Cavs Get More Picks, And Gamble On A Young Big Man.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a busy week before the NBA trading deadline, but some wish they’d have done more.

Yes, they moved their two most tradable commodities in Rodney Hood and Alec Burks, and they did gamble on some young players, but they didn’t make the big splash many hoped for.

Don’t get us wrong, we are happy with what GM Koby Altman did. He accumulated more assets. Cleveland added another first round pick in this year’s draft (from Houston) and more second rounders, which can be used to sweeten the pot in some other deals.

We have heard folks be critical of the Hood deal, but the player had approval over where he could have gone, and quite frankly, the way Hood played in the wine and gold didn’t have other GMs beating down the Cavs’ doors.

Hood is 6’8″, athletic, with a decent shooting touch. He visually looks like he should be a very good NBA player. However, he disappears when he’s on the floor a lot. He had an opportunity in Cleveland to be a primary scorer, but never embraced the role.

Perhaps he’d be a better player if he had the attitude of Jordan Clarkson, who comes in and wants to be a scorer. But that kind of aggressiveness can’t be taught.

Burks was destined to be moved as soon as he arrived, because of his expiring contract. And really, he was part of the Hood deal, because the two players received for Hood (Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin) were sent to Houston in the deal that moved Burks to Sacramento.

In addition to the first round pick acquired in the deal, Altman did want we wanted him to do in picking up a young player who had been a disappointment to his current team in the deal.

He did that in getting Marquese Chriss, a 21 year old, who is 6’10”, something needed for the height challenged Cavaliers.

Chriss was the 8th overall pick in 2016 by Phoenix, and played every game as a rookie, starting 75 of them. He averaged 9.2 points and 4.2 rebounds on 45% shooting.

Last year, he lost time due to the drafting of Josh Jackson, and started the year coming off the bench. When he did start (he started 49 games), he averaged 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game on 44% shooting. He was traded to Houston, with Brandon Knight (familiar?) for Ryan Anderson and De’Anthony Melton.

Is Chriss a future star? Who knows, but again, he’s only 21 years old. He should be a senior in college.

The Cavaliers have 28 games to evaluate him. And he did have 13 points and 8 rebounds in his debut.

Knight, who came to Cleveland in the deal, isn’t a bad get either, and he’s an expiring contract next season, which is a valuable trade piece at the very least.

He was the 8th overall pick the year the Cavs took Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson, and averaged 18 points and five assists in his third year in the league with Milwaukee, who was being coached by Larry Drew.

He was traded three times in his first four years in the league, and we believe mostly because he’s more of a Mike Conley-style point guard than an Irving-style player.

He’s battled injuries throughout his career, but he’s only 27 years old. Perhaps if he gets healthy, he can carve out a niche in the NBA.

The rest of this season should be about auditions for Chriss, Ante Zizic, Knight, and others to see if they have a place in the Cavs’ future.

However, it is easier to accumulate assets than it is to cash them in. That’s the challenge for Altman going forward.

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’ Slumping And Defense Is Still An Issue

The Cleveland Cavaliers had a decent stretch of games from December 3rd, a win over Brooklyn on the road, through December 18th, another victory on the road over Indiana.

The wine and gold went 4-5 in that span, and the losses were pretty much against the NBA’s best squads, two losses to Milwaukee, and defeats at the hands of the Warriors and 76ers.

No one can complain about losing to those teams.

However, since the win over Indiana, the Cavs have lost to Charlotte, Toronto, a depressing home loss to Chicago, and Memphis.

The injuries appear to have taken its toll on the roster. Of course, Kevin Love has missed most of the season, but now Tristan Thompson is out as well, and David Nwaba and Rodney Hood have been out of the lineup in the past couple of weeks.

That’s two of the team’s best players, their best perimeter defender, and perhaps their best perimeter shooter. You take those spots off of any NBA team, and they will struggle, so it is no surprise the Cavs’ performance has dipped as of late.

The slump has coincided with rookie Collin Sexton hitting the proverbial rookie wall too, which hasn’t helped the team’s showing either.

Sexton has made just 20 of his 64 shots in those four games (31.3% compared to his season total of 42.9%), and he’s hit just one of his last 12 three point attempts, covering seven games.

His assist totals are up though, accumulating 15 in the past four contests, compared to 2.6 dimes per game for the season.

