Lue Said Sacrifice, Are The Cavs Doing It?

To put it mildly, the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have a good week.

After an impressive victory a week ago Sunday against a title contending Oklahoma City team on the road, the Cavs looked lethargic in losing three out of their next four.

They lost at home to Detroit, lost a game they had a nine point fourth quarter lead at Toronto, and then lost a game without LeBron James at Washington, in a contest that was a blowout until garbage time.

Yes, James is one of the two best players in the sport (we still think the best), but there is no way a team that still has two of the best 15-20 players in the NBA in Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, should be getting smoked by the Wizards.

And as we have pointed out before, since the wine and gold tried to speed up their tempo, their defense has suffered greatly especially on the perimeter.

That puts the spotlight squarely on Irving, who has never been a great defensive player, but seems to have regressed this season.

Opposing point guards have been skewering Cleveland, getting dribble penetration and forcing big men to help, and no one is picking up their men in return.

The result is a bunch of layups and dunks, and it appears the interior defense is terrible too.

Irving simply must do a better job if this team is to get where they want to go, which is hoisting an NBA Championship trophy.

There is no reason why Irving can’t be better on that end of the floor, the same quickness that allows him to get to the basket at will allows him to be better on defense, the problem is he seems to be more interested when the ball is in his hands.

When Tyronn Lue took over as head coach, he spoke about the need to sacrifice, and we believe almost everyone can agree that no one has done that more than Kevin Love, who is scoring about eight points less per game a night, and doesn’t get the touches he should based on his ability to score.

Irving seems to be in the same mode as always, showing off his handle, and driving to the basket with a mindset of scoring first, and setting up a teammate second.

That’s a good attitude on a squad devoid of talent, but not on these Cavs.

It seems lately that at least once or twice a game, Matthew Dellavedova finds a cutting James for a layup. When was the last time you saw Irving make the same pass?

Even James could afford to give up something for the greater good. He could stop forcing three point shots, because right now, his long range shot is a liability.

He could also give maximum effort on defense in less minutes, and show the rest of his teammates, including Irving, that he is walking the walk, and they need to follow suit.

By the way, that’s being a leader. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words.

We can’t use the excuse that it’s still early, there are only 23 games left on the schedule. Improvement defensively needs to be seen by the middle of this month.

That the path to a title for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have to be strong on the defensive end, and that starts with improvement from Kyrie Irving.

Enjoy The Cavs. Ignore the Warriors

You would think for as much sports angst as we see in Cleveland, we would be enjoying the outstanding season the Cleveland Cavaliers are having.

They currently sit at 41-15 on the season, and seem well on their way to a 60 win regular season, and either the first or second seed in the Eastern Conference standings.

We watched the wine and gold dismantle one of the league’s top teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday afternoon, in Oklahoma, and we felt good for a day.

The next day, the Cavs lost at home to Detroit, and immediately people were down in the dumps, seemingly questioning everything the franchise is doing.

People were even freaking out because the team’s newest addition, Channing Frye, did not pass his physical instantly, so the fear was we traded Anderson Varejao for nothing.

Of course, shortly before the game on Monday night, Frye was cleared and added to the roster.

We have a cure for this situation. Ignore the Golden State Warriors.

In most NBA seasons, the Cavaliers would have either the best record in the league at this point of the season, or they would be very close. They are a very, very good basketball team.

However, it seems that no matter what Tyronn Lue and his team do these days, they are compared to the defending champions. The champs should be a measuring stick, because they have what the Cavs want, but people should understand that normally, the best team in the NBA wins between 60-65 games.

Over the last five complete NBA seasons (ignoring the lockout shortened season), here are the league’s best record and in parenthesis the number of teams that won 60+ games

2014-15: Golden State 67-15 (2)
2013-14: San Antonio 62-20 (1)
2012-13: Miami 66-16 (2)
2010-11: Chicago 62-20 (2)
2009-10: Cleveland 61-21 (1)

So, over the last five seasons, just eight teams have won more than 60 games, and only two have won more than 65 in a single season.

And you can also see that this year is a huge outlier, with perhaps four teams getting to the 60 win mark (Golden State, San Antonio, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City).

Part of that is the huge imbalance in the league this season, as it appears there are four or five (Toronto/Los Angeles Clippers) elite teams, and a lot of mediocrity.

