Cavs: the Blog - Cleveland Cavaliers TrueHoop Blog

Hopefully there is more trophy lifting in the future.

This will not be two-thousand words like the article on Tristan; then I wanted to highlight some non-box score strengths of his game.  With Kyrie, everyone knows the drill; this is absolutely the least essential of this series.  For a twenty year old, his offense amazes, with performance rarely paralleled in recent years.  Respected analysts describe him as “a breathtaking offensive talent”.  Unfortunately, defensive “train wreck” came with that particular description.  For better and worse, frequently both items ring true.

Offense

On offense, Kyrie has been ridiculous.  A few snippets:

• Both his career 109 offensive rating and 29 usage are ahead of Russell Westbrook’s lifetime marks, despite Westbrook debuting at six months older and entering his prime.  They also are equivalent to Derrick Rose’s 110 and 28, despite Rose debuting at six months older and playing four seasons.
• Of all rookies drafted since 2000 that played 5o or more games, Kyrie ranked third for PER behind Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.  Paul kicked-off his career 10 months older than Kyrie, with Griffin a full two years older.
• Kyrie ranks 16th in the NBA this season for PER.  Only one player ahead of him is within three years of his age; James Harden is 2 years, 209 days older.

At this end of the court, the start to Kyrie’s career is elite; there are no two ways around that.  A spectacular ball-handler and phenomenal shooter, the “future superstar” projection rests on his mantle.  This year, he averages 23.5 points per game on 47 / 43 / 83.

A small negative resides in his “point guard stats”.  His assist rate plunges from last year, and his assist to turnover ratio decreases substantially.  Some of this rests on teammate inefficiency at shot-making, and some on an occasional apparent lack of confidence in those teammates, but a tendency towards hero-ball also rears it’s head.

Defense

Kyrie’s defense is not ideal, but rather than re-hash a thoroughly discussed idea, I will run through a couple of game recaps, then as a summary, provide an over-arching thought on where his defense stands.

January 2nd, 2013 – Sacramento at Cleveland

Kyrie tallied 22, 5 and 6 on 53% true shooting with 3 turnovers as Cleveland suffered a painful loss to the Kings, who played without Marcus Thornton and Tyreke Evans.  The first quarter started well, as Kyrie took advantage of the smaller Isaiah Thomas, scoring six points in the first eight minutes without missing a shot.  On one possession, Irving also drew defensive praise from the Sacramento announcers for fending off Thomas on repeated penetration attempts.  Repeatedly running pick-and-pop sets with Zeller and Walton resulted in three missed-assist opportunities, as the Cav bigs could not convert.  As the quarter wore on, Kyrie’s play slightly diminished; he missed two shots in the final eleven seconds, and I swear he stalled for a full second on a Jimmer Fredette pick.  Just to be clear, Jimmer Fredette set the pick.

As typical, Kyrie sat the initial seven minutes of the second quarter.  He missed both shots for the quarter, including another beautiful, yet failed, isolation play near the end of the half.  A give-and-go dish to Alonzo Gee resulted in another missed jumper.  Defensively, he strolled behind a couple of pick-of-rolls and offered the anti-TT experience, with a thought process apparently of “can’t someone else do it?”

The third quarter again offered good and bad.  Isaiah Thomas drove past Kyrie for an and-one, and an ill-advised switch allowed a Demarcus Cousins mismatch in the post.  Bright sides included Kyrie and Tyler corraling the ball-handler to step on the baseline through solid pick-and-roll defense, and he hounded Thomas into an ugly miss to end the quarter.  Kyrie’s passing resulted in two assists on shots from deep, however three other would-be assists rimmed out; Sacramento pretty much quit guarding Luke Walton.  Kyrie scored eight, including a spot-up three and a magnificent behind-the-back-into-between-the-legs-into-tough-elbow-pull-up!

Kyrie checked in with 5:40 to go in the fourth.  Several Sacramento possessions featured Kyrie finding himself out of the play, and the remainder of the possession devolving into chaos and a Kings bucket.  Aaron Brooks blasted past him for a crushing lay-up that extended Cleveland’s deficit to four with 18 seconds remaining.  Offensively, Kyrie converted a mind-meldingly-tough baseline shot and also scored six points in the final two minutes to keep the game close.  Unfortunately, all three of his turnovers came in the final four minutes, helping shut the door on a comeback.  The iso-heavy, non floor-spaced offense that Cleveland frequently features in crunch time lead Kyrie into a ball-handling miscue and also tripping / throwing a pass out of bounds.

This was a relatively representative Kyrie game.  He scored 22 with reasonable efficiency and some circus shots.  His defense was…uninspiring.  His six assists easily could have been 9 or 10 if a few teammate jumpers fell.  Let’s move on to the next one.

January 7th, 2013 – Cleveland at Chicago

This was certainly not one of Cleveland’s best efforts; that will happen when profiling a random selection of games.  In 29 minutes of a Bulls blowout, he tallied 15 points on 55% true shooting with 6 assists and 3 turnovers. The game started magically, largely fueled by Kyrie-related brilliance en-route to a 30 to 20 lead.  His nine points and four assists included two transition dimes, a pull-up 20-footer off a pick, a slick-dribbling pull-up, and a sweetly-stroked three after bringing the ball up-court.  His jumper was on, he located open teammates…all cylinders were firing.  The final possession of the quarter featured an iso-drive from half-court for a miss.

