Looking At Cavs Remaining Schedule

The pre-All Star weekend of the NBA schedule couldn’t have gone better for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They got off to a 15-0 start, and since then went 29-10, which isn’t shabby either.

They are sitting at 44-10, but after tonight’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, they will have some tests coming up.

Keep in mind, this is the time in the schedule, the weeks before and after the All-Star break, where sometimes teams go through a bit of a lull. The wine and gold avoided the pre-break blues, winning eight of nine to roar into their week off.

After the game tonight, the Cavs have two home games against title contenders who both sport 36-18 records, the Knicks and Grizzlies. This is followed by a pair of road games, first against Orlando, who took Cleveland to seven games in a first round series last year, and then another measuring stick game vs. the defending champion Celtics.

The Boston game will be Kenny Atkinson’s first opportunity to see how the addition of De’Andre Hunter works for the Cavs. The Celts have had a size advantage, especially on the wings, and no doubt Hunter was acquired with that in mind.

After this group of games, the Cavaliers’ schedule does soften a bit. The Heat is always a challenge and they visit on March 5th and they travel to Milwaukee on the 9th, and of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo is always tough to defend.

There is also one more west coast swing remaining from March 18th through the 25th, and right now, the game leading off the trip against the Clippers might be the toughest one.

All in all, there are still three more against the Knicks left and that should be regarded as games to watch, two vs. the Clippers, and two vs. San Antonio and Victor Wembanyama.

Cleveland currently has a 5-1/2 game lead over Boston in the Eastern Conference with the Celtics having the tiebreaker right now as a result of winning two out of three this year. And as we said before, there is one more game next week.

The most important thing is obviously to be playing well and be healthy going into the post-season. But getting the #1 seed would be good in that the wine and gold would avoid the Celtics and/or Knicks until the conference finals.

And likely those two teams will have to face off in the second round as it stands right now. That is not to dismiss the Cavaliers’ opponent in the either of the first two rounds, but Cleveland would be heavily favored in both series.

The Cavs did another 6’5″ wing yesterday signing Javonte Green, who was bought out by New Orleans. They also added 6’10” Nae’Qwan Tomlin from the Charge yesterday, giving them another big man. No doubt though, Koby Altman and Mike Gansey are looking for a veteran big who can help down the stretch, and perhaps in the playoffs too.

The other thing to watch is how Hunter plays and how he fits with starting lineup or does he fit better coming off the bench.

It will be a long wait until the playoffs start in mid-April. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things to keep an eye on.

Looking At Bickerstaff’s Experiences…

What do we know about Cavs’ coach J.B. Bickerstaff? Yes, we know his father was a long time coach in the NBA with the Sonics, Hornets, Nuggets, and Washington (both Bullets and Wizards, actually), making five playoffs appearances.

But how has he coached style-wise? We only got to see him for 11 games before the season ended abruptly due to the pandemic. The Cavaliers looked much better under his leadership, going 5-6 after he took over for John Beilein, who guided (?) the squad to a 14-40 mark.

Bickerstaff’s first head coaching gig was with Houston in 2015-16 taking over for Kevin McHale 11 games into the season. The Rockets made the playoffs, losing in five games to Golden State, who of course, lost in the Finals that season to the Cavs.

That Houston team was a veteran group, led by James Harden, who was the youngest of the top five in minutes for the team at 26 years old. Although the Rockets were 21st in defensive efficiency, Bickerstaff gave a lot of minutes to solid defenders like Trevor Ariza and Patrick Beverly, and he started Dwight Howard.

They were 7th in pace.

He then went to Memphis after being let go in favor of Mike D’Antoni as associate head coach under David Fizdale. He took over for Fizdale after 19 games (taking over during a season is a common theme), and the Grizzlies played at a slow pace, ranking 29th.

Memphis’ best players were two veterans, Marc Gasol (33) and Mike Conley (30), and the other leaders in minutes were Tyreke Evans (28), Dillon Brooks (22), and JaMychal Green (27).

The following season was Bickerstaff’s only complete season in the NBA, going 33-49 with a team that was last in the Association in pace, and their top eight in minutes per game were all over 25 years old.

It was the season in which Memphis moved Gasol, along with other veterans Green and Garrett Temple, getting Jonas Valanciunas and Avery Bradley.

Again, Bickerstaff gave minutes to some good defensive players, and the Grizzlies ranked third in the league in points allowed.

