Month: February 2016

Lue Trying To Toughen Up Cavs

LeBron James talked about it in November, and some people thought he should ease up.

It’s when he talked about the lack of a sense of urgency with this year’s edition of the Cleveland Cavaliers, while the defending champion Warriors got off to an unblemished start.

He was right then, and he is right now.

Much has been made about the changes Tyronn Lue has made since taking over for David Blatt almost two weeks ago.

The two things most talked about is increasing the pace for the wine and gold, getting them to play faster, a more up tempo style.

The other is expanding the role of Kevin Love, getting him more involved offensively instead of using him mostly as a “stretch four”.  Love has a very good low post game, and is also a good passer from the high post.

But the other problem Lue is trying to attack is making his team more mentally tough.

He talked about it the other night in Indiana when he said he refused to call a timeout because the players got themselves into a mess, and it was their responsibility to get out of it.

What he’s really talking about is accountability for the players.

We have harped on the lack of this aspect with the Cleveland Browns under Mike Pettine, and therefore we are thrilled to see Lue expecting it from his players.

When the Cavs have played up tempo and moved the ball by passing, not dribbling, they have played better, and the offensive is putting up better numbers, scoring over 110 points in five straight games before it ended last night.

Where the lack of mental toughness comes in is when they stop playing this style and revert back to the isolation ball that was en vogue with David Blatt.

That’s what the coach was talking about when he was talking about the players needing to figure it out when they stop pushing and moving the ball, and get back to doing it without Lue reminding them.

What is mind boggling is that the players on the floor keep going back to this style whenever things get a little tough.

Maybe it is still an adjustment period for the players with and to the new coaching staff, and after a month or so, the new style will become the default for the players, and everything will be fine.

Lue has wanted to play more guys, but the last two games has resorted to giving heavy minutes to the starters.  We feel it’s because of a lack of trust in the reserves, which is the same issue Blatt had.

And with Matthew Dellavedova out last night with a bad hamstring, Mo Williams was forced into action and his defensive problems were once again apparent.

It’s that problem that made us ambivalent about Williams’ return to Cleveland last summer.

Another problem that has cropped up is a lack of bench scoring.  This can be easily remedied by switching Iman Shumpert back in the starting lineup and bringing JR Smith off the bench.

This is no slight to Smith, but with Lue saying he wants to use Kevin Love as a focal point with the second unit, having Smith with him would provide more offense when the starters are resting.

Look, this isn’t panic, but if the Cavaliers are going to get where they want to go, they need to be mentally stronger.

We think that Tyronn Lue thinks the same thing.

JK

 

When Things In Sports Get Too Easy

There is a cliché in sports that offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.  But is that still true?

Particularly in the sports of football and basketball, nearly every rule change in the past several years has been designed to help scoring.  Fans like to see points on the scoreboard.

But when does it become too much?

Have both sports reached the point where things have come too easy.

In football, most of the rule changes have involved the passing game.  What has happened, in our opinion, is that it has become ridiculously easy to throw the football.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s, 4000 yards passing was the gold standard.

When Brian Sipe and Dan Fouts threw for over that number in 1980, it was a huge amount of yardage.  We remember ABC promoting a Monday Night Football game between the Browns and Chargers as “aerial warfare”.

This past season, 12 quarterbacks had over 4000 passing yards, and three more were right on the doorstep.

And this doesn’t take into account the large number of big gains as a result of defensive pass interference.  It seems that most of the time, the receiver and the defensive back are both pushing and shoving, but the defense draws the flag.

In a playoff game this year between the Patriots and Chiefs, New England threw the football on their first 14 plays.

Yes, we realize they may have the greatest QB of all time in Tom Brady, but the reason they threw the ball this much, is that it is easy to move the ball through the air.

Too easy.

It’s time to let the secondaries around the league to play defense a little bit.  This is not to say the NFL should go back to the time when players like Mel Blount could club a receiver off the line, and not allow them in the pattern at all, but let’s make professional football a little less like the touch football you played in the street as a kid.

In basketball, after the game was becoming too physical in the 90’s, led by Pat Riley’s overly physical New York Knicks, the NBA felt they needed to do something to get the game back to its free flowing roots.

So, they limited the contact allowed when guarding players on the perimeter.

Now, small quick players are virtually unguardable.

Here are some of the top 15 scorers right now in the NBA:  Stephan Curry (1st), James Harden (2nd), Damien Lillard (6th), Russell Westbrook (7th), Isaiah Thomas (12th) and Kyle Lowry (15th).

That would be 40% of the league top scorers are basically small guys who can shoot, penetrate, and have the ball in their hands most of the time.

Basketball is a sport dominated by big men, but they are quickly being made obsolete in today’s game.

Is that good for the game?  We would say no because there isn’t a penalty for playing small.

When the Cavs play Golden State, their smaller players are allowed to bang LeBron James when he gets in the paint, because the game is officiated differently for inside players than guys who play outside.

We aren’t advocating slamming smaller players to the floor when they drive to the basket, but allowing perimeter defenders to maintain some contact with these guys without being whistled might be appropriate.

Both leagues will tell you everything is fine based on ratings and attendance, and we get that.  However, fans want to see professional athletes having to struggle at times too.

Only the best should make the game look easy.

Now, it seems anyone can.

MW