As Kyrie sat the first seven minutes of quarter two, an eight-point lead crumbled into a two-point deficit.  His five minutes of play featured some lackadaisical pick-and-roll defense and halfway committed post-help.  On several possessions, his positioning best describes as no-man’s-land.  Tightly-controlled ball-handling lead to four shot attempts, but unfortunately all were missed; this included two in the final ten seconds.  For anyone counting at home, that is seven shots taken in the last twelve seconds of the six quarters profiled, with only one make.  Kyrie can be a crunch time ninja, but hopefully a part of his growth includes incorporating additional appropriate opportunities to pass in these situations.  Certainly the defense is paying a lot of attention to him.

The third quarter was ugly for the Cavs, as they gave up 35 points.  Generally, Kyrie’s defense aided the Chicago explosion, but I am bored of talking about it.  He made his final field goal of the game less than two minutes into the quarter and then sat out the fourth.  It was a stupid second half.  Let’s move on to the…

Summary:

Kyrie is a top twenty offensive player in the league.  Right now.  And he cannot legally enter drinking establishments for two months.  That is spectacular, and finds him progressing toward the upper echelon of NBA stars.

His defense is less phenomenal.  According to RAPM, of 364 players with over 400 possessions this season, Kyrie is 294th as a stopper.  And this needs to improve, lest he be overrated; it’s a two-way game.

He is young though.  His defensive RAPM has improved by one point per 100 possessions from last year to this one, the PER he allows his opponent is down 1.5, and his steal rate is up.  He always rebounded well.  With continual improvement to his effort and performance on defense, and only incremental upticks on offense, he can be the best player on a championship team.  Let’s see him do that.

Claire Danes aka Carrie Mathison w "Homeland" (Fot. Kent Smith/Copyright: Showtime)

So the hot rumor on Cleveland sports talk radio this morning is that the Cavs are trading Anderson Varejao within the next 24-48 hours.  According the Really Big Show, the rationale is that Minnesota has a newly renewed sense of urgency given that Kevin Love is out 5-6 weeks with his latest hand fracture (wish I could tell you what time to look on the podcast, but it was brief).  Normally, I’d just read this as chatter, but the Carrie Mathison in me thinks there might be more to this, for the following reasons.

• The Kevin Love injury.
• Tristan Thompson has blossomed during Andy’s most recent absence, thus making the prospect of trading Andy more palatable..
• Samardo Samuels was waived yesterday.  His contract was guaranteed after January 10th.  Could the Cavs be clearing a roster spot?
• Anderson Varejao has not played for 7 games, a very long time to sit for a knee bruise.  Could the Cavs be shelving him so that he does not get hurt before they can trade him?
• Daniel Gibson, in similar fashion to Samardo Samuels, has a contract that becomes fully guaranteed January 10th.  He is scheduled to make $4.79 million this year, of which $2.49 million is guaranteed.  This means that any team that trades for him can then waive him and save $2.3 million of their 2012-2013 salary cap, as long as they do it before the 10th.  Plus, the Cavs have already paid a good portion of the guaranteed contract.  Additionally, he has not played since his concussion.  According to Mary Schmitt Boyer, he’s out tonight: “Just got out of shootaround at the United Center. Daniel Gibson is here but will not playing.”
• Luke Walton is scheduled as out tonight in order to take care of a “personal matter.”  Could this be to take care of things before he gets shipped, especially because the Cavs are about to start a road trip?  Might he be looking for an apartment in Minneapolis?
• According to Yahoo.com, Omri Casspi has requested a trade from the Cavs.  According to the Plain Dealer, Casspi has no comment on the matter.

Added all up, it’s either a lot of chatter, or a perfect storm of trade winds.  Andy may sit or play tonight.  The Cavs might want to protect him, or show a prospective team that he’s healthy…  We’ll know whether this was all rumor or prescience in 3 days.  Enjoy the trade machine, my friends.

Bemoaning the bench has become a daily event for Cavs fans.  Luke Walton plays too much, there’s no back up center on this team, and before Shaun Livingston appeared we didn’t have a back up PG.  Of all the frustrations we’ve encountered this season, the lack of an NBA-ready  bench takes the cake.

So why, then, has Omri Casspi sat since December 21st (when he only played 1 minute)?

I’m not here to give answers, mostly because I don’t have them.  We’ve all heard the rumors that he reportedly told Scott he couldn’t wait to hit free agency and we’ve all speculated reasons, like that he doesn’t work hard in practice, but to think that’s enough to force one of our more talented role players deep into the bench is an oversight.

What I am here to say is that it’s absurd that he’s sitting.  For a few reasons:

First, while his raw shooting % is slightly down this year, his three point %, eFG %, and True Shooting % are all WAY up.  One of the biggest struggles the Cavs have had this year is consistent three-point shooting from people not named Kyrie Irving or CJ Miles.  Furthermore, taking out two of the final games he played on the 8th and 11th of December, where he shot 0-3 in both, he’s actually shooting respectably in all aspects.  Given some more consistent play time, I have full confidence Omri’s shot will begin falling again.

