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I don't know what answer you guys want. THey've put together a basically unarguardable team. Beating them is going to be a tall order. So, yea, LeBron is going to have to both dominate on offense and guard Durant on defense. And that's just to have a chance. There's no magical trade that is going to fix the problem that has been created by Durant joining them. Sorry.

Like, you guys want to add someone that can "guard" Durant. Well, Kawhi Leonard, the best wing defender in the league, got absolutely shredded head to toe by Durant last season. So, sorry, PJ Tucker probably wouldn't make all that much of a difference in that regard.

I agree with this...

You dont beat Golden State with individual defense anyway, you beat them with great team D and kill them on the boards. The Cavs as currently constituted can absolutely do that.
 
I'd also like to ask this question to those who say LeBron shouldn't be guarding Durant...where the hell does Kevin Love play then? If LeBron is guarding Green, Kevin Love is guarding........who? Klay Thompson?

LeBron guarding Durant and simply outplaying him is required to win that series. There's no other way. And that's only step 1.
 
I think pj provides physicality.. This was 2 years ago but it shows defensive intensity, and the ability to guard big guys, et al cousins.. He also quick enough to guard paul in this highlights..

 
I'd also like to ask this question to those who say LeBron shouldn't be guarding Durant...where the hell does Kevin Love play then? If LeBron is guarding Green, Kevin Love is guarding........who?

Who's playing center in GSW's lineup?
 
Who's playing center in GSW's lineup?

Draymond motherfucking Green. The guy who has played it all playoffs the last two seasons. The guy LeBron guarded last year the last however many games. The guy, I'm assuming, you'd want LeBron guarding again if he isn't guarding Durant.
 
Draymond motherfucking Green. The guy who has played it all playoffs the last two seasons. The guy LeBron guarded last year the last however many games. The guy, I'm assuming, you'd want LeBron guarding again if he isn't guarding Durant.

Tough match-up. I'd like to hear some more opinions on it.
 
This is the line-up I'm imagining. Kyrie, Smith, Korver, LeBron, and Love/Thompson. That line-up will need LeBron to be on Durant. But it leaves Golden State with nowhere to hide Curry, and makes Thompson's life pretty damn difficult.

I'm of the opinion you have to try and just wear them out on offense as the best strategy to defending them. If you just go out and get a bunch of rugged defenders and try and guard them, their talent will just shine through. Make Durant and Thompson and Curry work like hell on defense themselves. Don't give them somewhere to hide.

Shumpert gives them somewhere to hide on defense. Jefferson gives them somewhere to hide on defense. It allows one of those guys to take possessions off.

We did it, too, by hiding guys on Harrison Barnes. Well, that's now Kevin Durant, so that option has kinda disappeared. So do it back to them.

That's my own theory on how to play the match-up. I don't know if I'd give a high chance of success, but then again I'm not sure there's any thing we can do that makes us favorites short of finding a miracle trade.
 
Defending GS is like, you will hardly achieve it purely by defense. This squad has so much talent in offense that if you don't punish them defensively, they'll find a way to speed up the pace and knock you down.

Looking at how Spurs, Grizzlies and of course we ourselves win over them - always same mode, physical play, let the ball in, grabbing off reb, and then they are exhausted defensively, then you are able to slow the game down, and it may give you what you want defensively.
 
Ugh. Windy was on ESPN radio yesterday morning. He said Cleveland had their eyes on PJ Tucker, thinks Phoenix wanted a first rounder for him, and the FO essentially chose Korver over him by making that trade.

I like Korver but what the hell. The point of getting Tucker would've been to guard KD or Draymond. Is Korver expected to do that...?


Kyle Korver was a way way way way better pick-up with that first round pick.

The problem with Durant is not simply us not having a 3/4 tweener perimeter defender outside of Bron who can guard him. Durant isolations are not what will keep us up at night. It doesn't matter as much who is matched up with Durant. It really doesn't. He's a solid defender, but he it isn't like he's prime Tony Allen. I'm not convinced he's any better than RJ or Shumpert, honestly.

