If you’ve wondered about the riff between Kevin Love and Kelly Olynyk, rest assured it’s alive and well:
Love rejoined the Cavaliers on Wednesday, after he had stayed away from Game 1. Boston Celtics forward Kelly Olynyk and his representatives have continued to deliver word to Love and people close to him that Olynyk wants to privately apologize to him, sources told Yahoo Sports. Olynyk wants to tell Love personally that he never intended to injure him in Game 4 of that series, that he’s sorry for the shoulder surgery that’ll cost Love six months.
Strangely, Love continues to rebuff Olynyk. He isn’t interested in the call, refusing to ease Olynyk’s guilt. For now, Love is a spectator to this Cavaliers playoff run, a player who is probably more missed on these Cavaliers now than he had ever been appreciated this season.
“It’s so unfortunate that [the appreciation] has to come when he goes down,” Blatt told Yahoo Sports. “Kevin, in his own way, sacrificed the most this season, but still gave us a high-level performance. And he needs to be appreciated for that. And going forward, hopefully, he’s going to have a long career here.”
No one’s sure, including Love, whether he’ll ever wear a Cavaliers uniform again. If he leaves for free agency, that’ll be another fascinating occurrence of blame within Cleveland. Love has never felt fully integrated, nor compatible, with the group. James wanted him, and it’s incumbent on him to make it work.
Initially, I wanted to criticize Love for his childish behavior. But… maybe his attitude is more old school than childish.
These guys don’t have to friends. I’m always clamoring for the good ole days, when players weren’t all buddy-buddy on the court.
Just because Love initiated the scrum by locking arms, he’s still entitled to carry a grudge.
Memo to Kelly: You tried to apologize, now move on.
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