Second, Omri is one of the few players on this team that actually tries to rebound.  We know Tristan is a rebounding machine, and clearly more than enough has been written on the rebounding prowess of Andy, but Omri Casspi actually ranks third on the team in D Rebounding %, ahead of Luke Walton who has a paltry TS% of 34%.

Finally, Omri is one of the few Cavs that willingly plays tenacious D.  He’s big, physical, and surprisingly strong for his lanky body.

I’d love to see some more Omri, particularly as a stretch four.  The Cavs have been throwing a CLEARLY overmatched Luke Walton regularly – it would make a lot more sense to give those minutes to someone who can actually hit his wide open jumpers.

What’re your thoughts about Casspi?  Would you like to see him play more?

UPDATE:

Thanks to CtBer Tom Pestak for pointing this out.  We now know that Omri Casspi has requested a trade but that the Cavs seem unable to find one.  Looks like I picked the right day to cover this.

Oh boy.

I resolve when watching this game to not make this recap about Luke Walton.  Running diary recap tonight.

1st Quarter: The Cavs  jump out to a 20-10 lead till before first substitution. Some great play by Zeller, TT, Gee, and KI and some turnovers caused by the Rockets over-agressively trying to hit the outlet pass lead to a brilliant set of running plays by the Cavs. Irving gets a steal and leads Gee by 10 feet on a slow motion alley oop pass that he absolutely crushes. The Cavs are aggressively trapping in the backcourt and in the pick and roll, and getting a lot of steals. Zeller blows the doors off Asik sprinting down the court and Kyrie finds him with a touchdown pass for an easy looking left hand layup that ZPA makes at full speed. Gee has it going on offense with an early three and two dunks. But… then Zeller subs out and Walton comes in. The Cavs are running 4 on 5 on offense. The Cavs’ aren’t looking for Luke and the Rockets aren’t respecting him. 10-2 run Rockets.

Walton obviously hates Smiths.

The Cavs do get some lucky breaks because whoever gets Walton on them immediately breaks out of Houston’s offense and tries to score, which leads to a couple bad Patrick Patterson misses.  TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott covered this phenomenon last week with an article on the “Novak Effect”.  Much like Steve Novak, Walton’s defense is underrated.  Luke actually, is pretty smart, pushes his guy the right way, and has some veteran tricks to steal the ball when he’s beat.  According to 82games Walton moves the needle from the Cavs giving up 110 points per hundred possessions (bad), to 100.7 points per hundred possessions (middle of the pack).   The difference between Walton and Novak is that Walton is a bad offensive player because he can’t shoot or rebound offensively.  82games rates Walton as dragging the Cavs offense down -9.1 points per hundred possessions on offense.  Did I mention he’s a lousy rebounder?

The Cavs pick it up again, and by the end of the 1st Tyler has drawn two charges, and the Cavs are up 26-20.

2nd Quarter: Saint Weirdo is aggressive, and seems a little more willing to look for the better play, but he’s still kind of all over the place. His first bucket is comes on one of his patented “no no no… yes!” shots from the top of the key. By the time Walton leaves the game, the Cavs are only up 2. And 2 minutes later Houston has their first lead. Zeller continues his overall heady play.  One possession after he gets no call when Lin fouls him twice in 4 seconds, Zeller steals and then swings a beautiful pass on the break across the floor to hit Dion in full stride who dunks with two hands.

It’s a back and forth game after that, with Jeremy Lin lighting up whoever is (not) guarding him (Waiters Irving, generally) with 3 pointers, and Kyrie countering with some brilliant and yet sometimes clumsy ballhandling.  Thompson continues his positive offensive play with some nice hooks and even looks good at the line.  By the end of the 2nd half though, the Rockets keep pushing up the lead as the Cavs defense gets lazier and lazier.  Waiters absolutely watches Harden shoot an easy transition layup without even any attempt to challenge or foul.  At least most of the other Cavs attempt give-up fouls in this situation.  At one point Zeller chases down Parsons with a brilliant transition block at the rim, and then 3 other Rockets race down and get the putback.  Kyrie glares at all his other teammates who didn’t run back on D.  Well, I like that leadership, but by the end of the 1st half the Cavs are down 54-50 and only because of a hero 3 by Kyrie with .1 left in the 1st half.

3rd Quarter: Rockets are still constantly pushing, but the Cavs have come to play to start the 2nd half which is good.  Both teams have tightened up on defense, and points are getting harder to come by.  TT is Mr. trash man with the putbacks and already has 13 points and 12 boards with 8 minutes left in the 3rd.  He’s passing out of double teams, running the floor, playing defense, rebounding.  He’s becoming a joy to watch.  I can’t wait to see Canadian Dynamite play with Andy again.

Kyrie is attacking the basket tonight, taking Lin off the dribble at will and has more than a couple brilliant finishes with either  hand and ridiculous spin.  Dion Waiters needs to watch some KI film and copy his finishing ability.  Kyrie’s got 14 points, but has also had some bad decisions, trying to split the double team too aggressively which have lead to steals and runouts for the Rockets.  But the Cavs are hanging within 2-4 points: grinding.  Speaking of a guy who KI and Dion need to watch film of: Iron and Wine’s own James Harden runs the high pick and roll brilliantly, and seems to find the corner shooters perfectly.  The Cavs would be very well served to pick up some deadly corner 3 shooters this offseason, and copy some of Houston’s offensive sets.  It would help space the floor for the whole team.