He is shooting 30%!!! THIRTY!!! from 3 this year. That is literally unplayable. We can't make our biggest addition somebody who can't shoot. Maybe if they're all-NBA defensive team material, the elite of the elite, and can guard the 1-4, etc... still....shooting is a BIG DEAL.

Our offense gets in trouble when we have Liggins in, and he is shooting 39% from 3. Or when Shumpert misses EVERYTHING, again, teams literally start leaving these guys wide open to shade LeBron and Kyrie and stay with our other shooters. This is a recipe for DEATH against the Warriors. They can very easily turn a 3 point lead into a 15 point lead in 2 minutes of game-time and it gets a lot easier to do that when they can ignore one of our players offensively.

Korver is a very important piece because he adds a new DIMENSION to our team, to our offense. The action we run with Korver is a whole new element of offense that the defense has to pay attention to. Once we get some real time with Korver in, 6-8 weeks+, and the team understands how to both get him shots AND how to benefit from the SPACE and CHAOS his movement creates on the court, it will become evident that the Korver trade might end up being one of the most important things for us in terms of competing against GS(if they make it to the Finals of course..and Korver helps us so much more vs S.A. or Hou as well).

Korver will end up playing big minutes and being one of our most important players in that series, and if we win it will be in big part because Korver added a dynamic that Golden State could't ultimately control, especially when we run LBJ at the 4.

I just don't event think it's debatable. Korver is by far a better player than PJ Tucker and he's also a complete necessity against the Warriors as they are now.

Even if it comes down to the 4th quarter multiple times and Durant really does begin isolating and we need a guy to really get up and check him, well, that's basically what LeBron will be there for. Even if we had Tucker, Bron is still checking KD in the 4th and Tucker is definitely not closing games. Korver will be closing games.

Kyrie/JR/Korver/Bron/Love(or TT depending how things are going). I think we have a distinct advantage in every game that is "close" with 8 minutes or less left.

PJ Tucker would be a nice get if the Cavs could literally get him for absorbing his salary and one of those top 55 protected 2nd rounders, just because that extra size and depth would help. But instead of Kyle Korver? It's not even debatable in my mind.

When I watch ed the Cavs struggle against GS, I was never thinking "we need somebody to man up KD". I think two things:
1: "Longabardi trying to to the Thibs 08-09 Celtics thing is cute and well meaning, but WE DONT HAVE THE GUYS TO DO IT. Switch the pick&roll. Every time. They can jack up as many threes as they want whether it ends up being Steph v Love or TT, or Durant v Love or TT, or even Durant vs a smaller player depending on the screen. Seriously. Jack all the threes up. All of them, because ANYTHING is better than letting Steph, or KD, or Draymond, dribble into interior space and collapse the defense/force rotation because if done right the rotations might be more effective, but if anyone misses ONE, it's a death sentence for that defensive possession"

2: "We're going to need some kind of new source of offense besides just Kyrie and LeBron this year, I think.. hey wait, wow, they're shading an awful lot of people towards Korver....wow, they're really dedicated to following/tracking/grabbing/contesting Korver everywhere he goes....WOW...there's so much more space for everyone else to play in the half-court...this could be a serious problem for Golden State in the finals if we can figure out how to properly use him"


I think we can get Korver and the team as a unit up to a level that we can win with by playoff time. What I would REALLY love to see is Korver here for another couple of years as long as he doesn't fall off a cliff, I think with a year together, a training camp together, an off-season, etc....things could be immense. The Hawks won 60 games a few years ago and Korver's action was basically the ignition switch for their offense. And they only had Teague/Millsap/Horford to benefit from it. We have Bron, Kyrie, Love, JR, etc..


I'd like to get our hands on Barbosa moreso than Tucker at this point as well. TBH.
 
This is the line-up I'm imagining. Kyrie, Smith, Korver, LeBron, and Love/Thompson. That line-up will need LeBron to be on Durant. But it leaves Golden State with nowhere to hide Curry, and makes Thompson's life pretty damn difficult.

