LeBron James and Anderson Varajao are back, and still the Cavaliers are struggling. They have lost eight of their last ten games, although to be fair, the King missed five of those contests. After a resounding win over Indiana in his return, the wine and gold lost to the Nets on the road, dropped a home game to the 76ers, and struggled to defeat the Bucks in double overtime at Quicken Loans Arena. Right now, the Cavs look more like a team trying to reach the playoffs than the defending Eastern Conference Champions.
Coach Mike Brown has struggled to find the right combination of players now that he has everybody back. To help him find that mix, here is a little advice. You are a defensive coach first and foremost. You have taken heat for your offensive strategy the past two years, including on this site. Your team is running more this season, and that is a good thing. Defensive clubs use their play on that end of the floor to create fast break opportunities. The Cavs still need work on the half court offense.
However, back to his defensive background. Brown stresses it. Stop your opponents. You can’t win titles until you can stop teams, and last year the Cavaliers became a pretty good defensive squad. Your playing rotation should consist mainly of players will are willing to step up and play tough, aggressive defense. Monday night was a good start, in that Devin Brown got back in the mix. D. Brown does the little things. He guards people, isn’t afraid to go inside and battle for rebounds, and doesn’t shy away from floor burns. In fact, it was Brown’s offensive rebound and put back that sent the game against the Bucks into double overtime.
Another player who should continue to get time is Eric Snow. Snow is older and is probably limited to just 10-12 minutes per night, but he provides the hardnosed defense his coach loves. Ira Newble, although he struggles to stay healthy, is another player who contributes on the defensive end. Even Dwayne Jones should get some minutes every night since he defends and can run the floor. With the starting five and Varajao, this gives the coaching staff a ten man rotation.
Who does that leave out? It would appear to leave Larry Hughes out, put I would put Hughes back in the starting lineup in the backcourt with Daniel Gibson. So that would leave Sasha Pavlovic out. Hughes hasn’t shot well in the past three games, but if he’s on the floor with James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, it might allow him to comes off more screens as the third option in the offense. He simply has to start providing some points if this team is going to succeed. He can’t continue to shoot below 35%.
It also leaves out Damon Jones and Shannon Brown. Perhaps this added "depth" can allow GM Danny Ferry to go out and swing a deal to make the half court offense better. Recently, Rick Mahorn said getting Andre Miller from Philadelphia would make the Cavs the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. Miller, who should have never been dealt away in the first place, would be a perfect fit in that he is patient in a set up offense. He would allow LeBron to be the finisher instead of the initiater. Once again, the fourth quarter offense consists of LeBron with the ball and four guys watching.
Mike Brown has got to figure out who deserves to play and who doesn’t. The wine and gold are too talented to be struggling against the Philadelphias and Milwaukees of the league at home.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 