When LeBron James announced to the world that he was feeling a little bit homesick and wanted to return back to his home state of Ohio, the fans were over the moon to say the least.
After a bitter divorce in 2010 and the struggle of trying to rebuild, it was a pipe dream that they would have LeBron back in wine and gold just four years after the infamous Decision and the ensuing fallout.
There was much celebration that swept the entire Cleveland population with giant billboards erected. There were so many YouTube montages that Skylar Grey cannot be listened to without forever being associated with LeBron James. Experts predicted the combination of LeBron, Kyrie and Love would be unbeatable and instantly they heralded them as contenders for the Eastern Conference and NBA Title.
It’s now late November and with 12 games under their belt, the Cavs are sitting below .500 at 5-7 with a few worrying losses to teams like Utah, New York and Denver. Things weren’t always going to be easy for the Cavs with only five players on the roster from last season, a brand new rookie head coach and the eyes of the nation following their every move.
Add in all the drama surrounding the hype and expectations of one of the greatest players in NBA history returning home and there is a lot of pressure on the inexperienced team and coaching staff.
Many NBA pundits are pointing out that in his first season with Miami, LeBron started off 9-8 before going on a tear and finishing December with a 25-9 record. What makes that situation different is LeBron had championship-level help in Dwyane Wade (2006 NBA Champ) and Pat Riley (5 rings as a coach, 2 as a GM and 1 as a player).
The only championship-level experience that Cleveland has is LeBron himself and the collection of vintage bench players he brought with him. He may be playing with young stars in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, but those two have exactly zero playoff minutes logged and have historically been known as defensive minuses throughout their careers.
These are not exactly the tools LeBron had in Miami and when push comes to shove in a critical game, it will be unknown territory for a lot of the Cavs.
There are many glaring problems with the Cavs right now and #1 seems to be the defence, which shouldn’t come as a surprise with the personnel they have.
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love have been known as average defenders at best. So far the Cavs have the 20th best defence adjusted for opponent strength as a result. Their much publicised lack of rim protection is a very large cause of concern, especially with Kyrie out on the perimeter.
Opponents are shooting 65.2 per cent from 0-5ft (30th) and 56.8 per cent at the rim (25th) and this figure won’t get any better with Love, Varejao and Thompson patrolling the paint.
The Cavs are also allowing an average of 25.7 assists per game (29th), usually an indication of easy ball movement or open shooters. Interestingly Dion Waiters holds their best individual defensive rating of 107.5 (good for 182nd as per realgm.com) with Love (199th), LeBron (230th) and Irving (262nd) falling behind.
The defensive rating for LeBron really tells a story in itself with his effort on both ends leaving a bit to be desired at times.
His overall numbers are good but not what we have come to expect from LeBron. While it is silly to talk about a stat line of 25/6/6 as being ordinary, those numbers are all below LeBron’s career averages.
When you add in the 46 per cent of field goals, a case can be made that he isn’t having a good season. Part of this is to do with his master plan to ‘break in’ his teammates by letting them take bad shots, play hero ball and lose games until they see the error of their choices and play the right way.
In interviews he talks about the process and getting to the point where the team is playing the way he wants it. This fast break against the Wizards pretty much sums up his frustrations with his teammates’ poor choices. Together with the appalling body language shown by everyone, you can certainly see that this team has a long way to go before LeBron is happy.
On the plus side, the Cavs they have an offence that can produce big numbers and one that isn’t exactly a well oiled machine right now, which is scary for the rest of the league.
To start the season it was difficult to keep track of how many passes were thrown out of bounds or to the opposition, they were that out of sync with each other. Right now they are surviving predominantly off a lot of isolation ball, three-point shooting and pure talent until they can develop some sort of chemistry and fluidity.
That will naturally happen over time as they all get used to playing with each other and David Blatt figures out the best way to utilise each player’s talents.
Making better use of Kevin Love must be #1 priority for the Cavs and not only because of his impending free agency.