Gee is balling on offense.  With about 4 minutes left in the quarter, he throws down a monster 2 handed dunk from the left baseline, and then drops a sweet dime to ZPA who lays it in on the right side with the left hand (a very advanced move).  A couples plays later 3G follows that up with a right corner 3.  The Rockets just keep coming, though.  Harden is being held in check mostly too.  But he and Lin’s constant pushing are keeping the lead just out of reach.  The help defense has been much improve by the Cavs, though and the rotations seem mostly solid.  One thing that baffles me is why the Cavs don’t run any plays for C.J. Miles…

Kevin Jones sighting!  No Luke Walton?  KJ has a sweet putback off a rare offensive rebound from the backup power forward position!   Harden picks Dion’s pocket and then cans a transition 3.  Uh oh.  In the words of NBA Jam, “he’s heating up.”  Thankfully Zeller knocks down a couple freebies, and Harden misses one at the buzzer.  78-78.  Nice quarter, Cavs.

4th Quarter: Dion shoots one his pet shots:  a 22 foot left wing brick to start out the 3rd.  Patrick Patterson comes back and drains a nice mid-ranger.  PP’s had a good game.  Waiters gets 2 back on a stepback, and then Jones hit’s a very nice 16 footer.  Man, the Cavs help defense is positively pesky tonight.  They’re so active!  Kyrie started the 4th for a change, and the Cavs seem determined to compete.  There’s a fire here I haven’t seen from them maybe all season.

Argh.  Harden gets a bailout “star call” on great help defense by TT.  With 8 minutes the lead is flipflopping.  And then Kyrie tries to split a double team on flat iso offensive set at the top of the key, and gives up a steal.  Crap.  Runout Houston.  Until Livingston bails him out with an AWESOME chasedown block!  Kyrie pushes the rebound, makes another ill advised foray into the tall trees and gives it up again, after which Harden makes a transition and1.  That is a terrible call on Livingston.  Yuck.  It’s a Kyrie/Harden battle now as they’re trading baskets.  But the lead keeps edging out farther for the Rockets.  Kevin Jones! with another nice offensive rebound.

Crunch Time: 5 minutes left, 4 point game .  Steal… dunk CJ Miles!  2 point game!  Another and1 by Delfino for Houston.  Cleveland can’t breathe on Houston without getting a foul right now, and now if we were playing NBA Jam, we’d be hearing, “HE’S ON FIRE!” for James Harden.  The bearded one splashes a 3 in Gee’s face off a left wing step back.  All the sudden it’s an 8 point deficit with 4 minutes left.  Time out, Cavs.  This is frustrating.

Kyrie cans a couple freebees, and then Lin goes coast to coast for another And1?  I just kicked my dog.  Fortunately it’s a Moondog souvenir.   Thompson to Zeller with a gorgeous pass off a right baseline drive!  Wow.  That was not 2012 Thompson.  Some good team defense and then Kyrie drives the right side and eschews a wide open Miles in the corner, but converts an unreal layup+1!  103-99 Houston.  Followed by… Delfino 3.   UGH.  KI Answers!  106-102.  Another nice defensive possession and then Irving gets the star call!  He makes 1 of 2 and it’s a 3 point game with 1:09 left.  Wow.  In terms of aesthetics and quality of play, this might be the best game of the season.  It certainly is the best 2013.

1:09 left.  106-103, lead for Houston.  Harden iso, and he nails a stepback deuce to the right.  Very nice shot.  I hope he gets fleas in his beard.  Flop fine alert as Lin gets cattle prodded by Kyrie and throws his head back in danger of giving himself whiplash, and Irving gets called for an offensive foul.  After this, the Cavs must foul, and then Harden hits two more gimmes.  It’s a 7 point game with 30 seconds left, and it feels over.  James Harden is really really good.

Conclusions: I’ll point the the -8 the Cavs were with Walton in the game carrying over to the end of the game, but that’s cheap.  Saint Weirdo was -13 tonight, and he generally sucked on defense, and still is trying to find his way into taking efficient shots.  This was a really good game, and the Cavs got beat by a better team with a better star.  The effort was there tonight for the Cavs, especially on defense, but they were out-executed and outrun. Shooting 25-28 from the line for Cleveland tonight was winning basketball. The ridiculous number of 4th quarter hoop and harm plays by Houston were not winning basketball.  I always say, if the refs are gonna call ticky tack crap on you, you might as well clobber the the guy.

TT took another step with a career high 16 boards.  His final line: 5-11 FG, 4-6 FT, 14 points, 8 OReb, 8 DReb, 2 Asst., 1 Stl, 1 Blk.  Nice game, TT.  Zeller complemented him well with a 0 +/- 3 steals, 12 points, and 5 boards.  He kind of disappeared late (which tends to happen when KI’s pounding the rock), and they could have used some more boards from him, but he keeps improving.

It’s easy to blame Gee for letting Harden get away from him, but Harden is a beast.  Gee had a nice game on offense, with a very efficient 18 points, 6 boards, 1 dime, and 1 steal.

