Can Cavs Finally Have Continuity in Playoffs?

We believe if you look up the term “a season in flux”, the picture that will accompany the definition will be that of the 2017-18 Cleveland Cavaliers.

It started in training camp when LeBron James was nursing a sprained ankle and missed virtually the entire exhibition season.

That cost the team valuable on-court chemistry time with all the new faces brought in during the off-season.

When the season opened, Derrick Rose, Jeff Green, Jose Calderon, and to a lesser extent, Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic never shared the court with The King.

After a slow start (5-7), Rose and Tristan Thompson got hurt, so Calderon went into the starting lineup, and the wine and gold had their best stretch of the season, winning 18 of 19 games, with the second unit led by Dwyane Wade and Kyle Korver making a huge impact.

Thompson came back first and then Isaiah Thomas returned to the floor, and things got out of whack, with the Cavs struggling in January (6-8) and particularly on defensive end of the floor.

Kevin Love then broke his hand, and Tyronn Lue started giving Osman more playing time, so there was another period of adjustment.

Really, the only constants in terms of good quality play to this point in the season were James and Green. The rest of the team either missed time with injuries or were up and down in terms of quality of play.

Next came the big move at the trade deadline when GM Koby Altman traded off half the roster, bringing in some youth with Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., and Rodney Hood, as well as veteran point guard George Hill.

To this point, Hood and Hill still don’t look comfortable playing with James, and while the former has missed time recently with a back problem, Hill played his 16th game with LeBron last night.

When the Cavaliers went on a west coast trip, the players starting dropping one by one, as they finished the trip without Thompson, Nance, Osman, Hood, Korver, as well as Love.

That meant John Holland and London Perrantes, whose names James may or may not know (we are kidding, we think) were getting time.

Now, Love returns to the lineup, but the squad is missing their head coach, as Lue is taking time away from the team to take care of a medical issue that has plagued him over the past few months.

Thompson and Nance are said to be close to returning, possibly this week, and Osman and Hood should be back in another week, causing more combinations of players that probably haven’t spent much time on the floor together.

All this with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

Is it possible that the Cavaliers will finally get some continuity just as the playoffs are set to begin? It very well may be.

And the experience the younger players have gained with all of the injuries in the second half of the season will give Lue many options to go to depending on what the opposition is doing?

Getting Lue healthy is a key too. There is no question in our mind that when we aren’t feeling well, you aren’t thinking clearly.

This is not a guarantee of another appearance in The Finals. There are a lot of teams in the East that can cause a problem, and no question, Toronto is an excellent basketball team with plenty of playoff experience.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the injured guys came back next week, and the Cavs had three weeks of being able to play with the same players? We are sure everyone in the organization has that thought.

Cavs’ Putting Ball Back In LeBron’s Hands

When comparing LeBron James to the greatest players of all time, and the conversation inevitably turns to Michael Jordan, the comment that usually made is James is more Magic Johnson that MJ.

That has never been more true than this year, because James has been the point guard of the Cleveland Cavaliers all this season.

Derrick Rose started the season at the point, but when Rose went down with an ankle injury, Tyronn Lue went with a big lineup using James at the point.

When that didn’t work, he put Jose Calderon in the starting lineup. Because Calderon is 36 years old, and couldn’t play a lot of minutes, James spent a lot of time running the offense.

James is averaging a career high 8.9 assists per game this season, following last season’s 8.7 average, when he played the spot a year ago while Kyrie Irving was resting, or used in sets where Irving was basically playing the shooting guard spot.

This season, James had just three games with five assists or less in the first 36 games of the year. Why did we pick that point in the season? The next game on the schedule was Isaiah Thomas’ first game with the wine and gold.

In the next 16 games, prior to the 140-138 overtime win against Minnesota last Wednesday, James had four games of five assists or less. He also had seven games of five or more turnovers in that span.

This isn’t to pile on Thomas, who wasn’t 100%, and was in a free agent year, so perhaps he was trying to hard on the court, but it does point out that James seemed to be deferring to Thomas, trying to get him going.

Besides the fact that the since dealt guard was shooting at 36% during his tenure with the Cavs, and that he was shooting with more frequency than anyone else besides James, it was also taking the ball out of the team’s best playmaker’s hands.

That could be why James seemed to be very frustrated during the month of January. Not only was he giving up the opportunity to make plays for his teammates, the man he was trying to get going wasn’t making his shots.

Have you ever played hoops with someone who not only monopolizes the basketball, but can’t hit a shot or throws the ball away? It doesn’t give you a decent chance to win and it’s not a lot of fun.

