David Blatt is a former NBA coach

[gourimoko]

Oracio, to answer your question am I happy with the moves the front office has made?

Ehh...

I'm happy with Mozgov. I'm happy to have Shumpert. Smith is whatever. Hell, I don't really have a problem with the decisions made regarding shuffling talent, just the price paid and the lack of foresight, which is another matter I think.

Hence, I don't think evaluating David Griffin is necessarily an integral component of evaluating David Blatt.

Blatt isn't in the front office. He's on the floor with the rest of the guys.

I'm definitely willing to give him til the All-Star break; but if we're not better by that time, I think it'd be time to move in another direction.

 

[MRMsix6]

Remember all the talk of weaves and multiple screens and PnR/PnP play? We've seen none of that. Simply put, we don't have an offense. That's 100% on Coach Blatt because we're not talking about 1 game, we're talking about almost half a season.

The Cavs run the guard weave multiple times just about every game. They also usually run horns a few times and quite a few PnR and PnP. These sets perhaps aren't happening as often as they should be, but they are happening.

 

[gourimoko]

The Cavs run the guard weave multiple times just about every game. They also usually run horns a few times and quite a few PnR and PnP. These sets perhaps aren't happening as often as they should be, but they are happening.

I'd be interested to see where we rank with respect to multiple screens, PnR, and PnP. You're seeing something that I am not. Yes, we run these plays during games but I would definitely not use the phrase "quite a few," more like "only a few."

 

[Pioneer10]

Kyrie was averaging 6.8 assists per game last season. That is quite high for a score first point guard. This season that is down to 4.8; a tremendous drop in performance. I get playing him off-the-ball, but maybe not a majority of the time?

The kid can play point, as is evidenced by his numbers from last year on a team with no offensive options besides himself and Dion, or his excellent play on Team USA. But he has to be put into a system that knows how to use him.

I thought that getting a Euro coach would really open up Kyrie's game; but the exact opposite has happened. Instead, Kyrie is being leaned on to produce points in isolation -- more so even than Mike Brown! I would _never_ have thought that possible!

LeBron James hasn't really seen any time at PF, is playing isolation and point guard duties, and we're now back to LeISO of the 2008 Cavaliers.

Hello... this is not what he did just last year in Miami. James and Wade would "orbit" one another setting multiple screens, pick and rolls, and constantly attacking the basket. Last year James was easily the most dangerous man in the NBA.. Fuck "last year," a few months ago. But in our offense, he's back to being 2008 Cavalier James... This is a system issue. There is no Wade/Reilly/Spo to put a system in place and James' bad habits are clearly surfacing.

It is the coach's job to put that system in place and enforce it.

James should be playing ample minutes at the PF position, he should be playing whenever Kevin is off the floor, and he should be playing defense. He also should be playing limited minutes - regardless if the coach is on the hot seat or not.

Agree with the misuse of Love: the lack of involvement in the PnR and using him both in the low and high post is baffling.

However, I don't agree with the Kyrie is being misused line. I watched the Olympics and Kyrie is played exactly like the same Kyrie I've seen in Cleveland - a scoring guard who's not selfish per se but who has limited vision and gets caught over-dribbling. In the Olympics the team was talented that teams couldn't afford to double anybody on the perimeter and he was much better then his opposing player that it was easy to score. I don't think this is my bias as I went thru the RealGM game threads from the Olympics and that was a consistent complaint about our team was that our offense consisted of ISO ball alternating between guys like Kyrie and Harden.

I can't think of worse PG for a Euro style drive and dish game then Kyrie: he does not find open 3 shooters often either rotating the ball or the classic Euro style drive and pass back out to the roll guy drifting towards the 3 pt line.. He will find people if they are in direct line of sight (i.e. the PnR roll man crashing to the basket or if driving baseline and a guy is open in front of him at the corner 3 spot).

This is the cause of Lebron playing more PG as we simply can't afford to play like Kyrie from last year which he was doing before Lebron moved to PG (we saw the same thing in the 4 quarter last night as he killed multiple possessions with over-dribbling). I'm ok with this as he's such a gifted scorer moving him to SG makes sense particularly if that allows him to play better defense that we saw after Lebron was moved to the point. Losing Lebron in the post should also be mitigated by the biggest issue is not using Love enough in the post and high post.

