Let's talk defense!

[Crosby_Cavs]

Defense, what defense. Maybe next time they will trade for someone who can play defense, and not only shot threes.

 

[fan0283]

People may not remember it because of we won the title but our average effort on defense was a big reason we went down 3-1 in the first place. We hit a team we couldn't outscore and had to adapt. I'm sure we're still capable of doing that this year but I'd rather we didn't wait till 3-1 down a against a Durant enforced Warrior team.

 

[PIP]

Gotta defend the paint better. Teams have finally figured out that's where the primary weakness is...

There's no paint presence at all...

 

[KIxJR1]

Why doesnt liggins play anymore? Because hes a one way player? Like 12 other guys on the team.

Exactly. Lue rather play his offensive players in hopes to out score the opposition. In short, he cares more about offense than defense.

 

[K1rieIrving>AllOtherPG's]

Gotta defend the paint better. Teams have finally figured out that's where the primary weakness is...

There's no paint presence at all...

With who though? Tristan is completely useless this season and Love was always a sieve defensively doesn't contest simple layups or puts his hands up to even remotely bother players even if they're 1 feet away from him, coach pop would tear them both a new hole after watching 2 minutes of them standing around the rim doing absolutely nothing while opposing midget guards get easy layups & FT's over and over again, We needed Bogut bad & now unfortunately we need Sanders just as bad.

I still find it hard to believe that Coach Pop or even Kerr can make defensive scrubs like David Lee/Gasol/Zaza or even David West play some great defense and really protect the rim the right way being in the right position but we can't a guy who's 6'10 athletic and supposedly quick to be in the right position and actually contest people, are the coaching staff teaching them anything? rule of vertically? just stand under the basket with both hands straight up? cut off angles? some simple shit that they can't do, not sure if TT is too dumb to be coached or if the coaching staff are just not teaching him anything but I'm afraid the team and the coaching staff are left with no other choice than to bank on Larry at this point and just hope he can return to form as quickly as possible.

 

[shoes22]

The lack of paint presence has gotten so bad I wouldn’t be surprised if they just throw Larry Sanders out on the court for 15 mins and just say “Do your best. None of our other bigs can protect anything down low”.

I wouldn’t even knock them if they went this route. They need to do something and nothing else is working.

 

[PIP]

The game is different today tho. Team defense has pretty much become the acceptable quantifier to suggest a player is a good defender based on how well he plays in a team defense...

And quite frankly the team is specifically engineered to beat one team out West in June...The style in which they play and how their defended consumes the way the team is structured...Cavs could experience bumps along the way but I'm not sure those teams are as talented and experienced to win against the Cavs in the east??

 

[Green Lantern]

How confident are you that the Cavs can stop the high pick and roll come playoff time? I mean they've shown no ability to do so during year...

We have certain players who defend it well..
JR does, Lebron does when he wants to.
Shump does not..he goes under the pick, thus allowing the player setting the pick to come clean..
Kyrie doesn't either, if he gets hit in the pick , he stops and doesn't recover.
The bigs don't play it well UNLESS they quickly trap the player with the ball.

 

[Bballguy4]

View: https://twitter.com/NBAcom/status/845837175203774464

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

The Cavs need to move a piece this summer for a starting-caliber center. Starting Tristan Thompson is an abomination and the worst thing a team can do for its defense.

I expect Shumpert and/or the 2021 pick to be exchanged for somebody who can reasonably protect the rim. Move TT's ass back to the bench.

 

[Jstock12]

People may not remember it because of we won the title but our average effort on defense was a big reason we went down 3-1 in the first place. We hit a team we couldn't outscore and had to adapt. I'm sure we're still capable of doing that this year but I'd rather we didn't wait till 3-1 down a against a Durant enforced Warrior team.

True, but last year the Cavs were 14th in defensive rating, which is average. This year it has plummeted down to 22nd, which is a little worrisome. Though winning the title with the 22nd ranked defense would be quite a feat, I'll give you that.

 

[Zubaz Redux]

Gotta defend the paint better. Teams have finally figured out that's where the primary weakness is...

There's no paint presence at all...

This would solve the vast majority of our defensive issues. All the talk of poor perimeter defense is true, but i think it misses the crux of the issue. Kyrie and the shooting guard du jour have not been stopping the ball, obviously. But the way the nba is structured and officiated today there are very few guards who can stop dribble penetration. Avery from Boston and Delly are two that come to mind and they get beaten regularly as well. The difference is whether there is a deterrent in the post to prevent the straight line drives to the rim once a guard gets a shoulder past the initial defender.

The Cavs have nothing to deter a driving guard. No height, no bulk, no rotations, no toughness. The opposition knows this and they are absolutely feasting on us. Think about what that does for the confidence of an opposing guard. They don't have to concern themselves with anything but getting a shoulder past the on ball defender. Simple and easy buckets. We would go back to a decent defensive team tomorrow with an average or better defensive post presence. We saw this night and day change with Mozgov two years ago. It can happen again with just one big man addition. Sadly, we got focused on things like a back up pg, which was a valid concern, but imo a luxury. We got unlucky with the Bogut injury and now we have to rely on Larry Sanders (or just bomb teams out of the gym) to get us thru to the Warriors where our defensive personnel is a better fit. It can be done, but we've made the trip thru the east far riskier than it needed to be.

 

[Cavsfan1985]

I think we will get batter as JR gets his legs under him. He is a plus defender when healthy. I also think part of the issue has been you are working both JR and Love back into the lineup which is causing some short term pain on communication. It also appears Lou has focused on getting the offense working more so then defence. while the sceme has even off a lot of the issue is effort out there. There is 0! That's where we miss Delly as he played 100% all the time.

I feel ok for the first round just on talent alone. If we don't see an improvement effort on that round a Washington or Toranto could have a chance. But our offense is good enough to get through the East IMO. Just don't see how we can beat GS or the Spurs.

 

[Simon]

Cavs are last in defensive rating this month (115.0).

 

[CHIMOCHIS]

Finally got a chance to watch a Cavs game after 2 weeks. Is this what people have been complaining about? Cos so far it seems like we have some of the lowest basketball IQ on defense. I mean guys bumping into each other on close outs, switching off. Our opponents only need to swing the ball a few times to expose concentration errors.

Most annoying is we don't seem to have a single player who can provide any kind of interior resistance or toughness. If you get to our rim then you can be sure no one is going to make things harder. And please tell Love and TT the point of going vertical isn't to block the shot if you can at least disrupt the scorer's view of the rim. In the paint, Love never seems to jump for some reason. TT does but is poor with his timing

Be careful when you bring that thing about love up

People will not like you around here
Some stuff are just not spoken of

Left under the rug