Again, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a very good basketball team, and fans need to relax and watch the balance of the season.

We wrote a few weeks ago that there are very few games of meaning on the schedule for Lue’s crew, and two of them were the first two games out of the All Star break against the Bulls and Thunder, which they won both, and tomorrow night’s tilt in Toronto.

If the Cavs keep winning those types of games, that has more meaning than a loss to Detroit.

In the meantime, here is our advice. Ignore the Warriors until the Cavaliers have to play them again.

That may be in June in the NBA Finals, or it may be the 2016-17 season. They are setting an incredible pace, but as LeBron James has pointed out, it doesn’t really mean anything once the playoffs start.

Don’t freak out until this team loses four in a row, or has a major injury. All in all, they are doing quite well right now.

Getting Frye, Not Moving Love=Right Moves for Cavs

The trading deadline in the NBA came and went, and the Cleveland Cavaliers only did some tinkering as we hoped they would earlier this week.

One of the things the Cavs needed to address was getting another reliable shooter from beyond the three point line, and they did just that, getting C/F Channing Frye from Orlando for Anderson Varejao, Jared Cunningham, and some draft picks.

We understand that dealing a long time Cavalier in “Wild Thing” will hurt some fans, but if you take sentimentality out of the equation, you will realize this is a good move by GM David Griffin.

Varejao didn’t get much playing time under either David Blatt or Tyronn Lue, so basically, Griffin moved someone who doesn’t play for someone who should get some minutes and also could solve a weakness.

Let’s face it, Tristan Thompson and Varejao are basically the same player, they don’t compliment each other.

Frye is a career 39% shooter from beyond the three point arc, and is making 40% of these shots in 2015-16.

His minutes are down about eight per game from a year ago, but Frye is now 32, and quite frankly, we would be surprised if he plays more than the 17 minutes a night he was getting in Orlando with the wine and gold.

There were many rumors surrounding Kevin Love as the trade deadline approached, and that made us shake our heads.

The primary rumor was Cleveland getting Ryan Anderson is return, which is ridiculous because he will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Love continues to be a whipping boy for those critical of the Cavs, but we feel the player hasn’t been productive as everyone thought because he is not utilized to the best of his ability.

When Lue took over the team, he wanted to get Love some touches around the elbow, where he had success in his best years with the Timberwolves. However, since the first couple of games, that has disappeared along with the production from Love.

After a four game stretch where the forward averaged 22.5 points and 9 boards per contest, the last four outings have produced 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Granted, Love left two of those games early with injuries, but even when he was in there, he seemed like an afterthought on offense.

Lue talks about sacrifice, but really no one has given up more than Love, who has been used pretty much like a glorified “stretch four”.

We feel that part of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving’s sacrifice should be to get Love some scoring opportunities as well. The team will be tougher to defend when they don’t ignore the big man.

Now, that doesn’t mean Love is blameless. His shot from outside (including at the free throw line) seems flat. He’s had many wide open looks from beyond the arc, and simply hasn’t made as many as he needs to.

His percentage isn’t down from last year, so perhaps again, it’s that he’s being used in this manner too often.

Maybe Frye makes the Cavs less reliant on Love for outside shooting from a big man.

We will not consider Love a “bust” or not worth getting in the trade until the wine and gold make a concerted effort to use him more efficiently.

By the way, we also don’t understand complaining about a guy who averages 16 points and 10 rebounds per night.

Should Cavs Tinker or Stand Pat?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are sitting at 38-14 on the season, the best record in the Eastern Conference and the fourth best record in the entire NBA, yet it appears GM David Griffin is trying to improve his team.

Many fans and members of the media are wondering why a team with this kind of record would be willing to tinker with the roster, but really, a good GM should always be looking to improve his team. That’s his biggest responsibility.

At this point in the year, Griffin has to be worried about a possible date in The Finals against Golden State, but also has to be prepared for a scenario where the Spurs or the Thunder come out of the Western Conference.

And all of this while making sure the Cavs superiority in the East isn’t threatened either.

It’s a delicate balance for Griffin.

Tyronn Lue’s team could use another reliable threat from three point range, and could also use some help on the defensive end, particularly on the perimeter.