He’s also not getting to the free throw line either. In six of the last 10 games, he failed to get to the charity stripe, something that failed to occur only seven times before this stretch.

While many people have written Sexton off because he didn’t play like Kyrie Irving immediately, we still think the 19-year-old can still be a good player.

That said, it may be time to bring the rookie off the bench for awhile so he can watch the game develop before he gets in there. Besides, most of the time, the offense at the beginning of the game runs through Larry Nance Jr. and Cedi Osman a lot of the time anyway.

Hood and Nwaba are “day to day” and Thompson and Love will return after the first of the year, so help is on the way.

We were curious about a statement Nance made the other day about the team’s defense. It is funny that two of the team’s best defenders are Nwaba and Nance, two players who both joined the team in the last calendar year.

NOTE: The six best defenders, according to Defensive Rating are Nance, Sam Dekker (traded), Love, Nwaba, Thompson, and Jalen Jones, recently called up from the G League.

It is odd that only Love and Thompson are holdovers, and both came to the Cavs before Tyronn Lue brought Mike Longabardi on board to handle that side of the ball.

We have been critical of the team’s defense over the past few years, and although a lot of the faces have changed, one that hasn’t is who is coaching it.

One move we would love to see made after the season is bringing in a new mindset defensively. Cleveland is last in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage and defensive rating.

There are teams that play good defense in the league without having superstar players. Utah ranks 5th, Memphis is 6th, Miami is 8th.

It can be done.

This team doesn’t have an identity defensively, meaning a concept to hang their hat on. The points per game allowed is down due to the slower pace Larry Drew has the team playing at.

Until they establish solid defensive concepts, they are going to struggle to win.

Building Around Love…Kevin, That Is

Most basketball observers figured that after LeBron James departed the Cavaliers for the Lakers, the next logical move for the wine and gold would be trading Kevin Love for young players and/or draft picks.

So, it was a surprise Tuesday that Love was offered and accepted a four year extension with the team, making him the centerpiece of the retooling of the franchise.

Love is surrounded by a group of young players, notably rookie first round pick Collin Sexton, Larry Nance Jr., Rodney Hood, Cedi Osman, and Ante Zizic.

While it is not the direction we would have went in, we wouldn’t rebuild around a 30 year old player, we can understand GM Koby Altman and coach Tyronn Lue wanting to see what the 2018-19 edition of the Cavs would look like with a five time all-star as the cornerstone.

We do feel that Love will put up better numbers as the primary scoring option, getting back to the 20-24 points per game level in addition to his usual outstanding rebounding total.

Remember, no player sacrificed more of their game with James on the roster than Love. That’s not a criticism, it’s a compliment. And Love has a championship ring for being a great teammate.

It made more sense to strip the franchise down when James left following the 2010 season, because of who remained on the roster. The best players remaining then were Anderson Varejao, Mo Williams, and an aging Antawn Jamison.

The only young players who people thought had potential were J.J. Hickson, Danny Green, and Boobie Gibson. And the team cut Green prior to the next season.

We have said it before and nothing has changed our opinion, this team is set up far better to deal with the loss of James than they were in 2010, because of the young talent currently on the roster.

Will all of those players become all stars? Of course not. Could they become serviceable NBA players? We see the potential in most of them that they could be, and they can be more than good players on a bad team.

And why not give them an opportunity to find out while playing with an all star player. Remember, Love was second team All-NBA twice in his career with Minnesota.

As for criticism of those Timberwolves teams not being very good, that’s not entirely fair.

In Love’s first breakout season with Minnesota, the second best player on the team were either Luke Ridnour or Anthony Tolliver. Not a surprise the Wolves were not a very good basketball team.

The following season was the strike shortened season, and Minnesota’s winning percentage would have equated to 32 wins (+15) in an 82 game schedule.

Love missed most of the year the following season, but Ricky Rubio was developing and the Timberwolves won 31 games, and the next year finished just short of .500 at 40-42. That squad had Love, Rubio, Corey Brewer, and bruising big man Nikola Pekovic.

They were showing steady improvement, but Love came to the Cavs after the season.

So, when they had some talent, Love and the Wolves weren’t a terrible basketball team.

