Cutting the fat defensively

[oasis05]

We've moved up from the 29th ranked offense to the 15th rank. A substantial jump over a small period. However, on defense we are still bottom of the pack. 27th rank on basketball reference. This is unacceptable. There has to be more effort defensively. I think zeller is the weakest defender since we can't bench kyrie. He is getting dominated every night. The cavs also as a team continue to double too early and cause unnecessary scrambles. Oden may really help, but not sure how long that will last. Dan Gilbert tweeted the cavs need to get their ass in gear defensively. Any suggestions for how we can get some momentum defensively?

[BimboColesHair]

We've moved up from the 29th ranked offense to the 15th rank. A substantial jump over a small period. However, on defense we are still bottom of the pack. 27th rank on basketball reference. This is unacceptable. There has to be more effort defensively. I think zeller is the weakest defender since we can't bench kyrie. He is getting dominated every night. The cavs also as a team continue to double too early and cause unnecessary scrambles. Oden may really help, but not sure how long that will last. Dan Gilbert tweeted the cavs need to get their ass in gear defensively. Any suggestions for how we can get some momentum defensively?

Any ideas? Yeah, not be a team largely consisting of 1st and 2nd year players. It takes more time to become a good defensive team than it does to become a good offensive team. Case in point, OKC. Gave up 106.3 points KDs rookie year, 103.1 his 2nd year, and are now allowing 97.4 points a game. Time, that is how we get better at defense.

[Kizzle]

Any ideas? Yeah, not be a team largely consisting of 1st and 2nd year players. It takes more time to become a good defensive team than it does to become a good offensive team. Case in point, OKC. Gave up 106.3 points KDs rookie year, 103.1 his 2nd year, and are now allowing 97.4 points a game. Time, that is how we get better at defense.

Getting players who have a history of playing D, may also help. Nobody on our team but AV, and TT, have ever been noted as good defenders

[Kizzle]

Getting players who have a history of playing D, may also help. Nobody on our team but AV, and TT, have ever been noted as good defenders

Well Gee and Ellington are solid

[Tecumseh]

We need a floor leader. All the best defensive teams the past few years have had one. We need someone willing to be a vocal but also a lead by example type guy. It has to come from within. Byron can only yell and make them run so much. Its why I wanted MKG badly. I thought he could be that leader defensively for us.

[The Voice]

Any ideas? Yeah, not be a team largely consisting of 1st and 2nd year players. It takes more time to become a good defensive team than it does to become a good offensive team. Case in point, OKC. Gave up 106.3 points KDs rookie year, 103.1 his 2nd year, and are now allowing 97.4 points a game. Time, that is how we get better at defense.

Adding Perkins and drafting Ibaka helped them.

[Douglar]

We need a floor leader.

That's been Livingston so far. He's always directing traffic when he's on the floor.

[Jon]

The defense is pretty hopeless, we should be talking about that offensive jump.

Our team FG% is still crap (28th), but some of the things driving our climb would seem to be: 3pt% (12th), ORB (5th), STL (10th), TOV (13th), and PF (4th).

[UDcleveland]

Draft Noel

[The Human Q-Tip]

Draft Noel

That would give us two plus defenders at the 4/5, but leave us with problems at the other positions. Gee is a good defender but undersized for the three, Waiters is a bit undersized and not a very good defender otherwise at the two. That means that you really can't slide Gee over to guard backcourt guys because Waiters is too small to do even a mediocre job against other 3's. And we all know that Kyrie has good size for the point but is a poor defender.

Noel's shotblocking would help that a bit, but I think the fundamental problem is that we are just too vulnerable defensively in the backcourt. At the least, we need to add a primary third guard who is a major plus defender, and good enough offensively to be capable of situationally starting against certain teams. It's reasonable to expect some level of improvement defensively from Waiters/Irving, but I honestly don't know if expecting them to get to the level necessary to win a title as a starting backcourt is possible.

[Kizzle]

Well every good team has an above average perimeter defender.......we dont have a definite one. Right now our guy is Gee, who is good but out of position

[KI4MVP]

according to this, which is up to date through last night's game, Speights is easily our worst defender.

http://www.82games.com/1213/1213CLE.HTM

[Bob Loblaw]

Our rebounding and interior defense is a big part of the problem, so we could use a shot blocking big man. Noel would be perfect, but someone like Len would help too. Obviously Oden is an option but we shouldn't count on him. Other than a new center, I think we just need our young guys to gain experience. Most 20-21 year olds aren't good defenders.

[Tecumseh]

Most 20-21 year olds aren't good defenders.

Very true. Most talented young players were simply superior athletes their entire playing careers and could defend decently well just due to their athleticism and raw ability. Now that they are in an environment where everyone is a superior athlete, they will actually need to put forth effort and time into learning defense. It will take time, but the Cavs could certainly use a couple strong defenders in trades and the draft the next 6 months.

[rabman_gold]

Luke communicates, but is too crippled to actually play super defense.

Kyrie will naturally have to improve. I think he can do it, he's shown us his willingness to try to stop the main threat on the floor. I think in time, he'll get better. Dion has the tools to be effective, so if he stays around, he should improve. Once we get our real small forward, I expect someone who may bring good defense to the table. And we'll probably draft or trade for a center with good defense. Probably some sort of athleticism as well.

The problem is Coach's system focuses more on offense. We'll have to rely on smart, individual defenders to make it effective before they become a good unit. It's virtually the opposite of Mike Brown's system, which starts with defense but needs effective offensive players.