Category: Cavaliers

It is hard to digest the unadulterated overreaction to the fact Kevin Love did not play in the fourth quarter of Friday’s Orlando Magic game. This seems to be an ongoing and disturbing theme regarding all things Cavs that have occurred this season. The media overreaction should have been anticipated but it is the tone of the media overreaction that is distressing. The fan overreaction also is expected given the hard lessons learned regarding Cleveland professional sports teams and four very tough years watching Cavs basketball. Regardless of how predictable some of these reactions might be, it is still tough to focus on the positive when all this negativity swirls around the Cavs constantly.

I will admit that it has not been easy even for me to sit back and wait for the team to gel given some of the poor performances I have seen. This is especially true because many of the disappointments seem to be a result of lack of effort or lack of understanding what kind of effort is needed. Lately, even more is being made about the team’s “fit” and chemistry. Despite all of these difficult issues being raised, I think the Cavaliers are on track to perform as expected in 2014-15.

And maybe that was the problem from the beginning?? The Cavs fans and national media seem to have unrealistic expectations of the Cavs waltzing to an NBA title. Now I don’t mean to suggest that was everyone. But a fair percentage of media and fans honestly thought an NBA title was more than a passing possibility. Now that reality has firmly set in, it seems everyone has to be the “deep diver” to find the root of the “failure”.

Looking at this further, it seems that it might be hard to find the root of the failure before a failure has actually occurred. In simple terms, until this season is over and the records are complete, it is not possible to judge success or failure of the 2014-15 Cavaliers. Even then it might be tricky.

This leads me to the fourth quarter against the Orlando Magic. Kevin Love had played solidly for 3 quarters. He had 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers in those three quarters. Love had played 33 minutes. That is exactly 3 minutes less than his season average of just over 36 minutes. The Cavs had played poorly with little energy in the first quarter and had allowed 60+% shooting from the floor for the Magic in the first half. The second quarter was better and the coach felt that the defensive effort was there from the second quarter on. Yet, because Love didn’t play in the fourth quarter and the Cavs defense was best in the fourth quarter, Brian Windhorst just had to point that out to notorious Cavs hater Bill Simmons that the Cavs defense was noticeably better in the fourth quarter, implying that the earlier failures were primarily dropped in the lap of Kevin Love.

The no show in the fourth was looked upon by these expert pundits as a sure sign of a lack of faith by Blatt and the Cavs in Love’s ability to affect the game on the defensive end in the fourth quarter. This sent Bill Simmons rushing to the trade machine to look up possible trade scenarios for Love and Windhorst to pile on with his comments about the relative improved defense in the fourth.

I wonder if they had even a slight pause when they heard that Love himself approved of the move to keep the same team that had seemed effective on the court for the fourth. Did they maybe swallow hard when they heard that Blatt and Love both acknowledged each other after the game and did a fist pump of approval after the win? Finally, what do you think they were “analyzing” when LeBron vocally explained how this type of act by an All Star was a sure step forward for the Cavs. And followed this up by saying that all Cavs need to be willing to sacrifice their individual feelings for the betterment of the team and that he hoped the team was watching. He made it very clear that he was watching and noticed Love’s vocal and animated support of his teammates in the fourth quarter.

Well, I am absolutely certain that those writers could care less about all that logic and will continue to pervade their theories about the meaning of Love’s absence in that quarter. That is why I am much more concerned about what Cavs fans think and how they perceive this rare occurrence. I am hoping that Cavs fans will look on this as a positive step forward as I do.

It has been increasingly difficult for me to handle all of the negative energy on twitter and repeated calls for changing the “fit” of the team with trades or downright complete overhauls. It just doesn’t make any sense to me this early to panic based primarily on “style points”. While the loss of Andy is a serious blow, it is not a death sentence to this season. It was going to be exceedingly hard to win an NBA championship this year anyway considering the fact we had a new head coach, many new players, two new stars, and a slew of holdover players that had never won anything in the NBA post season.

This is not the NCAA Division I football championship rankings where it seems style points predominate. As hard as it is to win in the NBA, the Cavs should be judged on wins and losses and style points should be excluded from the assessment. That is why the fourth quarter was so important to the Cavs maturation as a team. They beat an inferior team without one of their All Stars and with another All Star sitting on the bench the entire quarter. Love’s support of the move and support of his teammates speaks volumes compared to the disharmonious din played by others wanting to find fault.

