sorting out the defense?

[CalBuckeyeRob]

The offensive tempo and style this team will play all season is never going to lead to the team being anything special on defense. Attacking will lead to transition baskets and the pace will make it tough for your stars to not take off some possessions on defense. But if you able to average 110 per night (they are at 105 now and are still figuring it out) then you only need to hold the opponents to 102 or so and you will roll. The key will be just some incremental improvements on the set plays that increase the degree of difficulty to the opponents to score. Teams are shooting 49% on the season. Knock that down to the lower middle of the league at 46% and you cut 4 points a game on defense. That should occur simply with better understanding of the roles at the end of the court.

 

[rabman_gold]

Right now, kinda seems like we look like the Heat did on occasion the last few years: play with minimal defensive effort, turn it on in the final quarter and expect the make up the difference.

That's nice and all, but it doesn't lead to sustainable success. The Heat had won half of their finals appearances, and nearly choked the third in 2013.

I see we're clearly capable of that real effort (in the third and fourth quarters, we looked a little lackadaisical in ball movement too before ramping it up).

Question is... how are we going to break this mindset, because for the foreseeable future, this is going to be a legitimate problem. We need breathers during the season as well, I just don't see this half-assed effort in quarters a game as sustainable.

 

[Jordan]

Right now, kinda seems like we look like the Heat did on occasion the last few years: play with minimal defensive effort, turn it on in the final quarter and expect the make up the difference.

That's nice and all, but it doesn't lead to sustainable success. The Heat had won half of their finals appearances, and nearly choked the third in 2013.

I see we're clearly capable of that real effort (in the third and fourth quarters, we looked a little lackadaisical in ball movement too before ramping it up).

Question is... how are we going to break this mindset, because for the foreseeable future, this is going to be a legitimate problem. We need breathers during the season as well, I just don't see this half-assed effort in quarters a game as sustainable.

I think that part of the issue is playing defense takes energy. When LBJ and Kyrie are playing close to 40 minutes per game their defense will not be solid all the way through. We are going to need our backup guards -- Dion, Harris, and especially Delly when he returns -- to really focus on defense. I also think Marion, who is great defensively, should be spelling LBJ off the bench rather than starting.

Additionally, we all knew Kevin Love and TT were black holes on defense. They both can rebound, which is nice, but when Andy is the best defensive big there is a problem. Now, every team has weak spots. I think we could win a title in today's NBA without a defensive big man. Hell, certain teams, such as Miami and Atlanta, have designed offenses around beating slow big men. So in some instances it is a liability. For us to win like that, tho, everyone else will need to play solid defense.

 

[crowned1]

We should play set plays and try to slow down the game for good part of the game to let the players rest on the court,
it's hard playing so fast with a small bench cause of the trade, I'm also afraid of injuries so this thing needs to be sorted asap

 

[chrisrich91]

There is definitely a lot to be desired schematically, mainly the pick and roll defense...

But don't over complicate this too much. I'd attribute most of the defensive woes on effort. Just look at the defense from the first 3 quarters and compare it to crunch time. Nothing is changing with the scheme, but guys are moving their feet with purpose, challenging shots, and pressuring the ball.

The team does not have a defensive mindset yet. That starts with LeBron who is currently using the defensive side of the ball to conserve energy for 75% of possessions. As the unquestioned leader, that permeates the group. It'll take time and it'll take many, many losses in games like yesterday before the point takes hold in this group.

 

[crowned1]

There is definitely a lot to be desired schematically, mainly the pick and roll defense...

But don't over complicate this too much. I'd attribute most of the defensive woes on effort. Just look at the defense from the first 3 quarters and compare it to crunch time. Nothing is changing with the scheme, but guys are moving their feet with purpose, challenging shots, and pressuring the ball.

The team does not have a defensive mindset yet. That starts with LeBron who is currently using the defensive side of the ball to conserve energy for 75% of possessions. As the unquestioned leader, that permeates the group. It'll take time and it'll take many, many losses in games like yesterday before the point takes hold in this group.

Yeah cause they don't wanna be tired for the rest of the game,
they are afraid of that since the Cavs don't have a good bench so they rely on their selves and can't rely on others.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

I have to agree with Jack here. I don't know what happened, but the Heat had great defense the year before last, but last year they almost fell off a cliff. Lebron himself has def looked more fatigued. I am actually worried about all the miles on him. It would be nice to get some specialist defenders in here. Honestly with the way James Jones and Miller are looking, I would prefer some guys known for defense over them.

The lack of defensive effort is just astounding to me. Just watching LBJ himself, it was almost Game 5-esque the way he didn't rotate to help with penetration on some possessions. I don't think it's anything nefarious, but I think he is very deliberately conserving energy on the defensive end. The problem is that there isn't a good enough defense around him for that to work. Worse, the lack of defensive effort is contagious. I actually thought Kyrie put forth more defensive effort throughout the game than LBJ did. KI obviously isn't as good defensively, and in particular avoids contact on screens, but at least he seems to try.