As for trading Love and bottoming out? That doesn’t always work either. Look at franchises like Sacramento, Orlando, and the Knicks.

Why not try to see how good you can be and reassess things? As for being “stuck in the middle?”, it’s only a bad thing if you stay in that spot for a few years. Making the playoffs and being ousted in the first round three straight seasons is bad, doing it once isn’t.

We still think the Cavs are trying to move veterans like Kyle Korver, JR Smith, and perhaps Tristan Thompson and George Hill too. They will continue to try and bring in younger, more athletic players.

It’s tough to argue with the cornerstone being a five time all star.

Where Do Cavs Go From Here?

It’s been a few days now since LeBron James announced he was going to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, so now it’s time to look at what the Cleveland Cavaliers can do in the 2018-19 season.

The first thing to realize is the Cavs lose their first round pick to Atlanta (via the Kyle Korver deal) if they aren’t in the top ten picks in next year’s NBA Draft.

So, while the instinct of the organization might be to win as many games as they can, because there is more talent on the roster, young talent too, than there was in 2010 when James went to Miami, but at least for now, it would be best if the Cavaliers don’t win.

They could start that process by dealing Kevin Love, their most tradable commodity, for more young talent and/or draft picks. Love will be 30 years old before next season starts, and in our opinion, you don’t want to start a rebuild with someone past 30 years old.

After the draft of Collin Sexton, the wine and gold have a collection of solid players who are under the age of 26. If Rodney Hood (26) is resigned as a restricted free agent, coach Tyronn Lue could start he and Sexton at guard, Cedi Osman (23) and Larry Nance Jr. (25) at forwards, and Ante Zizic (21) at center.

Jordan Clarkson (26) would be the sixth man, and if Love is moved, we are sure another young piece or two would be coming back as well.

We are sure the Cavs would love to move on from veterans like JR Smith, George Hill, Kyle Korver, and even Tristan Thompson, but that isn’t as easy as it seems.

All of them have lengthy, high paying contracts, and those aren’t appealing to other teams, unless you are willing to take the similar contracts back in return.

And with a young team, it’s difficult to imagine having those players, who would likely be unhappy on a losing team after visiting The Finals, sitting on the bench in reserve roles.

Hill could be a good tutor for Sexton, if he was willing to do that. It is difficult thinking Korver would be a problem, but he should be valuable to a contending team.

Smith and Thompson have been to four straight Finals with the wine and gold, so it is doubtful they would be happy with a subservient role in Cleveland, so a buyout could be likely for those two.

As for the returning players, as we said there are some nice pieces here, but unless Sexton becomes one, no star, and that’s what you need to win in the NBA.

Hood was averaging over 16 points per game in Utah. Nance has showed he was a winning player in his time in Cleveland. Osman played well in spurts (when he got time), and if his shot improves can be a very nice player.

Zizic showed solid post moves to score when used late in the season, but his defense needs work.

Whether these guys pan out or not, it shows more promise than the 2010-11 Cavalier roster. The only players on that roster who had meaningful careers after that season were really Mo Williams (five more seasons, including the 2015-16 Cavs’ championship team), Ramon Sessions, still active this past season, and Anderson Varejao.

The biggest thing, and this has been an issue, is player development. That hasn’t been a strong suit of the current coaching staff.

That could be the key to the season.

What Could Cavs Have Done Differently?

Now that the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season has ended with a sweep at the hands of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, it is time for a look back at some of the reasons the season was filled with ups and downs.

One of the things that failed Cleveland in the Finals was their defense. The Warriors shot 51.3% for the four games, and shot 60.5% from inside the arc, a whopping percentage.

Many of these shots were uncontested layups and dunks by the Warriors’ “non-stars”. JaVale McGee shot 16 of 20 from the floor, Shaun Livingston was 13 of 15, Jordan Bell was 10 for 14. That’s 39 of 49 from that trio alone.

McGee in particular got a whole bunch of easy shots because the Cavs couldn’t defend the high pick and roll, something they struggled with all season.

We have railed all season long about a solid defensive plan for the team, something it could hang it’s hat on. As we have written previously, this lack of a basic defensive scheme came back to bite the wine and gold in the end.

The failure to manage LeBron James’ minutes also played a factor. While James wanted to play in all 82 games for the first time in his career, he didn’t have to lead the league in minutes.

