The Point Four-ward: Room for Improvement

Four points I’m thinking about the summer workout plans of the Cleveland Cavaliers…

NBA fans often bemoan the summer’s later months, the ones that find our steady intravenous drip from the hoops-related news cycle almost entirely pinched off. For the players, though, the desert-like days spanning mid-July through mid-September are the only time of the year where the spotlight of fan and media attention is turned off — with some players retreating further from that light than others… of course. Some may focus on spending this time with their families. Others take lavish vacations to decompress and recover from the grind of a long NBA season. But, eventually, at some point during the summer they get back into the gym and work on their games.

With the NBA landscape gone radio silent, here’s what I’m hoping four Cavaliers are working on with all the diligence (and, hopefully, the effectiveness) of a Rocky training montage.

1.) Timofey Mozgov: The left-baseline jumper.

Take a look at the shot chart below.

Much of this illustration, that shows Mozgov’s shooting percentages from various spots on the court for the 2014-15 NBA season (per vorped.com), isn’t a big surprise. Did you know that Mozgov did most of his damage from within five feet of either side of the hoop? Of course, you did. Or, at least, it’s what you likely would have guessed.

But, Mozgov isn’t your bargain basement, brick-handed big man. The 7-1 Russian center actually has a decent shooting touch, evidence, in party, by him owning a career free throw percentage well into the 70s.

With players like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving plunging into the heart of the defense, Mozgov sometimes finds himself free — especially along the left baseline. He just happens to be awful at converting those open looks into points. Last season, Mozgov took 47 shots from the left baseline, the most of any zone outside his camp in the paint, but hit only 13 (or 27.7%) of them.

If Mozgov can get that baseline jumper to fall at closer to a 40% clip — and it’s a shot he can hit with any sort of confidence — it will open up even more lanes for Cavs players to drive through and might help space the floor better and allow Mozgov and Tristan Thompson to play better together (more on that later).

2.) Kevin Love: Fourth Quarter Offense.

We all remember the Love’s up-and-down first season wearing the wine and gold. There were games (okay, most of them) when the Cavs would start off making a concerted effort to get Love involved in the game only to forget about him — or even sit him — in the game’s final frame.

First, look at how Love performed in the first 12 minutes of games this season.

This shows that Love shot 49% from the field in the first quarter of games. It also shows a relative balance in Love’s game that too often saw him spotting up behind the three point line. Aside from the straight-away three pointer, Love is basically a very good shooter all over the court, especially from the left side where he hits over 60% from mid-range and a ridiculous 54% from that corner three.

Now, look at Love in the fourth, where his overall shooting dips to just 37%.

A lot of that has to do with touches. Love took 54 first quarter shots on the left block all season (hitting 53.7% of them), compared to just 18 in the fourth quarter (where he was a very effective 14-18 or 77.8%). The fourth quarter is also where Love seemed to drift further from the basket, shooting more from the extended elbow three and the corner than any other place on the court.

Expect the threes to continue to come from Love in bunches. But, for the Cavs to really lighten the load on James and Irving going forward — and for them to fully take advantage of all the talent they have on this roster, they need to find ways for Love to play like an all-star in quarters other than just the first.

3.) Tristan Thompson: Anything That’s Not A Dunk.

One of the things that helped Thompson break out this past season was that he played largely to his strengths (rebounding, defense, hustle) without putting his weaknesses (shooting and ball handling) on frequent display.

In fact, over 90% of Thompson’s shots were taken within 10 feet and over 70% of his shots were taken using no dribbles (per nba.com). The no dribbles stat could translate to catch and shoot, but in Thompson’s case, it basically means dunk.

Or, to put another way, here’s what Thompson’s 19 point, 10 rebound NBA Finals Game 5 looked like:

No one’s expecting Thompson to completely retool his game and arrive at training camp trying to shoot the ball like a late-career Karl Malone. But, again, being able to take full advantage of a versatile front court troika of Thompson, Love and Mozgov (with a sprinkling of Anderson Varejao) means that both Thompson and Mozgov can’t be camped out under the basket — especially when that’s exactly where James and Irving will often be headed.

I’m not arguing for an overhaul of Thompson’s offensive game. That’s not going to happen, and he’s too good at what he’s good at to worry much about that.

But… I don’t know, TT… maybe, something that occasionally looks like this?

That’s not asking too much. Is it?

And finally…

4.) J.R. Smith: Better Financial Advising.

No chart needed.