Who May Not Be Back For The Cavs Next Fall.

The NBA playoffs have started over the past weekend and for the first time in five seasons, the Cleveland Cavaliers are not participants.

That’s not really a surprise to many who figured the wine and gold’s contending days ended when LeBron James departed for Los Angeles.

As expected, Larry Drew and the Cleveland front office parted ways. Drew would like to catch on with a contending team as an assistant, while GM Koby Altman’s preference for head coach would be a younger man with a background in player development.

We have already talked about who would be our core group heading into the 2019-20 campaign, the 50th season for the Cavs.

We would build around Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., Cedi Osman, and David Nwaba. Collin Sexton showed enough in the second half of the season to be here as well, although if Cleveland happened to draft Ja Morant, we could see pursuing a deal for the rookie guard. (Notice we didn’t say point guard).

And our preference would be for Ante Zizic to be on the roster too, although we question whether or not we will ever be a solid interior defender. You can learn to position yourself properly to minimize your lack of quickness with experience.

We all are aware of J.R. Smith’s situation, his contract, because it is not fully guaranteed is a much better asset for teams if he is moved prior to the end of June. Because of that, he will likely be moved prior to the NBA Draft.

Notice we have not mentioned two key members of this year’s roster, including someone who was a key piece of the championship team.

We would bet Tristan Thompson will be moved before the next season begins. Thompson’s contract expires after the ’19-’20 schedule ends, which makes him a valuable piece.

Plus, his skills fit much better with a team contending for a title. He’s a solid defender inside, a tireless rebounder, particularly at the offensive end, and he has a lot of playoff experience.

Besides, the Cavs have Love, Nance, and Zizic who we are sure they would rather give more minutes to going forward, and don’t forget John Henson as well. And we would bring Marquese Chriss back on a smaller contract if he is amenable.

The other member who received a lot of playing time this season is Jordan Clarkson.

Clarkson provided scoring (16.8 PPG) for a team that at times needed it badly. But we still don’t know if he is anything more than a guy who can score points for bad teams.

He’s been in the association for six years, and made one playoff appearance, last season with the Cavs, where he was frankly, terrible.

His shooting numbers this season weren’t anything out of his norm, and he’s not a great passer or defender.

His contract also expires at the end of next season.

Our guess is Altman would be willing to move either and take back a bad contract with perhaps two years remaining if first round draft picks were included.

Nick Stauskas is also a free agent, but we believe the organization picked him up after he was waived to fill a roster spot, and they don’t have plans for him next season.

We believe the Cavs will be very active before the draft and when the free agency period kicks off, looking to make more moves like they did in getting Brandon Knight.

And of course, they will have a high draft choice as well. The floor is all yours, Koby Altman.

Drew Deserves Credit For A Job Well Done

More than likely, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be looking for a new head coach after the season ending loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

Our guess is Koby Altman will want a head coach who will work side by side with him for several years, meaning someone younger and with a strong player development background.

That’s not to say Larry Drew didn’t do a good job though. With Kevin Love missing more than 50 games, let alone taking over the squad after six games into the season, Drew held the team together and had them playing hard all year long.

We have said through much of the season the front office deserves credit for this as well. There were no knuckleheads on this roster. All of the losing can lead to players wanting to better their statistics, but the Cavs pulled together and played as a team.

That’s the legacy of the players remaining from the LeBron James era, guys like Love, Tristan Thompson, and Channing Frye, who is a first class person, and we wish him well for the future.

Besides creating a good atmosphere on the floor and in the locker room, Drew developed the team’s young players. particularly rookie first round pick Collin Sexton.

Look at these numbers–

Sexton (Pre All Star Game): 15.1 PPG, 2.9 assists, 40.8% from the floor, 39.2% from three
Sexton (After the ASG): 20.8 PPG, 3.2 assists, 47.7% from the floor, 41.3% from three.

Sexton will regarded by people not in the know as a bust before the All Star contest, but showed you can’t judge most 19-20 year olds by how they start their career.