I'm of the opinion you have to try and just wear them out on offense as the best strategy to defending them. If you just go out and get a bunch of rugged defenders and try and guard them, their talent will just shine through. Make Durant and Thompson and Curry work like hell on defense themselves. Don't give them somewhere to hide.

Shumpert gives them somewhere to hide on defense. Jefferson gives them somewhere to hide on defense. It allows one of those guys to take possessions off.

We did it, too, by hiding guys on Harrison Barnes. Well, that's now Kevin Durant, so that option has kinda disappeared. So do it back to them.

That's my own theory on how to play the match-up. I don't know if I'd give a high chance of success, but then again I'm not sure there's any thing we can do that makes us favorites short of finding a miracle trade.

I agree with this but worry about Korver particularly in lineups with Irving and Love could just get exploited too much on defense. Even though it was unlikely getting Gay, his Achilles injury is tough because he was one of the few guys available who could legitimately could physically match up with guys like Green and Durant on defense and they would have to pay attention on offense every possession.

I don't see this team as currently constructed beating GS: no backup PG , no rim protector, no big 2 way SF is going to beat GS. We can hope RJ turns the clock back and be that 2 way SF he was last year but I'm not betting on that. (in our 4 wins RJ was +11, +7, +15, -8: just a huge piece last year)
 
I agree with this but worry about Korver particularly in lineups with Irving and Love could just get exploited too much on defense. Even though it was unlikely getting Gay, his Achilles injury is tough because he was one of the few guys available who could legitimately could physically match up with guys like Green and Durant on defense and they would have to pay attention on offense every possession.

I don't see this team as currently constructed beating GS: no backup PG , no rim protector, no big 2 way SF is going to beat GS. We can hope RJ turns the clock back and be that 2 way SF he was last year but I'm not betting on that. (in our 4 wins RJ was +11, +7, +15, -8: just a huge piece last year)

Just not real sure there was an available answer this year. Oh well. Those are the breaks. Go into the playoffs with hope. LeBron will have to play his best series ever. So will Kyrie. So will Kevin. And even then it might not be enough. Just not really a great way to counter Durant doing what he did.

Next year, when they hopefully lose Livingston and Iguodala...next year they'll be more vulnerable to being outdepthed.
 
Kyle Korver was a way way way way better pick-up with that first round pick.

The problem with Durant is not simply us not having a 3/4 tweener perimeter defender outside of Bron who can guard him. Durant isolations are not what will keep us up at night. It doesn't matter as much who is matched up with Durant. It really doesn't. He's a solid defender, but he it isn't like he's prime Tony Allen. I'm not convinced he's any better than RJ or Shumpert, honestly.

He is shooting 30%!!! THIRTY!!! from 3 this year. That is literally unplayable. We can't make our biggest addition somebody who can't shoot. Maybe if they're all-NBA defensive team material, the elite of the elite, and can guard the 1-4, etc... still....shooting is a BIG DEAL.

Our offense gets in trouble when we have Liggins in, and he is shooting 39% from 3. Or when Shumpert misses EVERYTHING, again, teams literally start leaving these guys wide open to shade LeBron and Kyrie and stay with our other shooters. This is a recipe for DEATH against the Warriors. They can very easily turn a 3 point lead into a 15 point lead in 2 minutes of game-time and it gets a lot easier to do that when they can ignore one of our players offensively.

Korver is a very important piece because he adds a new DIMENSION to our team, to our offense. The action we run with Korver is a whole new element of offense that the defense has to pay attention to. Once we get some real time with Korver in, 6-8 weeks+, and the team understands how to both get him shots AND how to benefit from the SPACE and CHAOS his movement creates on the court, it will become evident that the Korver trade might end up being one of the most important things for us in terms of competing against GS(if they make it to the Finals of course..and Korver helps us so much more vs S.A. or Hou as well).