And the drop off of Timofey Mozgov’s game has necessitated not only the exploration of moving the free agent to be, but also replacing the big man if a deal involving Mozgov is made.

Because, you know, if Cleveland gets to the championship round, they may just play San Antonio.

What Griffin can’t be sure of is the transition going as smoothly as last season’s when the general manager made deals for Mozgov, Iman Shumpert, and JR Smith within a one week span.

It only took a few games for the Cavs to gel and make a run to a Central Division title and an Eastern Conference championship.

As we said at the end of the regular season last year, most transitions have an adjustment period attached, and there is no guarantee it will occur again.

So, what should Griffin do?

An easy response would be to stand pat. After all, your team is 24 games over .500 and if not for what the Warriors are doing, no one would be panicking. The Cavaliers are still regarded as one of four teams with a solid chance at hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

We wouldn’t have an issue if no changes were made, either. But, then it would be up to the coaching staff to fix some of the issues the Cavs have that need fixing. And please don’t take that as a possible slight to Lue and his staff.

However, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Griffin tinkered with players outside of the top seven or eight in Lue’s rotation.

For example, moving Mo Williams, who is barely getting on the court right now, for a bigger wing defender would be a solid move and wouldn’t upset rotations and chemistry.

The same would be true with Richard Jefferson. We don’t believe anyone would be upset if you could swap him for a more reliable three point threat.

Making a deal would also send a message within the locker room that the front office hasn’t lost faith in the core players and they believe this team can win the franchise’s first title.

The talk about major changes should be just that. And if the wine and gold don’t get to The Finals, or get blown out once there, perhaps a major change will be made this summer.

But for right now, making a minor addition would be just fine.

Cavs Still Need To Be Better

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in a position where they aren’t really playing opponents anymore, they are playing themselves.

And that’s why even though the wine and gold enters the All Star break with a 38-14 record and a three game lead in the Eastern Conference, we don’t feel satisfied with what they have accomplished.

When GM David Griffin replaced David Blatt with Tyronn Lue, the new coach said he wanted to play more up tempo. The number of points the Cavs are scoring would indicate they are playing faster, as they have scored more than 110 points in seven of 12 games since Lue took over.

But in reality, the faster pace comes in spurts, and there are many times the dreaded isolation ball rears its ugly head.

Lue also wanted to get Kevin Love more involved by having the offense run through him while playing without LeBron James and Kyrie Irving on the floor.

Love was more of a factor in Lue’s first few games, but has battled a couple of injuries on the current home stand, stalling that plan.

The higher scoring has come with a downside too. The defense has severely declined, with Cleveland allowing more than 100 points in eight of Lue’s dozen games as the head man.

That won’t win in the playoffs.

We aren’t criticizing Lue by any means here. The break will allow him to have some practices to get his message across to his team, and here’s hoping everyone listens.

Particularly Irving.

Sure, fans look at his 32 points and 10 assists on Monday against the Kings, and his 35 tallies last night vs. the Lakers, and will question this criticism, and right now, he’s the primary culprit for the ball sticking.

He seems more comfortable with a slower pace, and don’t confuse his attempts to drive to the basket with faster play please. Many of these drives come as a result of him pounding the ball and waiting for an opening to drive.

It’s not coming off of the ball movement his head coach wants.

That’s why perhaps Irving should be the focal point when James and Love are on the bench, because there is no question the young man from Duke can breakdown defenders with the best of them.

Lue has stressed getting shooters off of the three point line, and the Cavs have been somewhat successful there, but there is still way too much dribble penetration, particularly since Matthew Dellavedova has missed time with a sore hamstring.

You simply must play better defense than this in the playoffs. You cannot expect to outscore opponents in the later rounds of the post-season. The Cavaliers were second in the league in preventing points, and have now dropped to fourth.

The other teams people feel are in contention for a title, the Spurs, Warriors, and Thunder, ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in defensive field goal percentage on two point shots.

We are sure Lue knows this and will get this area fixed, but it may take a trade by Griffin.

They could also use another shooter. Irving is making less than 30% of his shots from beyond the arc, so the only reliable three point shooters are Dellavedova (43%), JR Smith (40%) and to a lesser extent, Love (36.8%).

For a team that shoots a lot of threes, they don’t have many guys who are consistently knocking them down.