When I looked at the box score, I realized Miles was getting the ball, he was just missing… 4-14.  Maybe getting him some higher percentage looks would help.

Kyrie’s 8 turnovers did not help.  As good as he was on offense with 30 pots, 6 dimes, 4 boards, 4 steals, those turnovers hurt.  Kyrie over dribbled in the iso too much, which lead to wide open layups when he turned it over.  He has to give it up and give it back.  I don’t think he trusts his teammates, and in crunch time, I’m not sure he’s wrong in that.  But if they want to get better, he’s going to have to give up some control.  Getting Andy back will help him with that immensely.

Kevin Jones was solid in 12 minutes off the bench in the second half.  He had 6 points and 3 boards, and 0 +/-.  I hope he just took Luke’s spot in the rotation.  Livingston’s offensive liabilities came out tonight as he was scoreless with 3 dimes, and 1 gorgeous block.  Livingston should embrace the role of bench perimeter defender.  Being able to spell Gee on Harden with Livingston would have been a nice idea.

It’s bizarre that I feel much better after tonight’s loss against a good Houston team than I do about last night’s win against a terrible Charlotte team.  I felt like multiple Cavs took a step in the right direction, and that maybe we’ve seen the last of Walton for a while.  If that’s true, what am I going to complain about now?

This is not an opinion piece, but instead a short history paper, probably something Dani could give to a teacher and receive a solid “B” for.  Byron Scott has coached the Cavaliers for nearly two-hundred games, but I never thought much about his pre-Cleveland days.  Hired at the time of “the decision”, the move hardly registered compared to the earthquake surrounding it.  Overseeing a franchise deconstruction and rebuilding, his current record sits at a pitiful 47 wins and 134 losses.  As anticipated, it has been ugly, but concerns about the franchise’s direction percolate as the team ventures through the season at 17-win pace…worse than even the initial, horrid, post-Lebron season.

Let’s take a look at Coach Scott’s past and see what can be learned.

(more…)

Happy New Year, everyone.  With the Mayan Apocalypse safely behind us, we can focus on making 2013 better than 2012.  The beginning of January is the time for making resolutions to be better…  to do better.  To that effect, I’ve a list of prescriptive resolutions for the members of our favorite basketball team; because no one knows what a team of elite, mostly African American athletes need to do to “take it to the next level,” like a pasty, balding, nearing middle aged computer geek with a beer belly.

C.J. Miles: Resolve to do something other than score.  I love the scoring.  I love the shooting and high efficiency.  I love that left handed gliding dunk.  But… when your shot isn’t falling you tend to disappear.  So… resolve to make an effort on defense, rebounding, passing… something.  Focusing on defense is probably the easiest.

Jeremy Pargo: Resolve to be consistently aggressive off the bench.  As a starter this season, you averaged 14.5 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.6 turnovers in 30.7 minutes.  You shot .408/.348/.697.  You had a couple games that made us believe you could be a good backup point guard to Kyrie.  As a bench player, you’ve averaged 2.4 points, 1.1 assists, and .8 turnovers in 8.4 minutes per game, and shot .321/.200/.667.  Your production per minute is a fraction of what it is as a starter.  We know that Scott’s haphazard rotations haven’t helped, but we’re asking him to resolve to do better too.  Please resolve to bring it when you come off the bench.  Push the ball.

Luke Walton: Since it’s pretty apparent you’re going to be getting rotation minutes, please resolve to work on your jump shot.  You’re shooting a career low .316 from the floor, and .125 from three.  I know at this age, it’s pretty pointless to ask you to rebound better, and that coach Scott insists on playing you at power forward.  But you should be able to get some open jumpers there.  Teams are starting to play off you, so go practice your threes and your elbow jumpers.

Omri Casspi: Resolve to keep your head up.  You haven’t gotten much run since you had gastroenteritis (tee hee.  I’m 12).  But please don’t let the coach’s capricious substitution patterns get you down.  Please keep playing hard in practice, rebounding, and shooting those silky wing jumpers and that free throw line pull-up.

Tyler Zeller.  You’ve started putting your legs into your jump shot again, so you have a great start on 2013.  This request may have to wait till the offseason, but resolve to add some muscle mass.  Your thin frame is getting you punished on the block.  Though it took him a while to lean to play with the weight, the 15 pounds that TT put on in the offseason have helped him bang with the bigs boys, and kept him on the floor.  It’s not easy, and probably hypocritical coming from a guy who added 15 pounds of egg nog mass during December, but 15 pounds of muscle could help you immensely.  Please call Ben Wallace’s trainer.

The same goes for you, John Leuer.

Samardo Samuels: Resolve to bring energy every time you are in the game.  It’s hard to channel that at a moment’s notice, because you don’t seem to know when you’re going to play, but the Samardo Samuels from the last two years ago had a lot of energy moments around the basket.  The Samardo Samuels of this year, while he shoots better, seems content to launch 20 footers.  Watch this video.  Get yourself fired up.

Kevin Jones: What we told Samardo goes for you too.  When you’re at the bottom of the bench, you need to play like a madman to get noticed.  Resolve to play so hard that the coach can’t sub you without getting booed.