Coming from being the focal point of a team’s offence to being a third banana is going to take some time to adjust to, but utilising Love has been a problem for David Blatt. His numbers have dropped as expected with a drop in usage rate but his PER is hovering just above average at 16.50, worrying for a player that is considered one of the top ten players in the league.
As a threat from long range and a great rebounder, Love should be a handful to defend but with all the dribbling the Cavs are doing he ends up standing around most of the possession waiting for something to happen.
Conclusion
It’s still very early to start writing the Cavs off as a team in serious trouble but those pointing to the Miami struggles of 2010 trying to calm all the “Cavs in Trouble” articles (I realise I am adding to this list) must realise this is an entirely different beast. As an organisation, the Cavs are nowhere near as setup to handle the early season struggles as Miami were.
The core players not named LeBron have a lot less meaningful experience to their name than Bosh or Wade had and David Blatt, while an accomplished coach overseas, is nowhere near the Spolstra/Riley setup that LeBron had in Miami. They can between now and April adjust their roster (a decent rim protector and defensive wing wouldn’t go astray) and I’m sure it’s something that will be on their mind (Corey Brewer’s name has been mentioned).
The Cavs will have very little trouble making the playoffs given the hopeless state of the Eastern Conference where they are currently ranked seventh despite being 5-7. If the Cavs can figure out how to play with each other, they have a very good chance to make the Eastern Conference Finals although they will face stiff competition from the Bulls, Wizards and Raptors.
In the next month they play only half their games against teams with a better than .500 record, so if they hit 2015 still hovering around .500 then it might be time to re-evaluate their chances of making the Eastern Conference Finals.
It all rides on how each player responds to adversity and who is ready to stand up and take on the challenge.
mushi
Guest
Sad but true
Squidward
Roar Rookie
It's actually the best D Kyrie has ever played this season so far
mushi
Guest
Kyrie should be third fiddle on offence or an alternating second fiddle depending on match up. Love is a monster inside or outside and should be involved in a lot of action with LeBron to force decisions There was an article about how Blatt uses a lot more off ball screens than standard ball screens which may work later in the season as teams won't be able to run their standard defensive philosophy but it also is a big change for Love and LeBron from the game they've played the last 5 years
rouleur
Guest
yeah the wizards have looked really good and especially when beal came back the other night. their backcourt is great and nene and gortat fill the big man roles well. pierce is a really good addition so things look good for them if they all stay fit. i know its cheeky but durant would look great in this team too. i agree that the cav's will filter into 3rd or 4th depending on how many games D Rose plays but the frustrating thing will be that it wont be a lack of talent that is holding them back rather the fact that they cant play together. i agree with most of the comments above about jordan. i just think pippen and rodman/grant did a much better job of accepting MJ as the alpha dog. at the cav's i dont think kyrie sees himself as second fiddle. hell, i dont even think dion waiters sees himself as second fiddle!
mushi
Guest
Nope. As much as I've been down on Melo for his career long unwillingness to defend I think he may be a good offensive fit for the triangle if he adheres to it 2/3rds of the time and abandons it when he sees fit (he's still one of the best scorers in the league). But the Knicks suck, Amare is palying like his old self... for 20 odd mintues and schump ain't bad.... for your fourth or fifth best player but they've got no defenders and no offensive identity. It won't be Carmelo's fault but then he got an MVP vote when it was the play of the bench that got them into the playoffs so I don't feel to sorry for him
Clark
Guest
I also heard talk about Rondo heading Sacramento way, not too sure about any other team's interest. Darren Collison has put in work for the Kings so they may not be as desperate now
Clark
Guest
John Wall outplayed Kyrie BADLY the other night. Washington and Toronto seem to be real contenders in the East. We could potentially be seeing the same growing pains LeBron first witnessed in Miami. But then again, Bosh and Wade were established All-Stars (Wade already had a ring) at the end of the day Love and Kyrie still haven't been to the playoffs before. I reckon the Cavs will pick it up and finish at around the 3rd or 4th seed
Mark Pybus
Roar Guru
Off topic Mushi, do you see Melo breaking the system and making New York into something this season?