That could be another area where Griffin explores someone in a deal.

It’s difficult to be “disappointed” with a team that is 24 games over .500 a little over halfway through the season, but we think Tyronn Lue would be the first to tell you he isn’t satisfied where his team is at.

Perhaps we will see some changes with a couple of practices before the second half of the season (and the trading deadline) picks up next Thursday.

The Cavaliers need to play better, particularly defensively, if they want to bring a title home in 2016.

Lue Trying To Toughen Up Cavs

LeBron James talked about it in November, and some people thought he should ease up.

It’s when he talked about the lack of a sense of urgency with this year’s edition of the Cleveland Cavaliers, while the defending champion Warriors got off to an unblemished start.

He was right then, and he is right now.

Much has been made about the changes Tyronn Lue has made since taking over for David Blatt almost two weeks ago.

The two things most talked about is increasing the pace for the wine and gold, getting them to play faster, a more up tempo style.

The other is expanding the role of Kevin Love, getting him more involved offensively instead of using him mostly as a “stretch four”. Love has a very good low post game, and is also a good passer from the high post.

But the other problem Lue is trying to attack is making his team more mentally tough.

He talked about it the other night in Indiana when he said he refused to call a timeout because the players got themselves into a mess, and it was their responsibility to get out of it.

What he’s really talking about is accountability for the players.

We have harped on the lack of this aspect with the Cleveland Browns under Mike Pettine, and therefore we are thrilled to see Lue expecting it from his players.

When the Cavs have played up tempo and moved the ball by passing, not dribbling, they have played better, and the offensive is putting up better numbers, scoring over 110 points in five straight games before it ended last night.

Where the lack of mental toughness comes in is when they stop playing this style and revert back to the isolation ball that was en vogue with David Blatt.

That’s what the coach was talking about when he was talking about the players needing to figure it out when they stop pushing and moving the ball, and get back to doing it without Lue reminding them.

What is mind boggling is that the players on the floor keep going back to this style whenever things get a little tough.

Maybe it is still an adjustment period for the players with and to the new coaching staff, and after a month or so, the new style will become the default for the players, and everything will be fine.

Lue has wanted to play more guys, but the last two games has resorted to giving heavy minutes to the starters. We feel it’s because of a lack of trust in the reserves, which is the same issue Blatt had.

And with Matthew Dellavedova out last night with a bad hamstring, Mo Williams was forced into action and his defensive problems were once again apparent.

It’s that problem that made us ambivalent about Williams’ return to Cleveland last summer.

Another problem that has cropped up is a lack of bench scoring. This can be easily remedied by switching Iman Shumpert back in the starting lineup and bringing JR Smith off the bench.

This is no slight to Smith, but with Lue saying he wants to use Kevin Love as a focal point with the second unit, having Smith with him would provide more offense when the starters are resting.

Look, this isn’t panic, but if the Cavaliers are going to get where they want to go, they need to be mentally stronger.

We think that Tyronn Lue thinks the same thing.

Lue Shows Signs of Adaptation

It has now been a few days since the Cavaliers decided to make a change on the sidelines, replacing David Blatt with Tyronn Lue.

Much has been made about Lue wanting the team to play faster, getting up the court before the opposing defenses can get set up, and with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving on the roster, that’s a wise move.

The new coach also talked about the team not being “in shape” to play faster, and the media took off with that one. You could tell they want to accuse Blatt of not having his team in shape, being too easy on them.

However, that’s not what Lue said.

Under Blatt, the Cavs started the season playing slower and emphasizing defense, the same style they used in the playoffs last year, a style that was successful in getting them to the sixth game of The NBA Finals.

You can’t fault the former coach with using that system, after all, it worked quite well for the wine and gold in May and June.

If you are used to walking the ball up the floor and controlling the pace, and then are asked to sprint on a regular basis, it’s going to take time to get used to that.

It doesn’t mean David Blatt didn’t get his basketball team in shape to play in the NBA.

And after last night’s win, the first for Lue, over Minnesota, the new coach talked about wanting to play fast with certain players on the floor, but also playing slower when James and Irving are not on the floor.

We were happy to hear that because there are certain times when it doesn’t benefit the Cavaliers to race up and down the court.

One thing that worries us is Cleveland’s obsession with Golden State, the team that beat them in the championship series last summer.