Tristan Thompson: Just keep doin’ what you’re doing.  You’ve been getting better with every game in Andy’s absence.  And if I could make but one suggestion, resolve to use the glass more.  Watch some video of Andy who’s a master of using the glass, and try to work on a quick one handed layup finish off the glass from either side of the basket.  It’s a pretty fundamental play that would help you finish without getting your shot blocked.  Keep your shoulders parallel to the glass, and use your off hand shoulder to ward off the defender, and just throw it in.  Mikan drills, my friend.  Mikan drills.

Alonzo Gee: The recent evolution of the pullup elbow jumper has been a nice development.  You’ve also developed some left hand/right foot driving and finishing moves which have opened up your slashing game immensely.  Your resolution should be to take the right wing jumper out of your game until you get better at it.  You’re not great from the corners (especially the right corner), but you’re at least competent at it, and it’s really hard to take that shot out of the offense. The right wing jumpers need to go until you can shoot at least 30% from there.

Alonzo's shot chart. Makes in green. From http://Basketball-reference.com

Anderson Varejao: I can’t tell you to stop getting yourself beat up, and you’ve too much pride to ask to sit some games, so I’m asking you to do something that’s REALLY not in your nature.  Demand the ball more on the block.  When the Cavs offense is bogging down and you’re desperately trying to set screens to get a pick and roll going, and no one is moving, you need to tell the guards to get you the ball on the block and try to score.  You’re a much better option on the block than a bad jump shot.  I know it’s not your nature, but it’s the next step of your evolution.

Dion Waiters: Stop shooting long 2 point shots — especially early in the shot clock.  The long two is a shot that should only be taken by a player who is especially good at them, as it’s usually the least efficient shot in the game.  According to Basketball-Reference You are shooting .225 from 3 to 9 feet from the basket.  Since this is the eventual evolution of your game, I can’t ask you to stop taking these shots(though you should be working on them).  And you’re shooting .325 from behind the line, where you have no remorse about jacking it up at any time from anywhere (though you should stop shooting the straight on 3, as you’re making almost none).  But…  you’re shooting .373 from 16 feet to the 3 point line.  You need to practice this shot and get over .400 (at least) or take it out of your game.  If it weren’t for your prowess from the left baseline, this number would be even worse.  So I guess I’m asking you to resolve to use this shot chart, figure out the spots you’re good from, and shoot from there, and stop shooting from places you’re not.  (26 feet and beyond, the right baseline, straight on from 3, and just inside the 3 point line from the left side… to summarize).

Dion Waiters Shot Chart. http://www.basketball-reference.com

Shaun Livingston: Resolve to embrace the role of mentoring veteran.  It’s your best bet to stick with the Cavs, and it’s something they need.  Try to teach KI, Dion, and Jeremy about professionalism, defense, and how to keep one’s head in the game…

Daniel Gibson: Your game is what it is, and I love your attitude.  Since I have to ask for a resolution, I’m saying, just for the sake of argument, maybe, um, slow down on the twitter?  Were 10 tweets on Dec. 29th really necessary?  Although, I am interested in hearing some of the poetry you were conjuring that night.  So yeah.  Resolve to give us more poetry and twine ripping and fewer tweets.

Byron Scott: I’m going to have to restrain myself here, because there’s a lot of things I’d like you to resolve.  My biggest request though?  Resolve to act like you care.  Sometimes it looks like you are just standing there.  It looks at times as if the losing doesn’t bother you.  Sometimes when Anderson Varajao just got ripped down by the collarbone, I want you to sprint out to where he is and stare down Amir Johnson.  I want you to pick up a technical every now and again and bark at the refs when you’re not getting calls.  I know the team takes a lot of composure cues from their coach, and you can’t seem like you are out of control, but I want some fire from you.  I don’t want the stoic stare all the time.  Please make me believe you care, Byron.  Please get your players’ backs.

Chris Grant and Dan Gilbert: Resolve to instill a culture of winning in 2013.  I know it doesn’t have to be this “season” per se, but winning needs to become the focus.  The Cavs seem too content to throw away games, and you’re losing the fans.  I don’t want the Cleveland Cavaliers to be the Winter Indians.  So, get some quality free agents.  Get some culture changers.  Have a long talk with Scott about what it will take to win, or get a coach to change the culture.  Stop building for the future, and make the future now.  Start setting some goals and setting some consequences if those goals aren’t achieved. I think you’ve done a good job rebuilding the team so far, but this resolution is the necessary next step.

Kyrie Irving: Please resolve to be a better defender, and to stay engaged every game.  I know this is a daunting task.  Coach Scott seems to give you guys no consistent way to play the pick and roll, and you guys often don’t seem to have an idea of how to play certain players (why wouldn’t you just go under the pick every time on Rondo?), but I’m hoping you can be the tone setter, Kyrie.  Since this is a big resolution, I’m going to give you two specific things to work on.

1. Stop “floating” on the pick and roll.  If you are switching, stay switched.  Don’t just let the big run to the basket while you stand there 10 feet from the play, hoping the ball will rebound so you can push, and pullup for 3.  Communicate better and don’t be so content to switch or pass your man off.  Be an aggressor on defense and not a passive watcher.
2. Work on “getting skinny” to get around screens and stay with your man.  You seem way to willing to give up on a play when you’re being run through screens.  You seem disengaged, with no mind to how you’re going to get through that screen to slow down your man.  Put the same thought and effort into defense that you put into offense.