Cedi Osman: (Pre ASG): 12.6 PPG, 4.6 boards, 2.3 assists, 32.7% from three
(Post ASG): 14.0 PPG, 4.8 boards, 3.2 assists, 38.8% from three

Larry Nance Jr: (Pre ASG): 9.1 PPG, 8.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 51% from the floor
(Post ASG): 10.1 PPG, 8. 2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 54.2% from the floor.

Ante Zizic: (Pre ASG): 6.7 PPG, 5.0 rebounds, 51.9% from the floor.
(Post ASG): 10.2 PPG, 6.3 rebounds, 61.2% from the floor.

Granted, some of this extra production came as a result of more playing time because of injuries to Thompson and Love, but all four of these young players (Nance is the oldest, turning 26 on New Year’s Day) progressed as the season went on.

And we would think this quartet, along with Love and David Nwaba, who is interested in staying long term, and the Cavs should make this happen, make up a good starting point for the future.

Yes, we understand Love is 30, but he seems to embrace the leadership role here and as we all saw when he returned, he can make a big impact on this basketball team.

Ending the season with a ten game losing streak guaranteed the Cavs have a better than 50% chance of picking in the top four of the draft, where they should get another very good player to add to this group.

While it would be great to get Zion Williamson, there are some others available who will turn out being solid NBA players.

Credit goes to Drew for turning what could of been a disaster into a learning environment for the young players. We know, a 19-63 record isn’t anything to be thrilled about, but seeing guys getting better within the season is something to grab onto.

This should be a big summer for the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is likely a player or two who has been here a while will be moved before training camp starts.

Regardless of whether he stays or goes, Larry Drew should get credit for a job well done.

Cavs’ Season Ending On Upward Note

The Cleveland Cavaliers have just five games remaining in the regular season, three more on this western swing and then home for games a week from tomorrow and the following Tuesday.

And really, the season couldn’t be ending any better. The better case scenario for the Cavs is to play very competitively and then lose in the end, so their odds in getting the first overall pick do not lessen.

Outside of yesterday’s blowout loss to the Clippers, the wine and gold’s fifth straight loss, three of the other four defeats were close games until late in the fourth quarter, and were to playoff teams, the Clippers, Celtics, and the Spurs.

By the way, Monday’s game at Phoenix is a big game in the reverse standings. A loss would move Cleveland within a game of the second worst record in the league.

Despite the record, the front office and coaching staff should be commended for the effort of the squad despite the terrible record.

Larry Drew has held the team together through a series of changes to the roster and injuries. Kevin Love has missed more than 50 games, and you would have to be devoid of basketball knowledge not to see what a difference he makes to the team.

David Nwaba, another keeper for next season, has missed 30 games, and Larry Nance Jr., who continues to show what an all around talent he is, has been out of the lineup for 15 games.

Drew also deserves some kudos for the development of rookie Collin Sexton, who is going to end the year, averaging over 16 points and shooting over 40% on three pointers for his season, marks no one saw coming in November and December.

The front office deserves a shout out because they’ve assembled a roster without knuckleheads. After JR Smith was asked to stay away, there hasn’t been any complaining about playing time or frustration about losing among this group.

That said, it is doubtful Drew will return next season, and that will be a mutual decision. The Cavs want someone to guide a young team for the next two to three seasons, and at 60 years old, Drew probably wants to be somewhere winning is ready to happen.

We would want and expect the front office to bring in at least an assistant coach with a defensive mindset because that has been a huge weakness for the team over the past three seasons.

There is no reason to get into a long diatribe about Mike Longabardi, who is supposedly in charge of the defense, but the team’s inability to defend the most basic basketball play, the pick and roll, effectively, has to be addressed at some point.

If we were GM Koby Altman, we would want to find our version of the Nets’ Kenny Atkinson (20-28-39 wins in three seasons) or Orlando’s Steve Clifford (Orlando won 25 games last year, this year they have 38) to guide a young team through a growing period.