mushi
Guest
the rondo thing is horrible I think more a hill+hibbert or a knight +sanders style trade. the extra talent they need is shot blocking not play making. I agree that it might not be the right way (then it may actually be too late to change Kyrie) but this "Jordan way" talk is rose tinted - he was tough to coach and a horrible team mate. The big thing he had was he is Michael. Freaking. Jordan. The Jordan way worked because he took a third of the possessions (in a system where the ball is "shared") and converted them at the rate of an open spot up shooter. Whenever people talk about the triangle so glowingly they leave out that it has worked best when the main protagonist has been willing to break the system
Mark Pybus
Roar Guru
I get what LeBron is trying to do with Kyrie and Waiters but perhaps he is going about it the wrong way. As for shutting Blatt out of huddles and publicly criticising things about the team and his minutes, that won't develop the chemistry one bit. The Rondo trade rumours are interesting but that wolud mean LeBron would have to play more off the ball as you wouldn't want Rondo as a spot up shooter (I would still prefer Kyrie in this role).
mushi
Guest
Jordan ignored Phil all the time. Also it is worth remembering pundits thought "Jordan's way" was the worst possible way to play basketball... until he won.
rouleur
Guest
I think the cav's have serious problems. They may still make the east finals but i would put a couple of east teams in front of them right now and 6-7 west teams in front of them. its not just irving that is the problem although most of it starts with him. he needs to watch some rondo or tony parker tapes to see how he can help his teammates play better. as a side issue, i also think LBJ playing passive to try and teach his teammates is a big mistake. never saw jordan do that. seriously, which team member takes it upon himself to ignore the coach and try and "teach" the team how to play basketball and win? there was a rumour of a rondo-irving trade last week. i think this would be a great trade for the cav's. i dont think itll happen cos rondo and LBJ dislike each other a bit but in principle it is the kind of trade they need to make. what they would lose in scoring would easily be made up by extra shots for love and LBJ and the chemistry would be a lot better in my opinion. pick up ray allen after his xmas sabbatical and then you start to get a better looking team with some c'ship experience. just an opinion.
Mark Pybus
Roar Guru
Thanks Tristan. They are definitely a Jekyll and Hyde team this season and it must be really frustrating being LeBron or a Cavs fan. Going to be a very interesting storyline to follow in the next month.
mushi
Guest
I said coming into this the big fly in this ointment was Irving who has never learnt to play NBA basketball. He is a phenomenal talent but he doesn’t make the easy play for team mates and has given no effort on D at any point in his career. He is a horrible fit beside love and James as at right now. He gave effort at the worlds and was a good on ball pressure defender but that is a still a different role to a night in night out decision maker against pick and rolls and it is easier to give effort for handful of games in a rep team than on a back to back. What they are trying to do is sacrifice some effectiveness now in the hopes that Irving learns how to play D, share the ball and take spot up jumpers. The few game I’ve watched he seems almost confused when he gets the ball in the open instead of making an instant decision of shoot, drive or move the ball he dribbles two steps closer to your defender then make the decision. Love’s numbers in the past have shown he actually is a decent to good defender when the system works, ie he gets to the right spots and doesn’t allow open shooters and cuts off offensive rebounds etc. Problem is he isn’t a mobile shot blocker so he just can’t make up for guards that allow penetration on a routine basis which is a problem when your starting point guard has allowed more penetration than Roller girl. Love’s assist rate is down massively because players aren’t taking the quick looks and irving’s play creates a “I may never see this again” mentaility. Panic – no they’ll still make the playoffs and they’ve got plenty of time to keep pushing Irving to become the player he’s capable of and if it doesn’t work then move to a two man game and start to work on an Irving trade for a game manager PG and a shot blocker. If they can get Irving to realise he is the third best player on the team and expend his energy on defence rather than offence then they will be devastating but if they can’t they should cut bait.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Well written and interesting Mark. I saw this the other night representing his frustration (language warning). Sadly, I don't have enough time to watch the Cavs, but on any night they seem to be able to win by 20, and on any other night lose by a bundle as well. Come to think of it, the same goes for more than half the teams in the NBA - it's pretty wide open at this stage.