In the fourth quarter of Monday night’s comeback victory over the Miami Heat, new Cavs’ coach J.B. Bickerstaff did something we have advocated for about three months.
He went big.
He played Darius Garland at the point, played Kevin Porter Jr., a two guard with some actual size at 6’4″, and then went with Larry Nance Jr. at the three, with Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson up front.
These Cavaliers were better defensively, and we feel a big reason for that is the height being used.
Nance’s improved three point shooting, he’s a respectable 34% from distance in the past two seasons, allow the coaching staff to play him there. Nance referred to himself as a “swiss army knife” after the game, and that’s a pretty good analysis.
We loved the acquisition of Nance in 2018 at the trade deadline, because in watching a few Lakers’ games that season, we felt he was the best “player” on the team.
He’s a solid defender, which the wine and gold desperately need, and a very good passer for a forward. Defensively, he has enough quickness to stay with small forwards, and with his leaping ability, can bother the shots of power forwards.
The only questions about the former Revere High School product are his durability, he’s never played more than 67 games in a season, and his lack of bulk when defending in the paint.
We have written about this ad nauseum, but a big part of Cleveland’s struggles defensively is lack of size. Playing Garland and Collin Sexton at guard together make the team very small, and that is compounded playing Porter Jr. at small forward.
Notice that Andre Drummond wasn’t in that lineup against the Heat, but he soon will be part of that group, at least we hope so.
The new big man is getting just 10.8 shots per game with the Cavs, compared to almost 14 a night with Detroit. In the loss to Miami Saturday night, Drummond took just three shots, which is ridiculous.
We are not worried about this because the Cleveland guards are quite frankly, terrible at making entry passes into the post. That’s amazing to say about a player in the NBA.
As the coaching staff works with them, and playing Porter, who is a willing passer, more often, we would expect that to improve, and Drummond will get more shots.
He is active defensively, moves well for a big guy, and at 6’10”, gives the franchise a legitimate offensive big man. Tristan Thompson has done a great job, but he is really more suited to being a defensive oriented power forward.
The other player we hear being questioned is Cedi Osman. He is another player we feel is not being used in an optimate manner.
We think Osman is best used as a slasher, a guy who drives to the hoop and either finishes or has the ability to find the open man. Right now, he’s kind of a spot up three point shooter, and although he is hitting 38% from behind the arc, he is more streaky from distance.
It will be interesting to see if Bickerstaff uses this bigger lineup more often. It certainly can’t hurt. Hopefully, he is using the rest of the year as a laboratory, seeing what does and does not work.
Even though teams are playing smaller in today’s NBA, make no mistake, size is still important. It’s about time the Cavs’ front office got on board.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 