We hope they don’t alter the roster to compete with the Warriors, because doing that could be a problem if let’s say they face San Antonio at the end, which is very much a possibility.

What is strange is the narrative that the Warriors and Spurs play the same style. Yes, they both move the basketball, but the defending champs are more reliant on the three point shot, while the Spurs have a very strong presence in the paint with Tim Duncan, LeMarcus Aldridge, and David West.

So, GM David Griffin and Lue can’t get too Warrior-centric when putting together the roster and style of play for the team, even taking into account Golden State’s 30 point drilling of the Spurs last night.

You run the risk of doing what the Cavaliers did after they lost to Orlando in the conference finals in 2009. They constructed the roster to beat the Magic’s style with Dwight Howard in the middle and a bunch of three point shooters.

The problem was, they couldn’t get past Boston in the second round.

So, you have to stay flexible with the roster in order to beat teams like Chicago, Toronto, and Atlanta in the East. If you can’t beat those teams, you don’t have to worry about Golden State and San Antonio.

In Lue’s comments yesterday, he seems to understand that. Hopefully, Griffin does as well.

Not getting back to The Finals would be more of a failure than anyone can imagine right now.

All The Pressure Is On LeBron and Lue

Shocking.

That’s the way we would have to describe the news that David Blatt was fired as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday afternoon.

After all, the wine and gold had the Eastern Conference’s best record, and was on a pace to win 60 games.

GM David Griffin tried to spin that the team was disconnected and felt that new coach Tyronn Lue was the man to unify the roster.

Fair or not, LeBron James is going to be blamed for Blatt’s dismissal, and we do not believe for a second that his opinion regarding the coach who piloted the team to The Finals a year were not well known throughout the organization.

This put immense pressure on James and Lue to deliver a title to the franchise, because now, nothing short of that will justify Blatt’s firing.

The only reason Magic Johnson doesn’t have a reputation as a coach killer is that when he went to Laker management and demanded Paul Westhead be removed in favor of Pat Riley, he led Los Angeles to a title.

The end justified the means.

If the Cavs don’t hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in late June, James will have blood on his hands.

He and the coach guided a team without two of the three best players on the roster, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, to the brink of a title, stretching the eventual champion Warriors to six games.

Anything less than that will be a failure for James, Griffin, and Dan Gilbert.

Did Blatt have flaws? Yes, he was reactive at times, and could never seem to get a consistent substitution pattern, which had to irritate the players affected by it.

But he knows basketball. Our guess is his knowledge of the sport is much higher than his successor, but that doesn’t matter.

In the NBA, if you don’t get along with the superstars, you don’t last long.

And if you are LeBron James’ coach, don’t count on getting his endorsement ever. He has never developed the relationship with a coach that Michael Jordan had with Phil Jackson, Isiah Thomas had with Chuck Daly, or Tim Duncan has with Gregg Popovich.

That’s on him.

Look, there is no question the franchise is much better off with LeBron, who is still the preeminent player in the sport, but his attitude toward his bosses has to promote a lack of unity with the head coach.

It will be interesting to see what changes Lue will make starting tonight.

Will Mo Williams, Richard Jefferson, and Anderson Varejao get more minutes?

Will Matthew Dellavedova, still the best defender among the point guards, have his time diminished?

Some have speculated that the move could signal a trade is forthcoming for Blatt favorite Timofey Mozgov, but if he is moved, the team still needs a rim protector.

And how will Lue handle Kevin Love? Will Love get more touches inside early in games to establish himself, or will he get the ball only when James and Irving decide that it is prudent?

Will the offense be a ball moving attack or the isolation sets that the Cavs settle into at times for no reason?

And for those saying the Cavs couldn’t win a title with Blatt, the fact is they got closer than ever last year with him at the helm.

Lue? We simply don’t know. He’s never been a head coach in the NBA until today.

There aren’t many coaches with a championship pedigree in the sport right now, besides Popovich.

The only “elite” bench guys are perhaps Rick Carlisle in Dallas, and maybe Doc Rivers with the Clippers. Neither of them are replacing Blatt.

The pressure is squarely on James and Lue to bring a title to Cleveland. Anything less and LeBron will have explaining to do, even if he did have nothing to do with Blatt’s departure.