I know we're 3-1 since Delly went down, but that's due to KI's improved integration in the offensive scheme, and LBJ deciding to put forth more effort offensively. Delly brings a defensive intensity that really is contagious to other players, and we're missing that. Neither Andy nor TT seems as aggressive on the boards as they did earlier in the season, either, and I think that's all part of the soft tone on defense in general.

ETA: Damn, just saw Chris' post, so I guess this is redundant because I'm seeing the exact same thing he is.

 

[CavsFTW]

The 5 Worst Cavaliers Defensive Ratings of all time:
1) 2010-11, 111.8
2) 1981-82, 111.8
3) 2012-13, 109.4
4) 1980-81, 109.1
5) 2011-12, 108.9

Current team (through 7 games):

112.8
Last season under Mike Brown?
107.7.

 

[Captain S]

I think if the bigs quit showing so hard it'll solve a lot of problems

 

[Walter White]

The problem really is like 90% effort. And if they would figure out how to play good on defense, it will make the offense also much easier. Allow for transition layups and semi transition jumpers which is where the team can excel. And let Love fire out some outlet passes as well. Hard to do that when you have to take it from under the basket so much and are caught up in trading buckets.

 

[QuadrupleDouble]

rewatched the 4th quarter from last night. We looked like a completely different team when we put Lebron or Marion on Rondo and let our length disrupt him.

I think if we decide to disrupt the point guard with one of those two and put Kyrie on the two guard a lot of our defensive issues will work themselves out.

Kyrie just doesn't disrupt the initial penetration at all and it causes all sorts of secondary break downs.

 

[David.]

Man I just cannot believe I made a post as dumb as this.I mean, what a stupid post. And I get why there was no explanation for the ratings, they speak for themselves.

Wet are clearly a great defensive team.not abysmal

[/IMG]

I know, I know.. my opinion was accurate and included an assessment of skin deep and advanced statistics, but there it is in black and white.. "DUMB". Three of them, and its the majority, so what kind of explanation is really necessary? Just click the button so we get weak shit like my post outta there!

 

[KI4MVP]

The offensive tempo and style this team will play all season is never going to lead to the team being anything special on defense. Attacking will lead to transition baskets and the pace will make it tough for your stars to not take off some possessions on defense. But if you able to average 110 per night (they are at 105 now and are still figuring it out) then you only need to hold the opponents to 102 or so and you will roll. The key will be just some incremental improvements on the set plays that increase the degree of difficulty to the opponents to score. Teams are shooting 49% on the season. Knock that down to the lower middle of the league at 46% and you cut 4 points a game on defense. That should occur simply with better understanding of the roles at the end of the court.

points per game is the wrong way to look at both ends of the court. You look at pace and efficiency (points per 100 possessions). When you do, you see a different story than expected.

Thus far our pace (possessions per 48 minutes) is 94.9, which is actually down from last year's 95.7. Our offensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions) has jumped from 101.3 to 107.9 (4th in the league). We aren't playing faster, it only looks that way because we're more efficient at scoring.

On defense, our efficiency (opponent's points per 100 possessions) has dropped from 104.8 to 111.0 (29th in the league).

It's pretty remarkable that our offensive efficiency is already top 4 this early into the season given we have so many new players, a new system and a first time NBA head coach.

Being more efficient on offense should help the defense because there should be less transition baskets off of made shots. And our offense should get more efficient going forward. We have shown in spurts that we are capable of much better defense than we've shown overall thus far. I expect us to get more consistent on defense as the season progresses.

 

[KI4MVP]

just to update my post above. After last night our offensive efficiency is now 2nd in the league at 110.7 (behind Dallas) and our defensive efficiency moved up to 25th at 108.3.

 

[Captain S]

points per game is the wrong way to look at both ends of the court. You look at pace and efficiency (points per 100 possessions). When you do, you see a different story than expected.

Thus far our pace (possessions per 48 minutes) is 94.9, which is actually down from last year's 95.7. Our offensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions) has jumped from 101.3 to 107.9 (4th in the league). We aren't playing faster, it only looks that way because we're more efficient at scoring.

On defense, our efficiency (opponent's points per 100 possessions) has dropped from 104.8 to 111.0 (29th in the league).

It's pretty remarkable that our offensive efficiency is already top 4 this early into the season given we have so many new players, a new system and a first time NBA head coach.

Being more efficient on offense should help the defense because there should be less transition baskets off of made shots. And our offense should get more efficient going forward. We have shown in spurts that we are capable of much better defense than we've shown overall thus far. I expect us to get more consistent on defense as the season progresses.

True the pace is slower but it was 87.6 after the 4 games. The quicker the pace the more LeBron in semi transition where we can destroy teams