Don’t forget, it is very likely the Cavs will add another young, talented player through the draft, even if it isn’t Duke’s Zion Williamson. There are still players like Ja Morant, R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Jarrett Culver from Final Four participant Texas Tech, that look like they should be able to help.

It also says here that having guys like Love, Nance, and even Matthew Dellavedova, veterans who play the right way and have a good attitude will make the new coach’s job easier.

It is true the record isn’t good, but much of that has to do with injuries. If Love were available most of the year, the Cavs could have been just a notch below the 6th to 8th seeds in the East.

So, the future does look bright with the right moves. It’s up to Altman to make those moves.

Identifying Cavs Of The Future

There is no question this has been a lost season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. While you can question whether or not they could’ve been a playoff contender when the regular season started, you can’t debate having Kevin Love miss 50 games has put the wine and gold in contention for the worst team in the NBA.

Now that Love has returned, there has been progress, much to the dismay of draft lottery fans everywhere.

Yes, the most of the recent wins by the Cavs have come over fellow dreck squads in New York, Phoenix, and Memphis, remember the wine and gold lost three of four to the team immediately above them in the standings, the Chicago Bulls.

Even in the midst of a terrible season, has the organization found some players who could be a help to the team when it makes its next playoff run?

Certainly, Love has shown he not only can still be a productive player, but he seems to have embraced the leadership role he has now. He took a backseat in that regard when LeBron James was here, but he is relishing being the Cavs’ go to guy.

And you can hear other players talk about Love and fellow veteran (and a member of the ’16 title team) Matthew Dellavedova speak about ball movement and playing the right way. Both of them are praising rookie Collin Sexton publicly when he makes the correct decisions on the floor.

In fact, we would keep Love to start next season to provide leadership, and if he wants to move on, the trading deadline might be where you get the most for him.

The most improved player from day one of this season has been Cedi Osman, who we thought could be a player last year. Since January 1st, Osman has hit 50% of his shots from the floor, 43% from three point land, and is scoring 15.1 points per night.

Plus, he has an enthusiasm for the game. He wants to get better, and we feel he will continue to do so.

We have also long lauded the intangibles of Larry Nance Jr. and he hasn’t disappointed. Nance is averaging 9.1 points and 8 rebounds per game, and he and Love are unquestionably the best passers on the team.

Plus, on a bad defensive squad, he is probably the best defender, even though he plays out of position a lot, because he’s not a center.

And he’s adding range to his shooting, and we feel he will be a much better shooter in 2019-20.

An unsung player we like, although he’s missed a lot of time is David Nwaba. We understand Nwaba isn’t a starter, but we believe he can be a solid bench player for the foreseeable future.

He’s a wing defender by trade, but Larry Drew has used him to guard power forwards because of the lack of players with a defensive attitude on the team.

We wish he would shoot less threes (there’s a reason he’s open), but we would like to have him back next season. He and Dellavedova have the toughness good teams desire to have.

What may stand out is who is not on this list. Many would include Jordan Clarkson, but to us, all he’s demonstrated is he can score on a bad team. His performance during the playoffs last season causes us to doubt him.

We would like to see more of Ante Zizic, and would lean toward bringing him back, but his defensive shortcomings are a concern.

And we didn’t mention rookie Collin Sexton, who we haven’t given up on, like many of the so-called basketball people in Cleveland, but if you draft Murray State’s Ja Morant, and you think he’s better than Sexton, why wouldn’t you move him.

We would like to take a second look at guys like Marquese Chriss, and we haven’t seen John Henson at all.

It is important to have veteran leadership for young players, and we would like to see Dellavedova stay around too.

There are building blocks for the Cavs. The four we mentioned, plus a high draft pick could be part of the group that starts the climb back up the standings for the wine and gold.

Love Reminding Us How Good He Is

Especially in Cleveland, we believe everyone has forgotten what a great basketball player Kevin Love is.

The first four years Love was in Cleveland, he was the whipping boy whenever the Cavaliers didn’t perform up to expectations. If the wine and gold were not dominating opponents, the blame usually fell on him, mostly because he wasn’t putting up the gaudy numbers he did in Minnesota.