That also falls back on the coaching staff’s reluctance to build some kind of offense when The King was sitting on the bench. We understand the plan was to put the ball in LeBron’s hands and let him orchestrate things, but when he wasn’t playing, there wasn’t a different attack.

That meant the Cavs struggled with James sitting, meaning coach Tyronn Lue had to rush him back in there to win games.

Early in the season, Cleveland was a veteran laden team, with Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, and Jae Crowder playing key roles. Rose got injured and left the team for awhile, and Crowder never fit in to the way to play off of James.

Wade initially was a starter, but after a few games, found his niche as the leader of the second unit, and the Cavaliers took off. We may never know what happened, but when the deals at the deadline were made, they involved Wade going home to Miami, which we feel everyone signed off on.

After those deals, it never seemed like the coaching staff involved or did anything to maximize the talents of Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson, particularly the former. Larry Nance Jr. fit in because he’s instinctual and athletic.

And Cedi Osman, another good athlete already on the roster, and a contributor after the deals, never got back in the mix after he suffered a hip injury.

From game 42 through 52, Osman played at least 15 minutes every game, of which the Cavs won eight, and he averaged almost nine points, and 3. 5 rebounds per game.

After the injury, he played more than 15 minutes three times, a win over Washington, the loss to Philadelphia where the Cavaliers almost won after being down by 30, and the last game of the season.

Could Osman’s athleticism and basketball IQ have helped in the playoffs? We won’t know because he played only in garbage time.

The failure of getting athletic young players like Hood, Clarkson, and Osman, and even Ante Zizic, a former first round pick, hurt the Cavs in The Finals.

These were things everyone was concerned about as the season went on, so much of this is not a second guess.

But if James returns to the Cavs next season, these things need to be addressed for the betterment of the franchise and more success going forward.

Being younger and having a smarter team will help going forward.

Is Lue The Right Man For This Cavs’ Team?

As the Cleveland Cavaliers head into another “must win” game tonight against the Indiana Pacers, down 2-1 in the best of seven series, the heat is getting turned up on coach Tyronn Lue.

Many people, including us, have been critical of Lue’s substitution patterns and the wine and gold’s defensive scheme, which centers on having players who can defend multiple positions.

He has had problems incorporating the four players GM Koby Altman acquired at the trade deadline into the mix. Outside of Larry Nance Jr., and we are stretching it with that, none of the new guys appear to know what they are supposed to do on a night in, night out basis.

However, when Lue took over the head coaching reins midway through the 2015-16 campaign, he took over a pretty much a veteran unit.

The only younger guy he inherited was Matthew Dellavedova, who was in his third NBA season, and was a backup point guard and defensive specialist.

Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and Iman Shumpert were in the fifth NBA seasons, and they all understood what their roles were. Irving was the second option offensively, capable of explosive performances.

Thompson and Shumpert were defensive players based on hustle and grit.

The primary bench options on that team were veterans like Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, and Mo Williams.

Lue’s biggest move upon taking over the team was to get them to play at a faster pace. He famously said the Cavs were not in shape to play the up tempo game he wanted.

Now, switch to 2017-18, and the Cavaliers are a much different team.

Yes, there still is experience with James and Kyle Korver (15th season), JR Smith (14th), Jose Calderon (13th), and Jeff Green and George Hill (10th), but after the deadline moves, there are also a lot of younger players in the rotation.

Nance is in his third year, while Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson are both in their fourth seasons, and of that trio, only Hood has been on a winning team prior to coming to Cleveland.

Cedi Osman is a rookie, and although he has shown promise that he can contribute to this team, the coaching staff seemed bothered by his presence, giving him real minutes only after the trade, and many times that was due to necessity.

What we are trying to say is Lue didn’t have experience as a head coach in developing young players, and that’s what was needed after Altman turned over the roster.

The coaching staff appears to be throwing these young players out there and seeing if they can figure it out, that doesn’t always work.

At least one media member has pointed out that the four new guys played better before the coaching staff started giving them instructions and direction.

Remember the two games right after the deals? The road wins over Boston and Oklahoma City might have been the two best wins of the season for Cleveland. The newcomers just went out and played basketball.

Even the veterans who started the season, save for Dwyane Wade, looked lost at times, not sure of what they were supposed to do. Jae Crowder didn’t look remotely like the player he was in Boston, but he’s contributing for Utah right now.