 

[Pioneer10]

The Cavs run the guard weave multiple times just about every game. They also usually run horns a few times and quite a few PnR and PnP. These sets perhaps aren't happening as often as they should be, but they are happening.

They do but these often lead to nothing but over-dribbling. What's odd about all these weaves is they often leave Love as the corner 3 option. Now he can bury this but that doesn't use him nearly as well as we could. AV was a clever PnR player but the same can't be said of Tristan and we should be using Love as the screener

 

[kookoo]

Even though our offense is rated one of the best in the league, we're nowhere near our talent level on that front. And based on the defense, they're either going to have to learn how to put their hands up and understand how to defend the P&R or shoot better.

 

[MRMsix6]

They do but these often lead to nothing but over-dribbling. What's odd about all these weaves is they often leave Love as the corner 3 option. Now he can bury this but that doesn't use him nearly as well as we could. AV was a clever PnR player but the same can't be said of Tristan and we should be using Love as the screener

Kyrie's passing instincts are pretty mediocre for an NBA pg. He's almost always looking for his shot first. He can get anywhere he wants on the floor, but until he realizes that he can use that space to consistently create great looks for others the offense isn't going to be the poetry that it could be. Often when he does make a good pass, it's slightly off target and the receiver can't either finish or shoot quickly. Dellavedova simply isn't an NBA level PG that defenses need to worry about. He's slow, can't beat anyone off the dribble, and is incredibly easy to defend. Lebron just runs whatever he wants to run. Tristan is just a terrible PnR player unless the ballhandler attracts a ton of attention and can deliver him a perfect pass (Lebron).

 

[gratefuldead]

Blatt had been dealing w lineup of dleaguers, washed up players and a few stars

He's gettig a real roster finally, time to put up or shut up

Oh and run some fucking pick and roll/pop w love for gods sake

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

I think we should get someone who can use Kevin love and kyrie Irving and play to their strengths.

I think that'd be Karl.

However I think James would prefer Jackson and the players wouldn't mind him so he'd be the best fit.

I wanted Lue too but he just might be part of the problem.

Won't be popular opinion but I would not mind Karl at all....I agree with you. Personally would much rather have him than Mark Jackson. Would garner immediate respect from the players, knows the game, has been there and done that including deep Finals runs and would be hungry for a title..

I like Blatt, I really do. But this is a results business...and he has all the pieces now. No excuses.

 

[bobcat22]

I'm just curious guys, what would be a successful 2nd half of the season in your eyes? Getting to 50 wins, making the title, winning the title? Just curious where your guys heads are at?

 

[Kizzle]

I'm just curious guys, what would be a successful 2nd half of the season in your eyes? Getting to 50 wins, making the title, winning the title? Just curious where your guys heads are at?

Staying in one of the top 5 seeds, and being healthy going into the playoffs.

if we do that ill be happy. But theres no way in hell we should fall below the 5th seed. if we do something went totally wrong and I cant protect Blatt after that one.

Look at the freakin teams below us right now

 

[Willard513]

I'm just curious guys, what would be a successful 2nd half of the season in your eyes? Getting to 50 wins, making the title, winning the title? Just curious where your guys heads are at?

I think its gotta be making the conference finals for me. The team has had a lot of turnaround recently and the health of the team is the key so the championship expectations should have been tempered early on. I also hope Blatt develops too, being able to make the proper adjustments and being able to be on the same page as the big three here. Those are my keys to a successful 2nd half of the season.

 

[CavsHomer]

Yeah, George Karl would be a really good option. I personally like him a lot.
Also won CoY 2 years ago.

 

[MH32246]

Yeah, George Karl would be a really good option. I personally like him a lot.
Also won CoY 2 years ago.

I don't think George Karl can handle the grind of an NBA season or todays player. Plus he isn't exactly a JR Smith guy. You want a relatively young NBA head coach with experience and the NBA level to grow with this team but has been around the league for years.

 

[ajz20]

Honestly... it is just not working. Starting to think he is just over his head here.