It is ridiculous that even when he was out earlier this season, there were some in the media who felt no other NBA team would be interested in this guy.

You see, Love averaged 26 points per game twice with the Timberwolves, and in different seasons, grabbed an average of 14 rebounds two different seasons in Minnesota.

However, there is no question that no player on the Cavs sacrificed more in the four years LeBron James was the leader on the roster than Kevin Wesley Love.

In those four seasons, Love’s highest scoring season was 19.0 in 2016-17, which was his best year during those campaigns. He averaged 11.1 boards, and shot 37% from three point range.

Playing up north, Love’s lowest percentage of shots close to the basket (0-3 feet out) was 25.3% during his last season with the Wolves. In Cleveland, his highest number in the four years the Cavaliers went to The Finals was 24%.

By the way, this year? He’s back to 29%.

Love became a “stretch four” as James’ teammate, and as he has shown throughout his career, he is so much more than that.

He is one of the best 25-30 players in the sport, and because he played with James and for three of the years, Kyrie Irving too, people have forgotten what a talent he is.

He’s a five time All Star, and had he not been hurt much of this year, probably would have made a sixth.

Think of how the 2015 Finals would have been different had Love and Irving been healthy for the entire series.

Since Love has returned from his foot injury, the Cavs have gone 3-2 in the five games he has participated in. Now, while they aren’t beating the elite teams in the NBA, while the big man was out, they were 11-41.

And in one of the games they dropped, he played just six minutes in his first game back.

Last Saturday, Love scored 32 points and grabbed 12 caroms in a win over Memphis, his best night of the season. And because he is still coming off the injury, he didn’t see the court in the last six or so minutes of the game.

In the last three of those games, he’s made 12 of 23 shots from beyond the arc, showing that his shooting is returning.

He’s also averaging 11 rebounds a game in the last four contests.

Just his presence on the court, has made the other players on the roster better too. They seem to play with more confidence, and Love’s outside shooting threat has opened up the lane for others.

We all know the Cavs are in tank mode this season, but we forget that a big reason they will likely have one of the three worst records in the league (and therefore, the best chance for the first overall pick) is Love’s injury.

Had Love been healthy this season, Cleveland probably wouldn’t have been a playoff team, but they would likely be sitting around the 7th to 9th pick area.

If the Cavs are able to get one of the top three picks this June, and keep Love, they will have a ready made one-two punch to start the season.

We have said this before, if you don’t think Kevin Love isn’t one of the games’ best players, you don’t know the game.

We think he will remind everyone of this over the last six weeks of this season.

Cavs Need To See Who Is Part Of Future

When the festivities are done in Charlotte this weekend, and the NBA schedule resumes next week, the Cleveland Cavaliers will still have two dozen games to play.

What can we anticipate seeing over the last couple of months?

First, the organization realizes the new draft lottery system in which the bottom three teams pretty much the same odds to get the first pick in late June’s draft.

The wine and gold have the third worst mark, ahead of only the Knicks and Suns, both of whom have won one less game than the Cavs. Cleveland has a two game lead (?) over Chicago to hold spot #3.

With Atlanta having the fifth worst record at 19 wins, we believe it is safe to say the three worst records in the league will come from New York, Phoenix, Cleveland, and Chicago.

Larry Drew’s squad is already done against Chicago, helping their cause by losing three out of four against the Bulls, and the first game after the break has the Cavs playing the Suns at Quicken Loans Arena.

A week later, Cleveland travels to New York to take on the other team they have a better record than. And on April 1st, the wine and gold kick off a west coast trip in the Valley of the Sun.

One key factor for the Cavaliers is they are getting healthy, and it also appears GM Koby Altman picked up a couple of hungry players at the trading deadline.

Kevin Love is back, and has played two games in the last week. A glimpse into how the club will approach his return may have been revealed this past week.

Love played well in the first half of the win over New York on Monday and said he planned to play in the Wednesday contest at The Q against Brooklyn. However, it was then announced early that day that Love would not play.

