Kevin Love on stepover moves: "You don't see it too much, but, yeah, I think it is looked at as a form of disrespect."
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) June 13, 2016
Look, we can complain when an obvious call is deemed unfair by the person who committed it. It happens on most calls. Teammates usually join in unison when this happens. And although we can roll our eyes at the on-court diplomacy taking place, what else are they supposed to do? Snitch on their teammates and possibly jeopardize their chances of winning? Not a chance.
Unless you're Kevin Love, it seems.
On moral grounds, teammates should be objectively siding with or against referees on a foul-by-foul basis. But doing that can be problematic for a team. That's why we're surprised to see that Love thinks LeBron James stepping over the Warriors' Draymond Green is a sign of disrespect.
For what it's worth, Love still seems to be taking a bipartisan perspective and is looking at the move in a vacuum, separate from LeBron and Draymond. He was asked about his thoughts on stepover moves in general, not necessarily specific to the incident involving James and Green. However, we can infer this question was asked partly because that stepover happened.
Keep in mind, he is absolutely right that the move was a sign of disrespect. Draymond is not innocent by any means in this incident, either, given that he was issued a Game 5 suspension for hitting LeBron in the groin as Green got up. But Love already has a bad rap as belonging in the outer circle of the Cavaliers. Although playful in nature, Love even had to photoshop himself into team photos because he was never in them.
With rumors swirling that Love may wind up on a new team next season, he may have streamlined that process with his objective assessment.
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The NBA: Where nutshots happen
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