Please embrace the role of the defending knight, Kyrie.

Happy 2013 everyone…  May we all accomplish our resolutions.

David Thorpe must REALLY not like Tristan Thompson as he didn’t even put him in the top 20 from last year’s draft.

While we (myself included) have applaud TT of late, it’s clear others might not feel the same.  My guess is his value probably falls somewhere in between.

UPDATE: WOW – Thorpe must’ve heard the cries of Cavs fans, because minutes after posting it, slipped him into #7.  (See comments section of his ESPN post) Thanks to David Pearl for pointing this update out to me.

Kyrie however, appears, to no one’s surprise, at the number one spot.  Even more, at least one ESPN pundit believes Kyrie will be the best PG in the NBA by 2015!

I can’t wait!!!

Close match here.  The Cavs battled the Hawks for the better part of 4 quarters, but were out executed down the stretch.  Atlanta is a lot better at winning close games than Cleveland.  The Cavs were up 1 off of a Kyrie layup with 2:53 left to go.  Atlanta needed points down the stretch, and they put Kyrie Irving in the pick and roll to get them.  The Hawks took the lead off a Teague/Pachulaia Pick and Roll where Kyrie got lost 10 feet away from the play –  not sure whether to cover Teague or the big and instead decided to float.  The Cavs called time out with 2:24 to go, and came out of the huddle with a brilliant play: the LeBron Special: a 31 foot iso jumper from Kyrie.  Clank.  The next play: a Horford/Teague pick and pop: both defenders went with Teague and then Horford canned an open 19 footer.  Subsequent Cavs play: iso-Waiters while the other 4 Cavs stood around in bad spots and watched him launch 22 foot fade-away jumper.  Clank.  1:30 left, 97-94 Hawks, Atlanta ran another Pachulia/Teague pick and roll.  On the roll, Pachulia missed a 5 footer, got his own rebound, kicked it to Korver on the left wing for 3.  Ballgame.  You read that right: a 7-0 run in 1:11.

A.C. called it correctly.  Atlanta runs plays down the stretch, and the Cavs stand around and try to go one on one with no one else moving.  He sounded as irritated as I felt.  The Cavs really didn’t play any better against the Wizards, but the Wizards weren’t a good enough team to take advantage of it.  Atlanta is.  The Cavs lack of offensive creativity and execution doomed them when combined with their inability to get stops.

As for the rest of the game, it was a tightly contested yo-yo affair where the lead for both teams bounced back and forth to 9 for the Cavs and 11 for the Hawks.  As brilliant as Kyrie Irving is on offense, he and Waiters got torched on defense.  Though they combined for 46 points, 9 assists, and 2 turnovers, Teague and Williams combined for 43 points, 12 assists, and 7 turnovers.  Despite the turnovers, they played pretty much to a draw.  Until they stop giving up as much as they get, Waiters and Irving won’t win.  Some of this is defensive philosophy or lack thereof.  I can’t tell when the Cavs are supposed to help, when they’re supposed to switch, and when they’re supposed to stay on their man.  Unfortunately, I don’t think they know either.  As for Saint Weirdo, he certainly lived up to his nickname with some brilliant drives, dribble moves, and nasty finishes combined with some decent passes, and a selection of dumb shots — including the game losing 22 foot fadeaway.  7-21 is not good shooting.

Speaking of passes, Tristan Thompson had the pass of the night with a lookaway bounce pass to Luke Walton that ended up not even counting cause Tristan was fouled on the feed.  But it was one of those “WHOA” moments I’ve been noticing lately from Canadian Dynamite.  TnT had a mixed game.  He gave Josh Smith nothing on offense but crappy 22 footers, holding him to 2-12 shooting.  Tristan was +5 for the game and had 8 boards, including a couple really nice offensive ones that led to putbacks, but he had some frustrating moments where he got his shot blocked when if he could have just shielded his defender with his shoulder and put it up off the glass, he would have had much higher odds of scoring…  But he’s getting there.  He had another “WHOA” moment on defense when he switched out on Teague for 30+ seconds of man to man defense (there was an o-board in the middle), and he got in good defensive position  and denied Teague ANY dribble penetration both times.  It was, dare-I-say, a Varajao-esque moment.  Canadian Dynamite played with more energy than anyone from Cleveland tonight.

Gee was decent, though his shooting woes continue.  At least he’s getting to the line.  He was the Cavs’ least incompetent perimeter defender.  If 4 of Chucky Miles’ minutes had been gone to Gee, the Cavs might’ve won.

Zeller was competent on offense, and his jump shot is coming around, but he still has a long way to go on defense, and Kyrie was passing to him like he had Andy’s hands.  He doesn’t yet.  ZPA had some bad offensive fouls and a couple more turnovers, but the jump shot progression was nice to see.  Unfortunately Josh Smith owned the defensive paint, and nothing came easy there for Tyler and the rest of the Cavs.

