Over at SportsNation, Ethan Skolnick talked to Chris Bosh about Kevin Love. The premise is that Love will have to make the same sacrifices that Bosh had to, going from first option (at Toronto and Minnesota, respectively) to second or third behind LeBron and Irving/Wade. The problem with this reasoning is that they are entirely different players offensively, and it is highly unlikely that LeBron or Irving will take away many of Love's scoring opportunities.

"So even if you do like the left block, the volume of the left block is going to be different. Now you have to make those moves count. So with me, it was like a chess game. I'm doing this move and thinking about the next move and trying to stay five moves ahead. You're not getting it as much. If you got one or two a game, it's a lot different."

Love for Love

On the surface, this makes sense. But let's take a step back and think about some things:

• A lot of Kevin Love's offense has always come from offensive rebounding. He grabs lots of ORBs, but he's no Dennis Rodman or Reggie Evans. You aren't going to see Love desperately look around for a teammate to give the ball to after a rebound. He's extremely adept at putbacks, and getting to the line on putback attempts. Neither LeBron nor Kyrie is likely to get in his way on the offensive glass.
• A lot of Love's three-point shots were assisted. He was Rubio's primary target. And Bosh simply doesn't have a reliable three outside of the corner; he isn't a good target for this. Given the history of LeBron James, I think it is pretty likely that LeBron will try to find Love beyond the arc as often as possible.
• LeBron is far less likely to play power forward in Cleveland (thus taking lots of post-up opportunities). This is because he's lost a lot of weight -- this seems like a clear signla he wants to play SF). And, oh yeah, he now plays with one of the best power forwards in the league.

So, I just find it very implausible that a player like LeBron, who is historically good at sharing the ball and making his teammates better, will somehow not get Kevin Love plenty of touches in the Cleveland offense.

Bosh's Woes

It seems to me that Bosh's problems integrating with  LeBron and Wade are not Love's problems integrating with LeBron and Irving. Love is just flat-out better at many offensive aspects of the game than Bosh is (or was), and in ways that fit Irving and LeBron very well. He is unlikely to run into the same obstacles. Bosh's production went down after he left Toronto for a simple reason -- Bosh used to live at the rim. During the 2009-2010 season (Bosh's most productive year) here was his shot chart.

Here's how his shot chart looked last season (data from basketball-reference.)

Bosh played further away from the hoop when he joined Miami. This meant fewer boards, and tougher shots. Of course, he was still skilled at draining these. Of course, most of his shots were assisted. Let's compare Bosh to Love. Here's Love's shooting chart last season. 

Love's shooting range is already great, and he still pulls down tons of boards (he ranked third in the NBA in rebounds per game.)  Bosh had to "sacrifice" his game by playing away from the hoop. Kevin Love looks ready made to integrate with LeBron. In fact, using Bosh as a template, LeBron couldn't ask for a better teammate.