Our guess is the team will claim to be very conservative with Love’s toe injury giving him plenty of rest over the last 24 games.

And don’t forget Tristan Thompson is said to be ready to return as well. The training staff will be very careful to not give Thompson too much of a workload the remainder of the season.

Besides giving those injuries more time to heal, the Cavs have to be wanting to see more of Marquese Chriss, acquired from Houston.

In four games with Cleveland, Chriss has averaged 14 points and six rebounds, while shooting 53.7% from the floor. Now, we realize his 56.3% mark from three point range is unsustainable, but as of right now, you have to sign him as a restricted free agent this off-season.

We have said this before, he’s just 21 years old and 6’10”. You simply cannot discard that kind of size and skill.

You also need to see more of Ante Zizic, another big man in an organization that has ignored size for years. The 6’11” Croatian scored 12.6 points and grabbed 8.2 rebounds per game in January, playing 25.5 minutes a night.

Zizic just turned 22 on January 4th.

If the Cavs get one of the top three choices in the draft, undoubtedly that player will become the centerpiece of what will hopefully be the next Cleveland team to make the post-season.

But both of those big guys could be big contributors as well, and the organization has to find out what they have in Chriss and Zizic.

That’s something to watch in these last 24 games.

Looking At Cavs’ Future…

As former Cavaliers’ GM Chris Grant might say, the team is in “asset acquisition mode”, right now as the NBA trading deadline grows ever so closer, that date being February 7th.

What will the wine and gold look like after Thursday and even looking ahead to this summer?

The front office will no doubt want to keep Cedi Osman, who has played much better since the calendar turned to 2019, and Collin Sexton will get an opportunity to work on his game this summer, and hopefully come back with added dimensions to his game.

Larry Nance Jr. would also seem to be a keeper.

Beyond that trio? Your guess is as good as ours.

Kevin Love’s inactivity thus far would seem to mean he will finish the year with Cleveland. Since he hasn’t played since October, his value is low, but a fine last two months of the season would make him very appealing to a contender.

It will also be interesting to see what the organization does with Tristan Thompson. The big man from Canada would seem to be more valuable to a contending team than he is to a squad that is a couple of years away from the playoffs.

If you can get a first round pick and some promising young players, you have to do it.

Same with Jordan Clarkson, who has been the Cavs’ leading scorer this season, but his value may never be higher.

We doubt Larry Drew will return as head coach. In looking for a replacement, GM Koby Altman should be looking for someone with along the Kenny Atkinson (head coach of the Brooklyn Nets) model, someone who can teach a group of young players how to play NBA basketball, and also refine their abilities.

Forget about big names or retread guys, fine someone who can communicate and teach the fundamentals, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.

Altman needs to find a coach who will use a style of play that will emphasize the strengths of the team. That may seem simplistic, but think about how Tyronn Lue tried to play with the roster on hand at the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

In looking at possible trades, we would take a shot at any player drafted in the last couple of years that has reached a point where their current team is disappointed in them.

Here is a list of players whose current teams seem disenchanted with them, many because of where they were drafted. From the 2017 draft, we would be interested in Josh Jackson (Phoenix) or Frank Ntilikina (Knicks), and if Philadelphia still wants to part with him, the first overall pick that year, Markelle Fultz.

From the year before, we would be interested in Marquese Chris (Houston) or Thon Maker (Milwaukee). Both are big men who have struggled in their career to date. With the shortage of height on the Cleveland roster, why not see if either are just late bloomers, which many big men are.

The Cavs’ Ante Zizic was a later pick in that draft, as was newly acquired Wade Baldwin, who came from Portland in the Rodney Hood deal.

Just because a player didn’t do well in one system doesn’t mean they can’t play. And the Cavs should be using the rest of the season like they have the last two months, like an extended tryout camp.

If you see yourself as someone who likes to evaluate talent, the rest of this NBA season may be right up your alley, that is, if you follow the Cavaliers.

Cavs’ Bad Plan Going Into This Season

There is no question that sometime this off-season, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be announcing a new head coach.