Korver will end up playing big minutes and being one of our most important players in that series, and if we win it will be in big part because Korver added a dynamic that Golden State could't ultimately control, especially when we run LBJ at the 4.

I just don't event think it's debatable. Korver is by far a better player than PJ Tucker and he's also a complete necessity against the Warriors as they are now.

Even if it comes down to the 4th quarter multiple times and Durant really does begin isolating and we need a guy to really get up and check him, well, that's basically what LeBron will be there for. Even if we had Tucker, Bron is still checking KD in the 4th and Tucker is definitely not closing games. Korver will be closing games.

Kyrie/JR/Korver/Bron/Love(or TT depending how things are going). I think we have a distinct advantage in every game that is "close" with 8 minutes or less left.

PJ Tucker would be a nice get if the Cavs could literally get him for absorbing his salary and one of those top 55 protected 2nd rounders, just because that extra size and depth would help. But instead of Kyle Korver? It's not even debatable in my mind.

When I watch ed the Cavs struggle against GS, I was never thinking "we need somebody to man up KD". I think two things:
1: "Longabardi trying to to the Thibs 08-09 Celtics thing is cute and well meaning, but WE DONT HAVE THE GUYS TO DO IT. Switch the pick&roll. Every time. They can jack up as many threes as they want whether it ends up being Steph v Love or TT, or Durant v Love or TT, or even Durant vs a smaller player depending on the screen. Seriously. Jack all the threes up. All of them, because ANYTHING is better than letting Steph, or KD, or Draymond, dribble into interior space and collapse the defense/force rotation because if done right the rotations might be more effective, but if anyone misses ONE, it's a death sentence for that defensive possession"

2: "We're going to need some kind of new source of offense besides just Kyrie and LeBron this year, I think.. hey wait, wow, they're shading an awful lot of people towards Korver....wow, they're really dedicated to following/tracking/grabbing/contesting Korver everywhere he goes....WOW...there's so much more space for everyone else to play in the half-court...this could be a serious problem for Golden State in the finals if we can figure out how to properly use him"


I think we can get Korver and the team as a unit up to a level that we can win with by playoff time. What I would REALLY love to see is Korver here for another couple of years as long as he doesn't fall off a cliff, I think with a year together, a training camp together, an off-season, etc....things could be immense. The Hawks won 60 games a few years ago and Korver's action was basically the ignition switch for their offense. And they only had Teague/Millsap/Horford to benefit from it. We have Bron, Kyrie, Love, JR, etc..


I'd like to get our hands on Barbosa moreso than Tucker at this point as well. TBH.

I disagree. If JR is healthy you go with PJ over Korver if you're going to give up a 1st rounder.
 
Agree with the general mentality in here.

Trading that useless package for Korver was like trading potato sack races and half court shots for weiner dog races.
 
I agree with this but worry about Korver particularly in lineups with Irving and Love could just get exploited too much on defense. Even though it was unlikely getting Gay, his Achilles injury is tough because he was one of the few guys available who could legitimately could physically match up with guys like Green and Durant on defense and they would have to pay attention on offense every possession.

I don't see this team as currently constructed beating GS: no backup PG , no rim protector, no big 2 way SF is going to beat GS. We can hope RJ turns the clock back and be that 2 way SF he was last year but I'm not betting on that. (in our 4 wins RJ was +11, +7, +15, -8: just a huge piece last year)

valid concern, I also don't really see many minutes KK playing with KI and Love together. Think his best utility is in 2nd unit with Bron, and of course game deciding play for last minute IMO.
 
I think another lesson learned from last year is - never over-react to what GS is doing. There was for a period we double-teamed Curry since mid-court... it's like you lose because you are so frightened. Logic behind: oh Curry has reached mid-court oh he's going to shoot and take us away. Then finally the team managed to calm themselves down a bit, whatever GS did, they just kept themselves in the game, did what they supposed to do, and the result came naturally. This year I hope the mentality could continue - we don't lose mentally and always let KD in our head, oh KD is there for ISO now, he'll throw us away - never like that.
 

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