From Distance: Finding Your People, Your Year

Four point play…

1. Humans, though highly variable, are empathetic creatures. For better and for worse, (if one isn’t a hermit) one is somewhat at the mercy of the emotional and intellectual styles of those in proximity. Surround oneself with creative people and one is more likely to think creatively. If subjected to constant negativity, it becomes difficult to maintain a positive energy. We are assimilating machines, and that can have drastically different effects depending on our situation.

LeBron James is like any other person on planet earth. He is at his best when he is surrounded by the right people. No matter how dominating one’s personality might be, we are all still subject to the mental states of those in our lives.

It’s a primary reason Popovich places such a strong emphasis on character when evaluating players. It contributes to the effacacy of everything we do.

What is the default setting of the person to your left? Whatever that may be, remember that your mere presence is affecting that person’s default one way or the other. And, of course, the person’s is affecting yours.

Living philosophy is often mirrored on the basketball court. In a game that relies on improvisation and reaction, a person’s natural intuition is often as important to the overall quality of play as any X and O. Is a player “over himself” as a person/player? Does he consider making the correct basketball play to be a “sacrifice” or simply the correct play?

I don’t like when coaches talk too much about players’ sacrifice when it comes to scoring opportunities. If a player considers that to be such a sacrifice, it means scoring is more important to him than getting team buckets. That shouldn’t be considered a sacrifice. That should simply be considered being a good player.

Some guys have the right mental makeup for team ball, but don’t have the skillset to best help the squad. It can be very difficult for a player when the team no longer needs the services a player can consistently provide. Or more accurately, he can’t offer the skill-set the team needs.

2. Such is the case with Tristan Thompson. Thompson’s hard hat mentality certainly satisfies the mental component of proper team play. He has long championed the idea of being a star role player.

Unfortunately for Tristan,  the skill-set he possesses is also a default that affects those around him. LeBron, the player, needs a certain basketball energy and skill-set around him to be at his best. He needs shooters. James needs guys who can punish mismatches. Tristan’s game is too limited for most lineups to be at peak performance in 2017-2018 NBA basketball.

I have written before on Tristan’s limitations in a switch happy league. I shan’t repeat myself (too much) here. I will simply state that his limitations don’t make him a bad player or bad guy, but they severely detract from the performance ceiling of King James.

3. It’s only been a few games of 82. I understand that it is in Lue’s best interests to try an assortment of lineups during the regular season. Still, benching Channing Frye and the reducing Cedi Osman’s minutes since Tristan’s return has been rather disappointing.

The Cavs bench unit has destroyed the league with Dwyane Wade, Kyle Korver, Jeff Green, and Channing Frye. Cedi had recently become the staple fifth guy in that free flowing lineup. They all moved consistently off ball, screening at the elbows for unguardable offensive action. They simply shoot too well for a defense to prevent open looks.

With Tristan Thompson back in the rotation, that shooting advantage disappears. It might seem like the lob opportunities that Tristan provides allows the offense to maintain its efficiency. Sure, they are useful. But Tristan’s inability to post up smaller players severely limits offensive flow options.

Frye has scored more on the interior this season than in years past. Opposing defenses have begged him to roll toward the cup as they place top lock technique on the screener while Frye’s defender hugs the screen. It sets up direct roll lanes that either force a switch or allow easy buckets over smaller backend rotational defenders. Frye has proven that he can score over smaller players on the interior.

4. That doesn’t happen with Tristan. The man guarding TT will sag in between him and the ball-handler in the quintessential bigman defensive dance. When there is no threat of ANY shot other than a lob dunk, it allows the defender to time his steps to limit the speed of the action.

Calderón is a skilled enough point guard to create a shot or throw the lob, but the whole action isn’t forcing a third defender into early rotation which ultimately opens up wide open threes.

Against the Warriors, this was all exaggerated. Anyone guarding TT was free to mini trap the most threatening player of any screen action he was involved with. When he was off ball, Tristan’s man played a sort of zone. Thompson has feasted on offensive rebounds in years past when ignored. The Warriors aren’t dumb enough to forget to find him when the ball goes up.

It doesn’t even matter. It would take about 10 offensive boards and lockdown defense for Tristan to warrant minutes against the Dubs these days. Some guys benefit from the way NBA basketball has changed. Some guys suffer. Jeff Green is finally playing in “his era”. Tristan would have been a beast in the late 90s. But even in the last couple years, both the Cavs and Warriors have changed. Tristan no longer gives them a great chance to win.

The only way to have a shot against them is to allow LeBron to be the best version of himself. That version is unstoppable when surrounded by shooters. Even the best defensives can’t prevent James from going Tom Brady on them. Put one super minus offensive threat out there and the opposition has a chance.

Like I said, 82 games should be used to test linups. I would have liked to have seen lineups with Frye. Let’s see if he can guard. With his size and skill-set, Cedi Osman is made to play the Warriors. Despite what people believe, Love has proven over and over again that he can play against Golden State. The teams and LeBron have evolved to make that possible. I hope to see it attempted in their next matchup.

Quickies:

Three cheers to Suns interim coach, Jay Triano. His game winning goaltending-not-goaltending play design was an example of how little most coaches and players actually know of the rulebook.

How have we only now seen this? I’m shocked. Cool to see an interim coach literally win a game from knowing the rules forward and backward.

Count me as one person who doesn’t agree with Jeff Van Gundy’s take on replay. I’d rather go more old school with it and eliminate it completely than to allow referees to review foul calls.

Some people are calling for a challenge system. Yeah, I get it. It can be infuriating to be on the wrong end of a call. But adding more review time to these things is not the answer. The game is full of human error. We need to get over it.

That being said, any game between the Warriors and Cavaliers seems to be officiated differently than other contests. Good on the Warriors for establishing a precedent early in games that they are going to foul the bejeezes out of the Cavs every possession. The league isn’t going to crack down on them. Ever. The Cavs need to just accept it and return the favor.

I hope Jae Crowder’s New Year’s resolution is to stop shooting potential threes with his toe on the line. Seriously dude, this is getting ridiculous.

Happy New Year to you all. What other resolutions would you like to see? Any of your own?