This is not to denigrate the job Larry Drew has done, because he has had to deal with a roster beset with injuries, and for the most part, the players who have been healthy are either inexperienced, or limited in terms of ability.

If you ranked the current roster from the best player on down, there wouldn’t seem to be too much of an issue that Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Larry Nance Jr. would land in the top seven or eight.

The first two have missed considerable time this season, and the latter is rounding back into shape after a sprained knee.

The trio also consists of the Cavs’ best shooter (Love), likely their best rebounders (Love and/or Thompson), and probably their best passer (Nance).

That’s a tough situation for any franchise.

It has been reported that the front office has already started preparing a list of people to interview as possible coaches for the wine and gold next season. This isn’t a surprise because we assumed Drew would finish out the season and both parties would move on as soon as Game #82 was completed.

However, it does point out the mistake made by the organization after LeBron James announced he would be signing with the Lakers as a free agent. And that was bringing back Tyronn Lue at all.

This isn’t meant to bash Lue, after all, he guided the Cavs to their only championship, but it seems clear now, his heart wasn’t in guiding the post-James roster. We don’t blame him for feeling that way, but we do wish both sides would have analyzed the situation better before training camp started.

No one could have foreseen the injury to Love a week into the season, but Lue wanted to play at a fast pace, which might be appropriate for an experienced team, one that knows how to make the right pass and when to make it too.

And if you had Love, George Hill, JR Smith, Thompson, and Kyle Korver on the floor, it would have worked. But outside of those five, and perhaps Nance, who has a knack for passing, the rest of the roster were young players that couldn’t handle it.

The veterans knew “how to play”. Remember who struggled in the playoffs last season. Guys like Jordan Clarkson and Rodney Hood, who couldn’t adapt on the fly.

Unfortunately, you have to have a system for the entire roster, because how many times a game were the vets, who knew how to make the right play, on the floor?

With all of the young players on the roster, including your first round draft pick, Collin Sexton, you needed some structure on offense and a better defensive system.

Drew has tried to run more plays offensively and slow down the pace, but it would’ve been better had that been the plan when training camp opened.

And of course, a new coaching staff would have meant a new coach in charge of the defense, and that’s needed right now. Perhaps the Cavaliers would have a better foundation on that side of the ball had that happened.

It doesn’t seem to have been a lot of thought put into the decision, and parting with Lue amicably in July would have been the smart move.

Let’s hope the Cavs’ ownership and front office learn from this mistake.

Cavs’ Turmoil This Year Not A Help To Sexton

It is no secret the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season hasn’t been as expected. While no one thought the Cavs would be returning to the NBA Finals for the fifth consecutive season, even the most negative fans would have thought they’d be sitting at 9-37 at this point.

But that’s what happens when not only does LeBron James depart, but your team is missing another all-star, Kevin Love, for basically the entire season.

All of the losing has caused fans to be very critical of some of the players, particularly the wine and gold’s first round draft pick, Collin Sexton.

It seems that many fans expected Sexton to be Kyrie Irving from the moment he took the court as a rookie. That’s a pretty unfair comparison.

Look, we don’t think the recently turned 20 year old point guard is having a good year. There are plenty of things he needs to address this off-season to be a starting caliber player on an NBA playoff team.

His assist to turnover ratio is 2.8::2.3, and his defensive win shares in the worst in the NBA.

However, if you look at the worst defensive win shares in the league, they lowest four all belong to Cleveland players: Cedi Osman, Rodney Hood, and Jordan Clarkson.

That’s because of the awful defensive concept the Cavaliers have used over the last two and a half seasons.

As for the assists to turnovers issue, the Cavs are second worst in the league in assists as a team, mostly because they don’t have a lot of ball movement in their offense. Our opinion is that’s a result of trying to control the shot clock in an effort to keep the pace slow.

That doesn’t mean Sexton is really a good passer either. At this point of his career, he’s more likely to look for his own shot than he is to seek the open man.

We’ve all seen the chart on social media showing Sexton’s terrible efficiency rating in comparison to the rest of the NBA players, but much of that is due to Cleveland’s terrible record and showing in games.

