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Cavs Xs and Os

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This probably doesn't need its own thread either. It would fit nicely in the Blatt thread. It is going to be a circus this season we need to make sure we are opening new threads only for something that doesn't fit in another that is already well established.

They did a nice run-down of "how the cavs offense will run" right after we hired Blatt. Nice to see an updated version.
 
Funny how a lot of the stall outs in sets ended in Waiters taking a bad shot.


Idk if that's a case of him being the only guy willing to take it or if hes the reason they stall. In that Bballbreakdown vid they definitely spotlighted at least one of each


Gonna be funny to see how much blame Waiters gets when things don't go smooth this season
 
He explains why waiters winds up with the bad shot, usually just poor execution, not being in the right place or staying within the offensive plan.. I thougt it was pretty informative...
 
I loved how he blasted the last seasons offense. No wonder we sucked. You can see the grass roots of a really effective and pretty basketball team starting to emerge in part to the personnel but also some great X & Os
 
I loved how he blasted the last seasons offense. No wonder we sucked. You can see the grass roots of a really effective and pretty basketball team starting to emerge in part to the personnel but also some great X & Os

The problems went deeper than X&O's last season. You can see the complete lack of urgency in the players in that video. Zero effort early in the season. Why? Maybe someone will write it up as a cautionary tale. My take is that the Cavs were a train wreck from top to bottom last fall. Disorganized coaching staff failing to give out a consistent message, players egos getting in the way of real locker room leadership, and top down mandates within the organization disrupting what little progress had been made. In hind sight, last season failed before it even started. Different X's & O's were not going to save it.

While Blatt will be able to come up with better offensive plays, this season's clips show players giving effort, even when they don't fully understand what they are supposed to do. That tells me that locker room leadership is buying in to the coaching message and that trickles down to the other players. Probably helps that there are a lot of vets who don't need to learn everything from the ground up, know how a good locker room operates, and the coaches are likely communicating a clearer message. Talent and good plays don't mean a lot without a solid base like that.
 
Yep Douglar second that. Nice to see they are not even executing the offense exactly right now. That means potential improvement in an area that has already looked pretty good. It also makes sense why LeBron has not been super involved yet. He wants to get the offense functional first.
 
Interesting how (at 6:00) he says that the Cavs have to fight against the temptation to let Lebron do everything. Incredible on how all his teams, even those with a lot of talent, his ability is so great that it can lull others on the team into passivity. It's just always been a danger on his teams.

To some degree Lebron has to be the one orchestrating what is going on out there in key moments, even with Kyrie as the PG. He's just too great not to be.
 
That play they show against the Sixers is a perfect example of why this team was terrible last year. Bynum is too worried about his post touch to bother to set a screen. Jarrett Jack just runs to one of his favorite spots to shoot, which I guarantee is not how the offense is supposed to work. Anthony Bennett finds a spot on the floor where he can take a breather to watch the action. Alonzo Gee is a terrible shooter. Ugh. This team wasn't even trying last year.
 
So right now, granted after just two games, the Cavs are 25th in the league in effective FG percentage -- behind the 76ers and the Lakers. We are more in the middle of the pack on offensive rating, because of our rebounding I guess. Is that just opening jitters or does it have anything to do with where and how people are operating in the offense?

Also, I was thinking -- can we turn this thread into an 'Xs and Os' thread that's separate from the David Blatt thread? The Blatt thread is always going to have a lot of stuff about the coach personally, his relationships with players, etc. I'd like a thread where knowledgeable people can explain the details of what they're seeing on the court. Really interested in understanding the details of what is going on out there on the court.

Could be Xs and Os generally (offense and defense) or just offense.
 
Also, I was thinking -- can we turn this thread into an 'Xs and Os' thread that's separate from the David Blatt thread? The Blatt thread is always going to have a lot of stuff about the coach personally, his relationships with players, etc. I'd like a thread where knowledgeable people can explain the details of what they're seeing on the court. Really interested in understanding the details of what is going on out there on the court.

