.

Asked how he has been handling the three-week layoff, Love said he was still getting up early, eating right, working out and walking his dog, while also keeping virtually close to "my pillars in my life."

Love, who has battled anxiety and depression, spoke to Noah about the difficulties of the stay-at-home orders during the pandemic.

"It's been a different time to navigate for all of us. It's ridden with a lot of stress, anxiety, the unknown," Love said. "Forget sports for a moment, just every walk of life and really everywhere in the world. The U.S. with the most cases now. You have to tip your hat to the heroes in this time -- grocery store workers, people working at the pharmacy, the doctors and nurses, they're really putting in a lot of time."

Asked on "CBS This Morning" if he had a message for viewers, Love said, "It's normal to feel this way. The only way we're going to get through it is together.

"The worst thing that can happen is if we come out of this unchanged. We have to be able to change and be there for each other and be better, so I think there will be a lot of great things that come out of this. We may not be able to see it right now and so much is changing every single day and we don't know what life is going to look like after this, let alone the mental health coming out of this. ... Just be kind and take care of the next man, the next woman."

Drummond plays 2K

Cavs center Andre Drummond is among 16 who will participate in the "NBA 2K Players Tournament" -- starting Friday on ESPN and ESPN2.

Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks are seeded 1-2, which is based on 2K rating and tenure, with Drummond sixth in the single-elimination event on Xbox One. The tournament runs through April 12, and the winner will receive a $100,000 donation to the charity of his choice from 2K, the NBA and NBPA.

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