NBA head coaches are used to change a team’s culture, which Lue was brought in to do in 2016. Other times, they are needed to coach, to develop younger talent. That’s wasn’t Tyronn Lue’s job when he took over.

But that’s what is needed now.

All Game 1 Loss Means Is Game 2 Is Must Win

Going into the Cavaliers’ first round series against the Indiana Pacers, our main thought was the unknown. We had no idea if the Cavs would come out and play great, or if the moment would be too much for those players without a significant amount of playoff minutes.

It turns out the latter was more the truth than anything else.

Does this mean we think the Cavaliers are doomed to be eliminated in the first round this season? No. However, it does mean that they better win Wednesday night, because you can’t lose the first two and then go on the road.

First, the Cavs have to come out with a more aggressive mind set. They were far too passive in the first quarter, and that stage was set by Tyronn Lue, and the team’s two best players, LeBron James and Kevin Love.

Love took just eight shots for the game, the same total as Rodney Hood, and just one more than Jeff Green, George Hill, and Larry Nance Jr.

And James didn’t attempt his first shot until the first quarter was almost over.

The coaching staff has to establish both of these guys right from the get go. They are the primary scorers for the Cavaliers.

Prior to game one, we figured the Pacers would leave Green open and if he made open threes, it was something they would live with to slow down James driving to the basket.

Green wound up 0 for 7 from the floor, three of those misses from behind the arc, and the wine and gold didn’t seem to have a Plan B. Of course, no one was shooting well from distance as Cleveland made just 8 of 34 attempts.

Which is another rub, quite frankly.

The Cavs like to shoot threes. They attempted the 5th highest total in the NBA this season. They are usually pretty proficient as well, ranking 6th in the league in three point percentage.

However, when the long distance shots aren’t falling, they don’t do anything to adjust, they just keep letting them fly. In a game like Sunday’s, why not attack the basket more often?

No team in the NBA is more reliant on their offense for their defense than the Cavaliers. And when they are missing threes, that leads to long rebounds, and in turn, that leads to fast break opportunities.

As we have seen over the last two seasons, the Cavs strength is NOT defending in transition.

A problem for Lue is reflected in this question: Who is the Cavs’ third best player?

The fact there is no definite answer to this question makes it difficult in determining substitution patterns. Is it Jeff Green, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr, George Hill?

When the trade were made in February, we are sure GM Koby Altman thought it would be Rodney Hood, but he has been hurt a lot, and has had a problem playing with a LeBron James led team when he has been available.

Who can Lue count on behind James and Love? It makes it a problem in deciding the starters as well, because so many of the players very been inconsistent this season.

So, Lue usually makes his decision based on offense, which is why Green got the nod, presumably because he’s a better three point shooter than Nance or Tristan Thompson, and they want the floor spread for James.

As the old saying goes, defense is a constant. Unfortunately, that’s not a good thing for Cleveland. It also explains games like Sundays, though.

It’s not time for panic, but it is okay to be concerned. The game one loss means Wednesday is as close to a must win game as an elimination contest.

That’s something we aren’t used to over the last four seasons.

Cavs’ Flaws Coming Back To Haunt.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have recently played nothing like a team poised to make a deep post-season run since the All Star break.

They have went 4-6 in their last ten games after winning impressively in the two contests after the trade deadline leading up to the interruption in the season.

Kevin Love has been out for awhile with his broken hand, and now other injuries are starting to crop up. Rodney Hood has a sore back, Cedi Osman has a hip flexor, Kyle Korver has a foot issue, and Tristan Thompson sprained an ankle.

Not many teams could play well without half of their rotation players, but it feels like coach Tyronn Lue’s lack of structure is telling in the team’s struggles, and together with the front office’s ignorance of having big people on the roster, you can make a case the planning is at least culpable in the losing.

Cleveland opened the season with just three real big men–Love, Thompson, and rookie Ante Zizic, and he has been basically ignored by Lue.

The mere idea of entering a season with just three post defenders seems ludicrous doesn’t it? Especially in a sport, that although it has evolved in the past ten years, where size matters.

That’s the first thing that has come up to bite the Cavs right now.