Good idea and changed thread title. I would love for this thread to deal with close examination of Xs and Os on offense and defense. It will also serve as an umbrella thread for analyses of these issues by national writers and that kind of thing.
 
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/andre-drummond-detroit-pistons/

• Last one: Both Anderson Varejao and Kevin Love are setting fewer ball screens this season than last, even with Love coming from a Rick Adelman system that wasn’t as heavy on the pick-and-roll as most NBA offenses.

That doesn’t mean Cleveland’s offense doesn’t feature a ton of screens; these are only on-ball screens, and David Blatt’s offenses have traditionally used as many off-ball picks as on-ball. But it has been interesting to see how reluctant Cleveland has been in some games to get basic with LeBron/Love and Kyrie Irving/Love high pick-and-rolls.

Teams have switched the LeBron/Love pick-and-roll more than I’d expected, especially late in the shot clock. That creates mismatches, but it also stops the flow of Cleveland’s offense when it dumps the ball to Love and lets him work in the post against a wing defender. Love will win that matchup more than he loses it, with a slick little righty jump hook, but he doesn’t bull his way to the rim for the juiciest post looks. So far, it’s a trade-off opponents have been happy to make. Go earlier in the shot clock and Cleveland would have more time to exploit those mismatches in interesting ways.​
 
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland...ughts-on-end-of-4-game-losing-streak-1.544202

8. In the continuing quest to acclimate Kevin Love to this offense in spots where he’s comfortable, James, Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao each took turns hitting him on hard cuts to the basket. The results varied, but the effort was there. Love also seemed to set more screens tonight than in the past.
....
10. Irving admitted he’s been indecisive at times coming off pick-and-rolls, regardless of the screener, because teams are defending him differently. Opponents rarely ever switched on Cavs pick-and-rolls in the past (“only at the end of shot clocks,” Irving said), but he’s noticing it happening more this season, particularly on pick-and-rolls with James.

11. Irving saw a lot of “show” defenses on pick-and-rolls during his first three years, meaning the “big” defender jumps out on him before the guard picks him back up following the screen and the big retreats to his man. But now that teams are switching, Irving is following his instincts – guards are taught from a young age to attack a big when they get a mismatch. So sometimes Irving is now expecting the switch and it’s throwing him off a bit when he doesn’t see it.​
 
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland-cavaliers/cleveland-cavaliers-1.275356/cavs-113-wizards-87-jason-lloyd-s-16-final-thoughts-1.544916

7. I’m tired of the “head of the snake” analogies in regards to Irving, but it fits here. It’s easy to see why a point guard who can defend is so valuable. When Irving was giving up on plays defensively, teams were getting dribble penetration against the Cavs far too easily. And when that happens, it causes all kinds of problems.

8. The defense often collapses on the ball handler, which creates a plethora of open shooters around the perimeter. The Cavs have traditionally ranked among the worst teams in defending the 3-point line the last four years. For my money, a lot of that is the trickle-down effect from not stopping the ball initially.

9. The Cavs are defending pick-and-rolls differently this season. They’re switching a fair amount this season and seemed to switch more than usual on Wednesday. When they aren’t switching they’re hedging. Waiting for Next Year’s Scott Sargent tipped me off to this article after the game, which shows the Cavs and Miami Heat hedging more on screens than any other team in the league.

10. It seems much different than last season, when Mike Brown ran a “show” defense on pick-and-rolls for much of the season, although he did alter the defense late in the year when some of the bigs were taking too long to retreat to their man. Byron Scott also ran a basic “show” defense during much of his time here. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall the Cavs doing this much switching and hedging. After a sluggish start, it’s clearly working.

11. Tristan Thompson said the defensive plan was hatched by David Blatt and Tyronn Lue. Guys like Thompson, Anderson Varejao and LeBron have such good feet they’re comfortable with bigs on some mismatches. Thompson said it’s the bigs’ call this year on when to switch.

12. “We all have good feet and we’re able to defend,” Thompson said. “If there’s a pick-and-roll with 3/4 (small forward and power forward), we’re going to switch.”
 

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