Let's talk defense!

[ACisKING]

Toronto got Ibaka to beat us. Massai coveted him since last year, and it was a "now or never" move since they'd never be able to get anybody of his caliber after signing Lowry to his max extension this summer.

A lot of people laughed at Toronto for going so far above the salary cap with a treadmill team, but you have to wonder if it was the smart play given how abysmal the Cavs have ended up being.

Everybody is so focused on Washington and Boston but Toronto with a healthy Lowry (and remember, they added Tucker) is arguably the scariest team in the East.

Frankly, I don't have any hope for the Cavs against any of those teams at the moment.

The Cavs were awesome in November and December, horrible in January, awesome in February, and horrible in March. The only thing to conclude is that the Cavs are maddeningly inconsistent. It's too early to talk about the how "abysmal the Cavs have ENDED up being" when there is still three weeks to playoffs and three months till the Finals. For all we know they could be awesome again in April-June.

 

[fan0283]

Love has other defensive problems, but they were strictly talking about his rim protection which I think is pretty abysmal for a PF.
The team is going to have it's hands full in the off-season and they are going to have to make some tough decisions and that involves Love aswell.

I don't even think about him nowadays because he is the least of our concerns tbh.

Winner. The original comment was clearly made in reference to Love and TT's inability to defend the rim but for some reason he only took issue with the Love bit and even exaggerated what was meant thus proving why I said his supporters get so defensive.

And why do we hold TT and Love responsible for interior defence? Huh maybe cos in the game of basketball the PF and C positions are by a combined virtue of size and proximity best suited for that role. A 6 foot PG isn't going to alter shots from the perimeter. Neither can he keep his man in front at all times. You need someone in your front court to clean that up at an acceptable level. No one is asking for Gobert or prime mutombo. No one wants to see their 4 boxing out when he should be going vertical.

This is even a pet peeve of mine with advanced stats that overvalue the role of rebounding to defense. Sure it secures the possession but the guy who tried to alter the shot would be out of place for the rebound. The guy who didn't alter it maintains position and gets more credit than he's due

 

[mhi]

Oh look Toronto goes out and gets defensive pieces and their defense shoots up.

We go out and get the Deron, Derrick, and K.Korver and our defense craters.

In all honesty you can't tell me Bogut was going to carry us on defense.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Oh look Toronto goes out and gets defensive pieces and their defense shoots up.

We go out and get the Deron, Derrick, and K.Korver and our defense craters.

In all honesty you can't tell me Bogut was going to carry us on defense.

Bogut was having a terrible year and was still like #2 in DRPM for Centers.

He would have made a HUGE difference. HUGE. I almost guarantee our DRTG for the minutes/lineups with Bogut on the floor would have been top 10-12.

He is a guy who knows how to anchor a defense, plus his size is just so valuable and something we're missing so badly..

 

[don2x]

I'm not an expert in defense. But what I have noticed, instead of beating their man one on one, and not allowing any penetration, they are relying heavily on help defense which will result of unguarded man from opposing team.


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[kidduck]

Cleveland allows 0.91 points per possession in PNR plays finished by the ballhandler, which is third-worst in the league. They’re fourth-worst (1.09 ppp) when it comes to stopping the roll man on the play.

There are other problems with the defense that show just how lead-footed the Cavs’ defense is. They’re fourth-worst in both deflections per game (13.8) and loose balls recovered (5.9). They’re 26th in the league in turnover percentage.

 

[godfather]

Bogut was having a terrible year and was still like #2 in DRPM for Centers.

He would have made a HUGE difference. HUGE. I almost guarantee our DRTG for the minutes/lineups with Bogut on the floor would have been top 10-12.

He is a guy who knows how to anchor a defense, plus his size is just so valuable and something we're missing so badly..

He's also one of the best pick-and-roll defenders in the league. I feel he would have hid Kyrie's weakness on pick-and-rolls much better.

That was such a blow when he went down.

TT has been awful lately. He might be injured, but man, now that he's not defending well the wheels are really falling off fast.

 

[Cavatt]

He's also one of the best pick-and-roll defenders in the league. I feel he would have hid Kyrie's weakness on pick-and-rolls much better.

That was such a blow when he went down.

TT has been awful lately. He might be injured, but man, now that he's not defending well the wheels are really falling off fast.

The perimeter has to do better. Do they consider funneling the guard to the big man letting him run down the lane?

 

[LeeBuckeye]

Mozgov in 2015 pre-knee issues was amazing for us because guys could press and know there was somebody back there to erase any mistakes. We were amazing on defense that year and although we were still one dimensional (JR wasn't elite for us on defense until 2016), we had a balance. The biggest drop off IMO is JR and TT on the defensive end. People underestimate the importance of Defensive rebound as an important feature on defense but we're seeing that the last 20+. TT has gotten double digit rebound 4 times in the last 17 games. For an undersized guy, he gets beat pretty consistently and is invisible in the paint against ANY sized players. We don't box out and give our opponents extra possessions after extra possession, which will break your will.

LeBron mentioned guys taking on the individual challenge FIRST before relying on rotations. As somebody mentioned, if you bail early and the help comes late you're looking 1-2 passes for a WIDE open shot or cut to the basket. The Spurs struggled to get their offense going in the 3rd against us so it is POSSIBLE for us to be in sync. Can we do it to start games and more importantly sustain it for a full 48 minutes.

 

[Lee]

Its ironic this has been such a long discussion because clearly we are not playing and defense right now at all.

 

[Chris Parker]

we haven't had a set rotation all year, which has hindered our teams ability to get familiar their rotational assignments / positioning on defense when they are thrown in with players they have less experience playing with.

I lean this way, however then you should be playing your playoff defense NOW so guys get used to it. The whole "Secret Playoff D" is so hilarious. Is he gonna pull out this revolutionary plan like Thibs when he stopped LeBron w/Celtics ages ago? If he's just going back to what Cavs did, shouldn't they do so NOW so they can get used to playing it, instead of expecting that the surprise of the change is more important than being effective executing it????

 

[Chris Parker]

He's also one of the best pick-and-roll defenders in the league. I feel he would have hid Kyrie's weakness on pick-and-rolls much better.

That was such a blow when he went down.

TT has been awful lately. He might be injured, but man, now that he's not defending well the wheels are really falling off fast.

Which wasn't at all predictable for a guy who relies on energy being thrust into the starting lineup and made to handle guys 20-40 lbs heavier on a weekly basis. As Lue noted in the presser a week ago, there was a reason they started Mozgov for much of the year (and, if you remember, Lue went back to Mozgov for a while before end of season, to take wear of TT)

Griff really blew it not getting one serviceable big earlier, even if he can't be blamed for Bogut catastrophe

 

[Cavatt]

I lean this way, however then you should be playing your playoff defense NOW so guys get used to it. The whole "Secret Playoff D" is so hilarious. Is he gonna pull out this revolutionary plan like Thibs when he stopped LeBron w/Celtics ages ago? If he's just going back to what Cavs did, shouldn't they do so NOW so they can get used to playing it, instead of expecting that the surprise of the change is more important than being effective executing it????

Yeah people say it is all effort, but it is effort and consistency and practice like anything else.

 

[Ozone]

It is unlikely to happen as much as it should,but it would be smart if Liggins,Sanders,DWill2 were integrated into the rotation more,not only to give these vets significant rest especially RJ,Frye,James etc for this 9 games in 14 days final push as tired veteran presence going into the playoffs is bad medicine.If we drop to the 4th seed,who cares if we are healthy and rested

 

[Rob933]

Kyrie, Love, d will, shumpert, frye, even tristian to a certain degree are horrible defenders.