Open Discussion (Cavs + related issues)

[TitleTown]

Liggins minutes have been trending downward. When jr comes back he's not gonna see the court much at all.

I could see him packaged at the deadline for a trade too. At this point, nothing is sure for our roster outside of the top 5.

LBJ, Kyrie, Love, JR, TT

 

[priceFTW]

Kyrie and Love have been playing better without James in the past 7 weeks or so.

Since Dec. 1st with Irving and Love in and James out:

ORTG: 116.1
DRTG: 107.4

NET: +8.7 per 100 possessions

Love ON, Kyrie and James off: NET +17.9 per 100 possessions.

These are important developments going forward. Though there are many issues, the Big Three have never played better together. It's just that there's a team that's probably the best ever that clouds everything because everyone, no matter what he/she posts, knows how perfect we have to be to win a series against those fuckers.

 

[LeShaq]

I only care about a few things now, and this is how I'll feel for the rest of the season.

* Be healthy for the playoffs, if possible
* Start resting LeBron significantly (I think Lue has said this will start maybe at the end of January; there is a plan for it)
* Beat out the Raptors and anyone else for the #1 seed in the East
* Continue to work on chemistry and schemes and other goals (Kyrie/Kevin play well without LeBron, etc)


I won't be getting freaked out over losses or what Lue's doing or anything else. Most important to me, I hope we are well-rested and healthy going into the playoffs. I still believe we can beat the Warriors or anyone else in the Finals, and I'm over home court advantage or LeBron having any shot at MVP.

Settling in for the long-run now.

 

[The Red Viper]

I hope the RJ on elite wing players like Durant and Kawhi experiment is over. Have no fucking idea why Ty had RJ on Kawhi for so long. Also, its getting very apparent that an athletic wing is more important than a back-up point guard or some decent Center.

 

[rome8180]

Reigning D-League rookie of the year Quinn Cook had his second 40-pt game of the season for the Canton charge today. Just saying.

 

[edwinx]

I think front court matchup during a CAV GS series is interesting. Having done a thought experiment of it just now.

For GS defensively, if it goes KD on LBJ, Green on TT and Iggy on KL, likely we can do LBJ low post ISO. If KD on Love, Green on LBJ and Iggy on TT, the I suppose Love to stretch and keep KD away from paint is a good tactic.

Then for us defensively, LBJ on KD, Love on Iggy and TT on Green is kinda perfect match but apparently we hardly can make it through whole game risking exhausting LBJ too early. So I would assume TT on KD and LBJ on Green for some meaningful minutes. I'm curious to see what would happen. I suppose KD can absolutely outplay TT but I don't mind if we are able to control KD ISO on TT to be one of a limited number of ways they score on us.

Backcourt matchup I think is much for straight forward. I think this year's tactic could be similar - force them to ISO ball.

 

[edwinx]

Reigning D-League rookie of the year Quinn Cook had his second 40-pt game of the season for the Canton charge today. Just saying.

I see rumors that he has drawn lots of interest from various teams. Cavs don't hold his exclusive right.

 

[Zog]

I think front court matchup during a CAV GS series is interesting. Having done a thought experiment of it just now.

For GS defensively, if it goes KD on LBJ, Green on TT and Iggy on KL, likely we can do LBJ low post ISO. If KD on Love, Green on LBJ and Iggy on TT, the I suppose Love to stretch and keep KD away from paint is a good tactic.

Then for us defensively, LBJ on KD, Love on Iggy and TT on Green is kinda perfect match but apparently we hardly can make it through whole game risking exhausting LBJ too early. So I would assume TT on KD and LBJ on Green for some meaningful minutes. I'm curious to see what would happen. I suppose KD can absolutely outplay TT but I don't mind if we are able to control KD ISO on TT to be one of a limited number of ways they score on us.

Backcourt matchup I think is much for straight forward. I think this year's tactic could be similar - force them to ISO ball.