The second thing would be the lack of development of young players like Osman and Zizic. Osman has proven to be a solid defender on the perimeter, but he has been marginalized by the coaching staff, a group that most definitely would rather play veterans.

Now the team needs Zizic, but because he didn’t get time early in the season, he doesn’t get the time of day, even in a game like last Friday night, when the Clippers big men destroyed the Cavaliers inside.

Another problem is a lack of emphasis on the defensive end. Lue’s squad ranks 28th in the league in defensive efficiency, and when the coach talks about his team, all he talks about is pace of play.

No mention about a defensive mindset or defense at all for that matter.

We would like to hear from the coach what exactly are the Cavs trying to accomplish on the defensive end. They don’t defend the three point shot well, they are terrible in pick and roll situations, and it doesn’t seem like they have some help defense principles.

So what is the plan on that end of the floor?

Lue’s reluctance to change things up is also mind boggling. JR Smith is second on the Cavs in minutes per game, despite having just 13 double figure scoring games in the last 40 contests.

Eight of those games came in an 11 game span from January 26th through February 22nd. This means that in the other 29 games, Smith has scored 10+ points in only five games.

He’s the Cavs’ starting shooting guard, by the way.

And because there isn’t a firm offensive game plan, no one knows where the shots will come on a nightly basis, except for LeBron James. It’s up to James to find where the other players want the ball, which he works hard to find out, but often (like Sunday night vs. the Lakers) it leads to the team going several possessions without getting good looks.

With the playoffs on the horizon, all of these things don’t bode well for a deep playoff run.

Here’s hoping the snooze alarm goes off for the coaching staffs and changes can be made, because it’s clear here that not all of the problems will be erased by Kevin Love’s return to the lineup.

Players & Coach Need To Keep Adjusting For Cavs

If you understand the game of basketball, you can understand that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going through some growing pains.

After the fast start when the four new players showed up after the trading deadline, the wine and gold have split their first quartet of games following the all star break, and one of the wins was a close one over the lowly Brooklyn Nets.

Not only are the players getting to know each other, but Tyronn Lue also is going through an adjustment as to how George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance Jr. fit with the holdover Cavaliers.

One thing that continues to be an issue for the Cavs are slow starts, they have been struggling in the first quarter during the last three contests. The problems have a lot to do with the personnel that starts the game.

In the first game after the break, Cleveland led Washington after one, 31-22, with JR Smith leading the way with 9 points.

Unfortunately, in the last three games, the Cavaliers trailed by seven, five, and four points after the first quarter respectively.

Smith has scored 11 points TOTAL, in those three games. Could we make a case that the key in the first quarter is JR Smith?

The bigger issue here is that Smith, who has always been streaky, isn’t having hot streaks with the regularity he had earlier in his career.

So when you have Smith, Tristan Thompson, and Cedi Osman in the starting lineup, there is a real possibility you will not be getting anything offensively out of this trio, and that’s a problem.

That’s why Lue needs to balance out his starting lineup with a more accomplished offensive player. We would recommend moving Rodney Hood to the first unit.

Hood would also give the first unit more length, and more versatility on the offensive end. Smith is more of a three point specialist, while against Brooklyn, we saw Hood attacking the basket, taking just one three point shot.

Nance’s tendency to pick up fouls is the reason to keep Thompson opening the game, although it seems the latter’s offensive game has regressed since last season. If starting Thompson means ending the game with Nance, we are all for it.

As for Osman, he will go to the bench when Kevin Love is ready to play, but somehow Lue needs to keep giving him playing time because as his defensive versatility.

The rookie has been guarding the opponent’s best player, regardless of what position, at the start of games, so the coaching staff has confidence in him on that end of the floor.

If that would happen, who would be the odd man out in the rotation? As weird as it sounds, it could either be Smith or another veteran, Kyle Korver.

When Korver is hot, it is a thing of beauty. He can turn a game around by himself. However, his shooting is the extent of value. His defense should keep him off the floor in close games when stopping the opponent is important.

The reason the newcomers stand out is they are multi-dimensional. Players like Thompson, Smith, and Korver do one thing well, and that’s Lue dilemma, finding the right time to use them.

That’s what the last 22 games should be about, finding balance for the ten players in the rotation, so the lulls that occur within a game are minimal if they can’t be avoided.