This seems to be one more small step in the right direction. I hope it carries over to others and the clear message is sent. This team cannot be about individual player’s accolades. It is about building chemistry, fit and finish. Sure the Cavs might need some changes going forward but they need to focus on who is here right now and become the best Cavs team possible.

I looked at the Cavaliers as a whole about a month ago and I, unfortunately, still see some of the same weaknesses that I noticed before. However, due to his head injury, the return of Mike Miller was delayed and the chance to make the rotation changes that should elevate the team were then delayed. The movement of Mike Miller to the starting lineup was the first of a series of moves that I think will improve the Cavs rotation short term and even more long term. Last night was a glimpse of that. I went into a little more detail on my scribbles of November 23rd, please look at that again if you would like more context.

The Cavaliers would  benefit greatly in my view from a rotation that starts with Kyrie, Miller, LeBron, Love, and TT. I know that is a bit of an undersized lineup, but it makes the most sense to start games. The “Big Three” and knockdown shooter Miller provide plenty of offensive firepower to start games. TT is a much better complementary player to that group because he cleans up misses and, frankly, plays better defense than either Love or Varejao. It is no accident that he is often in the lineup at the end of games. So that is one change I am still waiting for David Blatt to make. He is such a heady coach don’t be surprised if this change comes sooner than later.

The rotation for the Cavs should be Marion to spot LeBron and, at times based on defensive needs, Miller or Love. The most important thing he could do would be to give LeBron the rest he needs over the course of the season. Delly to backup Kyrie, of course, and run the offense with Dion. Waiters to come in for Miller and Andy to spell Love across the quarter and into the second. To bad for TT but he is the youngest big. He can extend through the first if needed. I think Jones should be the 10th man in the rotation to come in at SF and move Marion to the 4 when TT needs to come out or the offense needs a kick.

I don’t see a role for anyone else off the bench until injuries dictate that. I do like Harris for sure and am wondering about Haywood?? He obviously has very little or nothing left in the tank to not be used as an occasional rim protector. We don’t see him in practice and don’t know the true story here about his recovery from the injury. If he has anything left, then you will probably see him as a “surprise” rotation addition in short stretches when we play teams with great bigs such as we will see Sunday against Memphis. If he has nothing, then he is only here to be used as a trade chip in this off-season. A valuable role for sure but I would like to see more. Amundson is also someone who can get spot time depending on fouls and the like, but he also is undersized.

I agree 100% with LeBron when he says this existing team can make a strong run to win it all (code word “ultimate goal”) if they buy in and learn to play as a team and trust each other. Almost no media person or blogger believes that but I do. That being said, it is quite obvious that wing defense and lack of size hurts the Cavs often and begs the question of whether we need to make a substantial change. My point here is one of caution. This Cavs team is far from done growing together. They still are lazy at times. They still do not value their own words and fight to compete on defense as they know they must. The lapses are often large and long causing games that would otherwise be a blowout to be a grind to the end or loss. Better effort throughout would actually SAVE energy for the players in the final analysis. They would have more nights to sit out entire fourth quarters and conserve energy. I hope they realize that soon because the current approach is going to wear them out and make injury more likely.

The other caution is my continuous reprise to Trade Dion Waiters At Your Peril. I know that many say he “can’t fit in” or is a “bad fit”. I think that is very far from the truth. He is actually a perfect fit on this team if he begins to truly understand his role and embrace it. Dion has the potential, with determination, to be an excellent defender. His potential is far beyond Kyrie’s because of his ability to play above the rim and his quickness. But, as we have seen, Dion rarely uses that talent to it’s fullest because he saves it for the offensive end. This is the exact same thing Kyrie did until this year. Plus, on the offensive side, he still would be the most talented scorer of the rotation players and be the second option often as starters sub out or in. So he will get his chances on the offensive end if he is patient and can knockdown shots. Dion, with the right attitude and mix of players, can have 14-18 points off the bench and 6 assists per game. Playing with Andy will give him a viable pick and roll player who is the best player we have for that kind of 2 man action. Dion can thrive in that role if he simply gets past himself and understands what he must do.