In the 11 games he was the man in charge last season, he most certainly paid attention to the defensive end. The wine and gold allowed more than 130 points in three of their last five games under Beilein. They allowed over 125 points in a game under Bickerstaff just twice, and one of those was an overtime contest.

One other thing Bickerstaff did was increase the minutes for his best players. Before he took over, Collin Sexton led the team in minutes with 32, followed by Kevin Love at 31, Tristan Thompson, Darius Garland with 30 and Cedi Osman at 29.

With the new coach, Sexton, Love, and Garland increased their minutes per game by four, while Osman played two more. The biggest jump was for Larry Nance Jr., who went from 25 to 31 minutes, and started getting some time at small forward. No doubt Nance’s ability to defend was a reason for the increased time.

So, we feel we can conclude that Bickerstaff is going to emphasize defense, which is good because it’s been a long time since that end of the floor has been a strong point for Cleveland. It could be a big factor as to why Isaac Okoro was the first round pick.

Now, the question is whether or not he is on the same page as GM Koby Altman? For example, let’s say a Darius Garland or Kevin Porter Jr. aren’t working hard enough on that end of the floor (speculation)? Does the coach cut their minutes and does Altman support that, or does he want the players he drafted to be on the floor.

In his past, Bickerstaff hasn’t played a lot of young players, but that could be due to the rosters he has had. But, we feel he will lean on players like Drummond and Love as his anchors.

Also, based on his past records as a head coach, he will want to win, and will probably coach that way. It will be interesting to see how this plays out once training camp and the regular season starts.

Cavs Trade Has No Downside.

Well, the Cleveland Cavaliers may be the team that ushers in the new NBA.

Oh, and by the way, anyone want to criticize GM Chris Grant now?

The Cavs made their first trade of the season by dealing little used Jon Leuer to the Memphis Grizzlies for C/F Marreese Speights, G Wayne Ellington, G Josh Selby and unbelievably a future first round pick, although the pick is protected by several criteria until 2019.

The trade was made by Memphis mainly to allow them to stay under the new luxury tax threshold, part of the new collective bargaining agreement negotiated last year following the lockout.

As said a week ago, the Cavs were a team with four building blocks and maybe two decent players who could be bench guys for a good team. They picked up another solid piece in Speights, a big man the team badly needed with the loss for the season of Anderson Varejao.

A former first round pick in 2008, the former Florida Gator gives Byron Scott some much-needed size inside. In recent games, the Cavs have had to use 6’8″ Luke Walton at power forward because of the lack of depth on the roster.

A year ago, Speights averaged 8.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in 22 minutes per night for a playoff team in Memphis. This year, his minutes have been cut to 14.5 a game with Zack Randolph healthy, but he still has been productive, getting 6.5 points and 4.7 boards on average.

Ellington has actually played more this year than Speights, scoring 5.5 points per game. He plays the same game as Boobie Gibson, which doesn’t bode well for the latter’s future with the wine and gold. He’s a spot up shooter who rarely makes a foray into the paint.

He’s bigger than Gibson at 6’4″, so he fits better than Gibson defensively because of his size.

Selby has a world of potential, but has played less than 300 minutes in his NBA career in two seasons. He’s a guy who went to Kansas with a big reputation, and probably should have stayed beyond his freshman year. He was ranked as the top recruit by at least one scouting service as a high school senior.

He should get a better opportunity to play with the Cavaliers, and perhaps he can realize his potential. He fits as a combo guard, but he has to earn time in a crowded backcourt with Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and an emerging Shaun Livingston, as well as Ellington and C. J. Miles.

The first round pick is an added bonus, and is the sixth acquired by Grant in the last three seasons. The pick is available starting in 2015, but is protected from being in the top five and from 15 to 30 in that draft and the 2016 selection process.

In 2017 and ’18, Cleveland will get the choice unless it falls in the top five picks. It becomes unprotected in 2019.

The Cavs’ bench was horrible early in the season, and in the last month, Grant has picked up a veteran point guard in Livingston, who has been a clear upgrade to Jeremy Pargo and Donald Sloan, and at least two other contributors in Speights and one of the guards.

It is obviously too late to help this season, but it gives Scott some options for the second half of the season.

It has been said before, but Grant is accumulating assets by gathering first round picks like a squirrel heading into winter. The philosophy is to pounce and use those picks to bring in a big time player at some point, a la the Celtics with Kevin Garnett.

If Grant succeeds, he will be a genius and will be hailed as a great general manager. If it doesn’t work, he’s a bum.

No pressure there, right?