sorting out the defense?

[Gimme Some Mo]

Some of it is effort, but I think you guys are nuts if you think effort will completely turn this defense around. We don't have defensive players. We are loaded with guys that suck or are average on defense.

Kyrie has been giving a lot more effort, but he's still below average to average at best.

Marion is solid, but obviously not what he used to be.

LeBron is great... when he tries (which isn't often). I don't expect this to change. This is how LeBron has always been. He rarely gives effort on defense until the late 4th Q.

Love is just afwul.

Varejao is pretty overrated as a defensive C. If he was back to PF, he'd be much better.

Dion - meh
TT - meh
Delly is pretty good, Harris looks capable, but nothing special. Mike Miller is on skates out there.

This team is going to be bad on defense. It's as simple as that. I'm hoping to end up ranking in the middle of the league around 15th.

 

[Douglar]

Here are the Cavs rotation players sorted by "defensive box plus minus" for players with more than 50 minutes. Still a pretty small sample size, but it seems to pass the eye test for what I've seen so far this year. Delly got docked because he only played in the first couple games where the defense was horrible.

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=eAmj3&output=iframe" width=628 height=323 scrolling=auto>
Report Created on <a href="Basketball-Reference.comhttp://www.basketball-reference.com/">Basketball-Reference.com</a>
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[Jack Brickman]

Here are the Cavs rotation players sorted by "defensive box plus minus" for players with more than 50 minutes. Still a pretty small sample size, but it seems to pass the eye test for what I've seen so far this year. Delly got docked because he only played in the first couple games where the defense was horrible.

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Report Created on <a href="Basketball-Reference.comhttp://www.basketball-reference.com/">Basketball-Reference.com</a>
</iframe>[/parsehtml]

 

[MRMsix6]

Here are the Cavs rotation players sorted by "defensive box plus minus" for players with more than 50 minutes. Still a pretty small sample size, but it seems to pass the eye test for what I've seen so far this year. Delly got docked because he only played in the first couple games where the defense was horrible.

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=eAmj3&output=iframe" width=628 height=323 scrolling=auto>
Report Created on <a href="Basketball-Reference.comhttp://www.basketball-reference.com/">Basketball-Reference.com</a>
</iframe>[/parsehtml]

What it boils down to is that we have among the worst set of defensive guards in the league outside of maybe LA and no one behind them protecting the rim.

I don't see this group of players ever being good enough defensively, even with the most optimistic development, to win a title. A trade for a center/wing defender needs to happen eventually.

 

[Cavatt]

I think they have played some good defense in spurts and it has totally fed the offense. I realized it takes energy, but once they are in sync it seems to be self sustaining and the offense is much easier. I see them playing down to the opponent and that is especially on the defensive end.

The Spurs will be a good test tonight to see if they can slow down a team that really knows how to execute. Effort and smarts are going to really be important.

 

[Dr. Gymbo]

I don't see this group of players ever being good enough defensively, even with the most optimistic development, to win a title. A trade for a center/wing defender needs to happen eventually.

 

[*L-Train*]

I think they have played some good defense in spurts and it has totally fed the offense. I realized it takes energy, but once they are in sync it seems to be self sustaining and the offense is much easier. I see them playing down to the opponent and that is especially on the defensive end.

The Spurs will be a good test tonight to see if they can slow down a team that really knows how to execute. Effort and smarts are going to really be important.

couldn't agree more. we're gonna learn a lot about this team tonight imo (i hope the Spurs don't rest any of their healthy players). i don't see them playing with a half ass effort on defense against the defending Champs.


Haynes interviewed Griff today and he made some interesting comments:

"Fortunately, we're blessed to have a lot of talent, but we're also not blessed with a great depth of defensive talent," Griffin said. "We need to improve in that area. That's probably an area where we may need to act at some point to improve the roster."

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/11/cleveland_cavaliers_gm_david_g.html
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/11/cleveland_cavaliers_gm_david_g.html

--> i thought there was a good chance we would use the TPE. now after reading those comments, i think it's a lock we're gonna use it at some point this year

 

[Douglar]

From Lloyd's 28 post game bullets--

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland...nal-thoughts-following-loss-to-spurs-1.542585

1. I was chatting with an NBA talent evaluator recently about the minutes conundrum facing the Cavs and their stars. His reasoning for why LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love have been forced to play so many minutes was because of their poor defensive play.

2. If the Cavs could defend better, their stars wouldn’t have to play so much. But coach David Blatt knows he has to outscore teams right now to win games, so he’s going to the whip in November and riding his horses to the finish every night.

3. It’s not the individual defense that’s hurting the Cavs so much, he said, as the team defense. Rotations are slow, pick-and-roll defense is still a problem (and has been for most of the past four years). If the Cavs can clean that up, they won’t have to score 115 points to win games.
....
10. The Cavs have long believed their defense is at its best when Irving refuses to get screened and stays in front of the ball. Nights like this are proof.​

 

[Captain S]

small sample size but in the last 3 games the cavs would have ranked 10th in defense if they could keep it up for the whole season

 

[Cavatt]

From Lloyd's 28 post game bullets--

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland...nal-thoughts-following-loss-to-spurs-1.542585

1. I was chatting with an NBA talent evaluator recently about the minutes conundrum facing the Cavs and their stars. His reasoning for why LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love have been forced to play so many minutes was because of their poor defensive play.

2. If the Cavs could defend better, their stars wouldn’t have to play so much. But coach David Blatt knows he has to outscore teams right now to win games, so he’s going to the whip in November and riding his horses to the finish every night.

3. It’s not the individual defense that’s hurting the Cavs so much, he said, as the team defense. Rotations are slow, pick-and-roll defense is still a problem (and has been for most of the past four years). If the Cavs can clean that up, they won’t have to score 115 points to win games.
....
10. The Cavs have long believed their defense is at its best when Irving refuses to get screened and stays in front of the ball. Nights like this are proof.​

Can anyone disagree with this? Spot on.

 

[falcon2294]

If you were to tell me on Monday that we were going to hold the Spurs and the Wizards both under 100, I would have thought we would win both easily. The offence looked like crap tonight, no question. But I think it's fair to say that they might be improving on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[AZCavs]

Over the first seven games of the season, the Cavs surrendered an average of 105.6 points per game to the opposition.

The last six? 94.5.

They certainly need a lot of help, but the Cavs team defense has already made progress. They are still very inconsistent and sloppy at times, but there has been noticeable growth.

 

[David.]

this was the magic, sure, but we at least showed we are capable of doing the right things on defense.

defense down low was solid.

victor oladipo had an outlier type of night (in a bad way for us), but we werent absolutely decimated at least.

things change when its the spurs or raptors, but its a start and shows some promise. Lots of forced turnovers in the backcourt

 

[Captain S]

17th best defense in the league currently, a lot better than 29th

 

[wuck]

It's time for some heavy-duty analysis.

The Cavs (especially the starters) are starting to help each other out more consistently on defense. I am really encouraged by their team play on that side of the court over the last few games. There is not as much watching and thinking. They just look more natural, especially recovering on the pick and roll. I want to see how they look against better offensive teams, since they have been helped out to some extent by poor outside shooting by recent opponents.

Kyrie has improved his defensive play by leaps and bounds over last year. I don't try to avoid watching him on that side of the floor anymore. He actually gets over screens when the Cavs aren't switching.

Blatt can't take Marion out of the starting lineup if he continues contributing so much on the defensive end.

The Cavs bench, at least with Dellavedova and Varejao sitting out, is not full of plus defenders. It's hard to tell if the bench is more challenged on offense or defense.