They get blown out a lot.

All of this doesn’t mean Sexton is a bust. First, no one should be labeled a bust 46 games into their career, especially someone who was thought of highly enough to be the eighth overall pick.

Make no mistake, most draft experts had Sexton going in the first dozen choices in the draft too. It’s not as though only the Cavaliers’ front office had him rated highly.

Actually, the one thing that has been better than advertised for the rookie is his shooting. He’s made 39% of his three point attempts (although he doesn’t shoot many), and is making 86.6% of his free throws, up 8% from his year at Alabama.

Let’s see how Sexton plays with a functional team before making the decision that the Cavs made a mistake.

A team with a coach that isn’t fired six games into the season. A team that doesn’t lose its best player four games into the year. A team that doesn’t have a revolving door at the #2 guard spot. A team that doesn’t try to play a small forward at the #4 position.

With all this going on, it’s not fair to make a judgment on Collin Sexton. Sometimes there is an underlying story beyond the analytics.

Cavs Need New Defensive Scheme…Now!

There is no question the Cleveland Cavaliers are shorthanded. They don’t have their best player in Kevin Love. Tristan Thompson just returned from missing games, and he is their second best player.

David Nwaba is the Cavs’ best perimeter defender and he has been more out of the lineup than in it for most of the season. And last night, Rodney Hood and Matthew Dellavedova missed the contest with injuries.

That left coach Larry Drew with nine healthy bodies. One of those, Jalen Jones, is a two-way player, and Pat McCaw just joined the team after signing as a free agent.

There is no question it is a very difficult situation for Drew.

The wine and gold have lost nine in a row, and six of the nine have been by 15 points or more. So, for the most part, the Cavaliers are getting boat raced on a nightly basis.

In only one of those games, a 95-87 loss at Memphis, did the Cavs allow less than 110 points. Not 100 points, a 110 points.

As a point of contrast, in the 18 games prior to and including Cleveland’s last win over Indiana, opponents were held under 110 points 11 times.

In this nine game losing streak the defense has been atrocious.

There is no question the Cavaliers are the NBA’s worst defensive team. They are worst in field goal percentage against, and the only reason they aren’t last in the league in points allowed is they are 29th (second last) in the NBA in pace.

They play very slow, which is by design because it is their best chance of pulling out a few wins.

The defensive issues aren’t anything new either. Cleveland ranked 29th in the NBA a year ago with a team that had LeBron James on it. The year before? They were 21st.

The last time the Cavs ranked in the top ten in the Association was in their championship season of 2015-16.

That’s when Tyronn Lue was in charge of the defense. Since then, Mike Longabardi has been in charge and it’s time for a change there.

Why now? There is no question the coaching staff will be blown out after the season and Longabardi will be replaced then. Why not wait it out?

This is a very young basketball team, and they aren’t learning basic, sound defensive concepts. Collin Sexton is statistically the worst defensive player in the league (by defensive win shares), and Jordan Clarkson is second worst.

The worst three defensive ratings on the team belong to Sexton, Dellavedova, and Cedi Osman. We know Delly can play defense, and Lue used to use Osman for defense at the end of games a year ago. All of a sudden he can’t defend?

Look at the last few games–

1/5 vs. New Orleans: 61 points against in first half, 72 in the second half
1/4 vs. Utah: 48 points against in first half, 69 in the second half
1/2 vs. Miami: 58 points against in first half, 59 in the second half
12/29 vs. Atlanta: 57 points against in first half, 54 in the second half
12/28 vs. Miami: 56 points against in first half, 62 in the second half

See a pattern, the coach sees what a team is doing in the first half, makes some adjustments, and they do worse after halftime?

We understand this season is a rebuild and should be the basement for awhile. But we are concerned about bad habits going forward.

We still believe Osman can play, and we think Sexton has ability. However, they could be harmed by what’s going on with this season.

It’s not too late to make a move. Use the second half of the season to lay a defensive foundation for the future. And hold the players accountable too.