There is no doubt the Cleveland Cavaliers are approaching things differently in this NBA season. While there has been a trend toward “small ball”, mostly because of the success of the Golden State Warriors, the Cavs have decided to go big, playing three guys 6’11” and taller in their starting lineup.
One thing about the Warriors, while they used the small lineup mostly because of the defense of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, they always had a cadre of big men on the roster, players like Andrew Bogut, Zaza Pachulia, and Javale McGee.
And of course, let’s not forget that Kevin Durant is a seven-footer as well.
J.B. Bickerstaff can play the trio of big men, and we can extend the group to include Kevin Love, because they can all move very well, so they can defend on the perimeter as well as near the basket.
It also works because Lauri Markkanen is very good three-point shooter, knocking them down at a 36% clip, and lately, that number has been even better.
If the starting lineup had the mobility of say, Tacko Fall, it wouldn’t work. They would have a tremendous defense disadvantage. But Jarrett Allen helped win a game because he harassed Portland’s Damian Lillard on the perimeter.
But Evan Mobley’s ability to guard anyone anywhere has changed the dynamic. Mobley is not only emerging as the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year (with Toronto’s Scottie Barnes), but should make an all-defensive team, and we think he should get some MVP votes as well.
Bickerstaff also uses only nine men regularly, and some nights go with just eight players. That would seem to be a problem as the season progresses, but the Cavs currently do not have anyone averaging over 34 minutes per night and have eight players playing more than 20 minutes per game.
That would put no one in the top 20 in the league in minutes per game. The highest ranking Cavalier would be Darius Garland at 34.4 minutes. There are 19 teams whose leader in being on the court plays more than that.
For example, the Bulls have three players who play more than 35 minutes on an average night, and Toronto has the league leader in Fred Van Vleet and Barnes is also on the court for 36 minutes.
There haven’t been a lot of instances where anyone wearing the wine and gold have played 40 minutes in a given game.
As noted, Garland leads the team in minutes, but has played 40 minutes just once, and that was just 40:04 in the loss to the Nets in Brooklyn. Allen has played the next most, but hasn’t been above the 40 minutes threshold.
Mobley has logged one game over 40 minutes, and similar to Garland, it was just three seconds over the level.
From what we can tell, the most minutes in a game that a Cleveland player has is the 43 minutes Isaac Okoro played in the loss at home to Golden State. Dean Wade also played 40 minutes that night, and that is the extent of games where a Cavalier was on the court that much.
Of course, having seven wins by 15 points or more helps get rotational players out of games early, and that has been mode for Cleveland lately.
And we wouldn’t be surprised if Cedi Osman’s (22.8) and Love’s (19.9) time on the court increases slightly as both are playing very well off the bench.
What Bickerstaff and the Cavaliers are doing is turning back the clock in NBA basketball. Back to the days where height mattered, a shorter bench, and defense. As for the latter, as long as no player is being overused it shouldn’t be a problem, although we do have concerns about Mobley since he is a rookie.
It just goes to show there aren’t many new concepts in basketball, or sports in general. Just history repeating.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 