I would worry that TT would get in foul trouble guarding KD, but wouldn't be opposed to trying it out. If we can freeze out the other players (Curry, Klay, Green) by tempting them to go Durant ISO as you suggest, it's probably not a bad idea if TT can stay in front of him and not foul.

 

[Otsego Mar]

TT on KD?

Pass.

 

[jon connor]

TT on KD?

Pass.

I think TT would get murdered. KD would love that matchup. He'd get a lot of open looks from 3 and midrange.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Well, New Orleans, Sacramento, Brooklyn on deck in the next 5 days.

I for one, welcome this week with open arms and look forward to the ass-beating at least a few these teams will be looking at. The Cavs are going to take Saturday out on somebody.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Reigning D-League rookie of the year Quinn Cook had his second 40-pt game of the season for the Canton charge today. Just saying.

I think Quinn should sign with a team that can afford for him to play through his rookie mistakes.

Clev needs young vet stability

Like with Seth curry with Sac last year and a shitty mavs club this year! As a duke fan I have faith in Cook to stick in the league just have to be patient I guess.

 

[The Red Viper]

I was just thinking.

We should try with starting Love at 5 and LeBron at 4, with Korver, Shump and Kyrie filling the rest three spots. LeBron usually doesn't like playing the 4 because he doesn't want to bang with guys in low post but there are hardly any post-up forwards there.

That way, we get to integrate Korver in our offense, especially with LeBron, Kyrie and Love more seamlessly which would benefit in the long run. You can make a case for Korver starting ahead of Shump but Shump has been very good once he was moved to a starter. I am not sure if we should tinker with that.

Also, I still think think having TT off the bench along with Frye and Liggins would provide us with good and some much needed energy off the bench. And last but not the least, absolute match-up nightmare for the opposition teams from the start!

 

[The Wizard of Moz]

So I have been really interested in defense lately. I started checking out the NBA.com stats for FG% against for different situations to find out if there's a statistical explanation for where our players are struggling most on defense.

First let's look at 3 point FG% against vs. what the opponent normally shoots. I'm only looking at our rotational players who have played 25 or more games for us to keep McRae, Felder, and James Jones from cluttering the data. Unfortunately that also excludes JR, but oh well.

Overall 3-point defense
​

So basically we are average at defending the 3. Taking a weighted average of the difference between what players shoot against us versus their season FG% from 3 yields us holding opponents to .31% less than their season average. Frye has been an absolute siege giving up 51.5% from 3 on about 2 attempts per game. Kyrie needs to improve. But very happy with TT, Shump, and Love. And obviously LBJ.

Ok so 3 point shooting defense is a tad above average. Let's check out 2 point shooting.

Overall 2 point defense
​

So LBJ takes quite a tumble here, but important to keep in mind how few DFGA against both LBJ and Kyrie there are here.

Again TT does a good job here (and has actually greatly improved in his DFG% from last season which he should be commended for). Everyone is mostly hovering around slightly above average to slightly below average here, but we can also take a deeper look into distance to the basket.

< 6 feet from the basket
​

So TT has really been excelling playing defense around the basket on a pretty large sample size of 6.2 DFGA per game which is a greatly encouraging sign. On the other hand literally everyone else (besides Channing) totally sucks within 6 feet of the basket, including LBJ. This is where our worst defensive difference in percentage occurs and where we really only have one player holding opponents to less of a shooting percentage than they average. This also confirms what we have seen where it often looks like a layup line out there.

So my contention is this. I really don't think our defense is all as bad as it's cracked up to be. I think we are just desperately missing someone other than TT to contest shots at the basket. TT plays <30 MPG and he is the only one even halfway competent at protecting within 6 feet of the basket besides Channing who gets roasted from 3 land.

I think not having a 5 that we can funnel drives into is what is killing this defense. And although that attempt would then go to the 5, that would take attempts away from our guards who are currently getting roasted at the rim

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

So I have been really interested in defense lately.

Funny how yours and the team's interests don't align.