That’s what James was watching for the last 30 or so days.

And we aren’t even talking about Thomas’ issues on the defensive end of the floor.

Watching the games, it’s obvious that James is setting up the offense on most possessions. Lue is having someone dribble the ball up past halfcourt, and then find James to initiate the attack.

That’s when the team has played its best for the most part.

Newcomer George Hill, the new starter at point guard, is really here because of his ability to knock down open three point shots. Sure, he will initiate the offense during some sets to give James a blow, but his main role is to spread the floor and hit threes, and right now he leads the league.

With Thomas moved on to Los Angeles, there is no question who is the distributor on offense. LeBron James is the man. He will draw the defense, and you better be ready when he finds you.

Wily Vets Off Bench Contributing Big Time For Cavs

Remember when you were just out of high school and you and your friends went up to the local YMCA or playground to play some basketball?

And your team could run, jump, and make behind the back passes beating other teams in your age group, right?

Then you met up with some guys in their 30’s, and they did all the right things, like making the extra pass, getting the ball to the hot hand, being in the right spot defensively, and getting position under the boards. They kicked your butt.

That team has morphed into the Cleveland Cavaliers, who quietly have won eight straight games, their record now 13-7, one of the league’s best.

They are 7-3 on the road, a win total away from home that is only behind Houston and Boston in the NBA.

It has been the bench that has keyed this stretch of good basketball. We understand that +/- isn’t the be all statistic in professional basketball, but on a nightly basis, the wine and gold’s leader in this category are frequently Kyle Korver (36 years old), Dwyane Wade (who will turn 36 in January), or Channing Frye (34).

The other key member of the bench is a young pup by these standards, but Jeff Green (31) was perhaps the most overlooked player Cleveland had coming into training camp, but he has been a major contributor.

The most interesting player is Wade, a superstar in the league for most of his career, a three time champion with Miami.

A lot of players in his place among NBA history have a hard time taking a lesser role as they get older, but perhaps because of his friendship with LeBron James, he has been a tremendous force since the Cavs turned their season around.

He has been malleable, contributing something different each night, depending on who is matched with. If a smaller guard is defending him, he posts him up. If it’s a bigger player, he takes him to the hoop.

All the while he is getting the rest of the players involved. He’s averaging 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists per game in 23 minutes per night.

Korver has shot the Cavaliers to two wins this season with epic fourth quarter performances, scoring 19 points in the last stanza. He’s shooting 43.6% from three point range, and he always gives an effort on the defensive end.

Frye wasn’t supposed to get a lot of playing time, but when Tristan Thompson went down, he got an opportunity, and made the most of it, scoring a little over seven points per contest in the last seven games, and has had a positive +/- in six of those contests.

Green was coming off a season with a bad Orlando team, in which he scored 9.2 points per game and shot 39.4% from the floor.

This season, he is scoring 10.0 points a night, shooting 49%.

He’s also been effective guarding smaller players on the perimeter, most notably doing a good job against Houston’s James Harden and Charlotte’s Kemba Walker.

When Isaiah Thomas returns, this veteran group could include Jose Calderon (36) to the mix.

Wade plays the most minutes out of the quartet at 23, with Korver and Green getting around 20, which should keep them fresh throughout the long season.

These four are a big reason the Cavs can play even with opponents while James is on the bench. And because they can do that, it should lead to James getting more rest during games as the season goes on.

The “old guys” are getting the job done.

Cavs Making Moves Anyway

The Cleveland Cavaliers might not have an official general manager, but the acting one made a move yesterday, and it looks like a solid one.

Koby Altman signed free agent forward Jeff Green, last with the Orlando Magic to a one year contract to a one year deal.

Green will be 31 years old this season, making him considerably younger than most of the players the wine and gold has signed or been linked with so far this summer.

The well traveled Georgetown product is 6’9″ and can play both inside and outside, especially in today’s NBA, where teams seem to be using smaller lineups.

The downside is he is coming off his worst season as a pro with Orlando, averaging just 9.2 points per game on 39.4% shooting, well off his career numbers of 13.5 points and 43.5% accuracy from the floor.

Hopefully, this is a case of a veteran playing better on a good team, because the year before, a season he spent with both the Clippers and Grizzlies, he scored 11.7 points per game on 43% shooting.

It has been reported that LeBron James spoke to Green prior to his agreement with the Cavaliers, and also it has been written that James is speaking to free agent Jamal Crawford as well.

This flies in the face of earlier news that The King is not actively recruiting players to join the franchise in Cleveland.

