The Cleveland Cavaliers are down 3-1 in the NBA Finals as the series returns to Oakland tonight. Fairly or unfairly, Kevin Love, the UCLA product, has taken much of the criticism for the Cavaliers struggles. It didn’t help matters with his detractors, that the only game Cleveland has won, Game 3, was a 30 point Cavs victory that Love sat out with a concussion. Whether or not the criticism is warranted, it is worrisome that Love has become little more than a standstill shooter with the Cavaliers who doesn’t play great defense. The former All-Star has essentially morphed into a rich man’s Channing Frye – and has the $22 million salary to show for it.

Which begs the question, would the Cavaliers be in a better position moving forward had they never acquired Love? Or, to take it a step further, what if in 2013 instead of taking Anthony Bennett the Cavaliers had taken Nerlens Noel with the No. 1 overall pick?

Noel was ranked as the top prospect on many teams’ draft boards because of his uncanny defensive ability. The biggest question mark about his future – in addition to his offensive ceiling, of course – was that the hyper-athletic big man tore his ACL in February while playing for Kentucky, which meant he was in danger of having to sit out some if not all of the 2013-14 season.

This shouldn’t have been a problem for Cleveland, however, who was still in rebuilding mode at the time and would almost undoubtedly receive another high draft pick the following season. That the wine and gold’s top draft pick would likely spend his first professional season on the sidelines only increased the possibility of them selecting in the high lottery again one year later.

Instead of calling Noel’s name to begin the draft, though, commissioner David Stern inexplicably announced that the Cavaliers chose UNLV power forward Anthony Bennett with the No. 1 pick. Everyone was dumbfounded. Bennett, to be fair, was projected as a surefire lottery pick, and some believed he might go so high as third overall to the Washington Wizards. But absolutely no one had him coming off the board first.

Bennett, to say the least, struggled in his first season with the Cavaliers. He didn’t make a single start, averaged 4.2 points per game on 39 percent shooting, and made just 52 total appearances. The Canadian import eventually ended up being little more than filler in the trade that sent Andrew Wiggins to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Love.