Cleveland’s bench was in a word, atrocious.  Chucky Miles was back, posting an earth-shatteringly horrific -21 for the game, off a series of awful possessions.  His shooting numbers look better than he played.  He was 3-7, 2-4 at the line, and 2-2 from the stripe.  But his 3 misses had absolutely no chance of going in, and if he was guarding anyone, I didn’t see it.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if the Cavs want to win, the play is to start C.J. and bring Dion off the bench, because Miles is an order of magnitude better when he starts.  But that doesn’t seem to be the goal as much as developing Waiters, and I can live with that.  Pargo was awful: slow ponderous, perplexing, enigmatic, offering little of substance.  He’s the Skyfall of point guards.  His sole moment of triumph was a reverse hook shot layup to close out the 3rd, off some nice Nashing around the basket.  What Walton gave on offense with some nice passing and general heady play he gave up on defense and the boards.  Asking Walton to guard Al Horford should be the opening act in the Theater of the Absurd.

In their defense, the bench was hampered because Gibson got clocked by an errant forearm and ended up with a mouthful of blood.  He went to the locker room with a “head injury” and never returned.  He suffered a concussion and won’t be traveling to Brooklyn tomorrow.  Let’s hope he’s going to be ok.

Atlanta looked good, and their ability to out-execute the Cavs really speaks to Teague’s maturation.  Josh Smith did not let his poor offensive evening detract him from protecting the paint, and Al Horford could be one of the best centers in the league if he was more assertive.  Lou Williams is one of the toughest players to guard in the league.  If this team could somehow get an alpha scorer, they could be very very good.  Danny Ferry be praised.  The Tim Misny lookalike should be calling O.J. Mayo this offseason.

Conclusions:

With a young team, it’s often hard to say when they lose whether they got outplayed or outcoached.  I can’t imagine the play coming out of the timeout in the late 4th was a 31 foot KI jump shot.  It’s hard to say whether Byron called K-Iso, and Irving was feeling it, or whether Kyrie just never waited for the play.  But the ball sure is sticking.  One coaching thing I notice is that the Cavs are very bad at closing out quarters.  At the end of the 1st and 3rd quarters, the Cavs let players get all the way down the court and get good looks at the basket, including a Jeff Teague layup to end the 1st with only 8 second left on the inbound.  They need to watch film of Indiana who aggressively traps the ball-handler at the end of quarters, and forces them to the sideline, making it difficult to advance the ball and get off a good shot in limited time.  The way teams end quarters lead to point differentials that are not insignificant throughout the season.  In addition, though Waiters didn’t lose his starting job to Chucky Miles when Dion came back from his ankle injury, Casspi got a case of the green apple splatters and hasn’t been off the bench since (no pun intended).  This is the kind of double standard that really annoys me with Scott.  Some players have very short leashes, and some players get all the opportunities in the world.  To call coach Scott’s rotations arbitrary would be kind.

I’ve gone through this post without mentioning much of Kyrie Irving’s overall offensive brilliance.  The man scores effortlessly, and is a pleasure to watch play basketball when the ball is in his hands.  He can score from anywhere on the court.  But I think the time has come to bring someone in to mentor him on the little things: how to defend the pick and roll; when to assert himself and when to feed his teammates; how to feed a hot teammate; how to get someone who needs it an easy bucket; how to pull up in traffic and pick up a cheap foul on a defender; how to shot fake and get to the line; how to execute plays in the half court in crunch time, and how to defend the pick and roll.  I think it needs to be a player, because Byron Scott is either not coaching well, or Kyrie’s not listening.

Feel Better, Boobie.

Tristan Thompson entered the league with a dossier of being an athletic, defense first player, with great work ethic, excellent offensive rebounding instincts, and an otherwise non-developed repetoire.  Oh, and poor free throw shooting.  So far, he checks each of those boxes.  Part of the genesis of this series was to provide a fair take on Tristan’s greatest skills: man-to-man and team defense, as they are otherwise unlikely to result in glowing narrative.  As TT approaches his 22nd birthday, how does his progress look?

Tristan still shoots free throws left handed.

On offense: Thompson battles issues with scoring the ball.  According to ESPN, of 75 qualified power forwards, his true shooting percentage ranks 47th, despite using only the 56th highest frequency of possessions.  The TS% serves as a significant improvement over last year, however that is aided by a 4% reduction in his usage rate.  His 56% career free-throw shooting has not helped, but he converted 62% this month.  Struggles with quickly collecting passes and attacking, or innovating when his shot isn’t there,  lead to obscene amounts of his shots getting blocked (10th most in the NBA through 12/17).

He shines as an offensive rebounder though, proving his elite collegiate skill transitions to the NBA.  Of 327 qualified NBA players this year, his rebounding rate ranks 24th.  As a willing pick setter, and a player constantly battling to extend possessions through his board-work, he offers some offensive benefits.   (more…)

The Cavs have waived Donald Sloan and claimed Shaun Livingston off of waivers from Washington.  Livingston is averaging 3.7 points 2.2 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 18.8 minutes per game this season for a pedestrian PER of 7.65.  Sloan averaged 4.8/1.9/1.4 for a PER of 10.34.  For what it’s worth, I like the move as it adds someone with some size into the backcout and someone who is a veteran and can run an offense, even if Livingston is a below average shooter.  As for Donald Sloan, we wish you well, and note that it SUCKS to get cut on Christmas.