Perhaps this is a sign that James isn’t headed to the Lakers after this season.

As for Crawford, we are a little ambivalent about that because of his age, he will be 38 during the 2017-18 season, and he is a defensive liability which Green isn’t. The latter has had success guarding on the perimeter.

On the other hand, the man can still shoot, hitting 36% of his three point attempts last season, and at age 37, he played in all 82 games.

Still, we believe Cleveland needs to get longer, younger, and more athletic off the bench, and inking Crawford to a deal doesn’t accomplish any of that.

Nor did agreeing to a deal with Jose Calderon, and bringing in one of James’ old mates in Miami, Udonis Haslem, doesn’t do it either.

One of the players we suggested last week, Tyreke Evans, went to Memphis for less than the full mid level exemption.

We can definitely see Altman or whoever is running the Cavs try to move Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, and even Richard Jefferson for younger players and/or non-guaranteed contracted players, who Cleveland could release and thus create some space under the salary cap.

With the huge deals given out to players already this off-season, there will be good players, who will be available on veteran minimum contracts.

At the very least, the Cavs have to still be considered the favorite to get to The Finals again next year. Yes, Boston signed the best free agent in Gordon Hayward, but let’s match up the “Big Three’s”…

Kyrie Irving > Isaiah Thomas
LeBron James > Hayward
Kevin Love > Al Horford

We maintain the biggest threat to Cleveland in the East will be Washington and Milwaukee.

However, we are sticking with our theme of younger, longer, and more athletic for the wine and gold this summer. Still, if you can get Carmelo Anthony without moving a valued rotation piece, we are on board.

And we will ask this question to those criticizing owner Dan Gilbert for not paying David Griffin or Chauncey Billups…would you rather have him spend cash on players or front office people?

Thought so.

Some Options For Cavs Still On The Market.

As the NBA free agency period is going on, the Cleveland Cavaliers have made one major move in re-signing three point shooter Kyle Korver, and a minor move in inking point guard Jose Calderon as a free agent.

At the end of The Finals, we thought the Cavaliers needed to get younger and longer on the bench, but neither of the moves made accomplished that as Korver is 36 years old and Calderon is 35.

And Calderon is coming off his worst season as a pro, averaging just 3.4 points per game, and seeing his three point shooting percentage drop to just 31%, down from his career norm of 41%.

His defense is also non-existent

Also, Richard Jefferson announced he will be returning for his 17th season, and he will be 37 years old for the 2017-18 season.

Not exactly accomplishing what we think should be the goal for next year, is it?

Here are some guys who are still out there as unrestricted free agents that we would be interested in for the wine and gold this summer:

Shabazz Muhammad: He will be 25 years old next season and is 6’6″. His career scoring average in 9.7, with a high of 13.5 in his second year with Minnesota.

He’s a decent defensive player too, and should get better with experience.

Terrence Jones: He’ll be 26 years this season, and at 6’9″ has a career 10.5 scoring average and 5. 7 rebounds in 24 minutes per night.

He also has solid defensive metrics for his career. The negative is he’s been with three teams over the last 12 months. He scored 36 points in a win over the Cavaliers last season while with New Orleans.

Tyreke Evans: Evans will be 28 this season and is coming off two injury plagued seasons. In his last full season, he averaged 16.6 points and 6.6 assists per game with New Orleans in 2014-15.

He’s 6’6″ and before he was hurt, his defensive metrics were okay. He is a player who can create his own shot.

Jeff Withey: We like Withey as a veteran big off the bench. He’ll turn 28 during next season, and averages about two rebounds and a blocked shot per game in the 10 minutes he gets.

He’s not spectacular, but does a solid job. He may not be able to play in a Finals matchup with Golden State, but you have to win the Eastern Conference first.

We understand these guys aren’t familiar to many basketball fans, and they don’t shoot the three like the players Cleveland has pursued for their bench in recent years.

And in spite of our contention that the Cavs need to get younger, if the New York Knicks do buyout Carmelo Anthony, we would love to have him as another scoring option for the team.

Remember that in The Finals, Tyronn Lue received little or no production from his bench outside of Jefferson. They didn’t contribute on offense, and that was supposed to be their strength.

So, if you can’t get offense, perhaps giving the team better defenders off the bench would be a different tact vs. the Warriors. We believe younger players would give you a better chance of that.

The longer the players listed remain unsigned, the better chance the Cavs have of getting these guys with the limited room they have due to the salary cap.

That might be their best chance to improve this off-season.