And that is the reason that so many say he “can’t fit”. Many believe that Dion is a malcontent that can’t be controlled. I think if you read the Brendan Bowers article on Dion, you will understand that isn’t necessarily the case. Dion comes from a rough place and a rough background. He is emotional but thoughtful and does care about winning. He had hoped it would be easier with LeBron because of open looks. What he didn’t plan for is his usual early season struggles offensively and an inability to knock down shots as he did near the end of last year. I ask that everyone step back a bit from the “Dion must go” group and give him more of a chance to find himself. I think that, given time, he can do that.

I will say this, if the Cavs decide to use their last viable player trade chip (Waiters) in a deal, it had better be a blockbuster for the team. Not a Kosta Koufus or similar talent. If they are going to sell out for a rim protector, it had better be a nasty one who is athletic (like we played last night – Plumlee). A soft rim protector with limited athleticism just won’t do if we want to advance. Tyler Zeller, while not really a rim protector, would have helped just as much because he is athletic and 7 foot. I still regret we needed to give him up, but I know we did.

Yes, the Cavs have a ways to go for sure. And Windbag (eh Sorry I mean Windhorst – disrespectful) tried to bring that home today. But I think with the right rotation and time to grow, we still have a championship team as currently constituted. The time to tweak the team might be in the off-season, but I know that won’t be the case. We will make a deal and maybe soon. I just hope it is the right one.

The Cavaliers have obviously had some better results of late and we are all happy to see that finally occur. The frequent refrain of the Cavs “big three” is that we need to use defense to generate our up tempo offense. The greatest news from all of these declarations is that they are actually starting to back up them up!

I have been closely observing the Cavalier defensive rotations and now see noticeable improvements  that are beginning to pay dividends. The key to the overall defensive scheme is that the individual players are taking pride in defensing their opponents one on one. The defensive stances have been lower and the lateral movement of the feet better. Best example of this is the play of Kyrie Irving. Bringing all that he learned from USA basketball to the Cavs, he is fiercely defending his man, anticipating and flying over the top of picks, and following to defend when he does get beat. He is taking every defensive challenge seriously now and even has won some tough battles with bigs on switches that planned to post him up.

I happen to know that there is some skepticism out there based on Kyrie’s somewhat selfish approach to play over his first three seasons. But I am convinced that those who still cling to that ancient belief have not been watching or only watching when he has his brief reversions to past practices. (Pounding the ball, not defending, and failing to play within the flow of the offense)

The second most important principle that is beginning to take hold is to “recapture” your man after a switched pick whenever possible as long as it doesn’t break down the defense. Over the past 3 years and early this year, the Cavalier’s have been caught in very poor mismatches by blindly switching picks and not even trying to recapture. The defensive difficulties caused when caught in multiple mismatches is obvious but what is not obvious is that this is caused by not trusting that your teammates know how to rotate behind you. Now the Cavs are looking actively to recapture their men and allow a “switch back” which can often require multiple rotations behind to allow that to happen without a breakdown.  I have seen some breakdowns or near breakdowns from this still but It is becoming less over the past three games.

That brings us to the third defensive improvement, which is actually related to the other two. The Cavs are much improved in their rotations down low when all the chaos occurs in front of them caused by picks and switch backs. It is clear from my direct observations that the bigs are looking to rotate and cover when a breakdown occurs on top. In that past, they simply looked clueless and never rotated or rotated late. Again, there are still breakdowns in this area and every game has them, but they are far fewer than earlier this year and for the three years prior.

The key to all of this is EFFORT !!!! It takes effort to do all these switches and recaptures and rotations and contesting shots. The second key is actually knowing what is expected. That seems to be coming along slowly. The third key is communication. That seems to be better also but still not where it needs to be. The fourth key is anticipation. I now see rotations beginning before they are actually needed and players are starting to look where they need to go. The final key, of course, is trust. The trust factor in the Cavs defense is building and, as they have more success, I think it will become natural to trust their teammates.

These are huge steps and override any factors such as “rim protectors” and lack of production from the bench. That is because the bench is part of this transformation. If they don’t buy in and become a part of the defensive transformation, the team’s efforts will fail. My observations suggest that the starters and bench have both improved defensively. Continuing this going forward will be essential for the Cavs to become a dominant team instead of a streaky one.