Chris Parker/Cleveland Scene answers your questions

[ibLurkin]

new column is up
http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2015/04/28/any-hope-for-live-without-love

Great stuff Chris.
My only comment on this is that Delly has a GOOD %3pt (.407), but he is a reluctant shooter - he only takes cherry-picked shots while his guy is doubling Kyrie or LeBron. I suspect that if he threw them in volume his number would drop. And I'm a Delly guy.

This season for with KLove's on/off (From Basketball-Reference):

Edit
For the regular season, that puts us at 10th Ortg and 26th Drtg for the whole season.
I'll update the playoff comparison when I get the chance.
/Edit

What caught my eye was the huge negative defensive impact of Love during playoffs. Expect a more grinding-oriented style.

 

[SteelSmack]

Web link "live w/o love" vs article "life w/o love"
"Adjusting his personal" should be personnel (I think)
More great content though. Killing it.

i have a buddy who bet the Cavs 15:1 to win the East. Would you hedge that?

There always seems to be a handful of typos in his articles, but if you can get past them, they're always a great read.

 

[Chris Parker]

latest column is up looking at TT & TMo's ability to coexist on offense...

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and...pson-create-enough-offense-to-share-the-floor

 

[David.]

just reread the article.. actually very good.

feel free to expound on the line about 'weve been going with lineups that provide the most powerul offenseive punch, rather than net rating'

 

[DougHeil]

Nice read.

I'm a tad worried about TT and Moz sharing the floor for long periods of time. I'm not sure I would actually start TT. I can certainly see how we would be better defensively with both on the floor. I think I'd rather start:

Moz
LeBron
Shump
Kyrie
Jones or Marion

I like TT off the bench for energy. I also like TT and Moz together in those cases where stops are vital, like in the 4th quarter.

 

[Chris Parker]

Don't get me wrong, I think shumpert at 3 and James at 4 is the best answer, but in order to advance they will have to make T-Mo/Thompson work because James can't play 4 the whole time. If they can get some offense out of that pairing it would be great since it's their best defensive one outside Shump.

 

[Simmy]

Don't get me wrong, I think shumpert at 3 and James at 4 is the best answer, but in order to advance they will have to make T-Mo/Thompson work because James can't play 4 the whole time. If they can get some offense out of that pairing it would be great since it's their best defensive one outside Shump.

How would you suggest a combo of Timo/TT work on the offensive end? I can't get passed the lack of dribble penetration on account of the pair both clogging the paint and reducing the usual amount of floor spacing we created with Kev as our stretch 4. Unless both big men are utilized to set multiple screens around the perimeter and follow on to the basket (labor intensive roles), I'm still trying to diagnose how best they make this work?

Thankfully, I'm not Coach Blatt and am void of the burden to make this kind of decision.

 

[I'mWithDan]

Don't get me wrong, I think shumpert at 3 and James at 4 is the best answer, but in order to advance they will have to make T-Mo/Thompson work because James can't play 4 the whole time. If they can get some offense out of that pairing it would be great since it's their best defensive one outside Shump.

My only concern with the TT / Moz pairing is how negative of an impact more minutes will be. Both players are better suited to play around 20. I imagine when that goes to 30, there will be a significant drop in their efficiency on both offense and defense.

If this team wants to try to win a title this season, I don't really see a scenario where we can't play LeBron at PF for at least 15-20 minutes. That's not the whole time but still a very significant minutes log at a more demanding position,

The only silver lining in that LeBron at PF equation is if the Cavs get past Chicago, their most likely opponents are small ball teams where keeping LBJ at the 4 is far less taxing. ATL (Milsap) and GSW (Green) have SF type guys at the PF position. Where Cleveland gets in trouble is if someone like the Clippers, Spurs or Grizzlies come out of the West. GSW is quite possibly the best team but one of the few a LeBron at PF team can effectively match up with.

 

[Chris Parker]

How would you suggest a combo of Timo/TT work on the offensive end? I can't get passed the lack of dribble penetration on account of the pair both clogging the paint and reducing the usual amount of floor spacing we created with Kev as our stretch 4. Unless both big men are utilized to set multiple screens around the perimeter and follow on to the basket (labor intensive roles), I'm still trying to diagnose how best they make this work?

Thankfully, I'm not Coach Blatt and am void of the burden to make this kind of decision.

Well Simmy, that's exactly what I was looking at in my article. I went back and looked at what they ran against Miami and Orlando on the road a month ago and show some of those sets. You can use the bigs to pick and screen on and off the ball simultaneously. Undoubtedly there will be a lot of high post action and double screens out high. They've had some success with T-Mo diving after the ballhandler for a back pass & dunk and the fact that one of those bigs guys will be rotating certainly opens them for lobs and other interior passing.

there's no doubt that TT/T-Mo makes the offense more labor intensive and probably requires an extra pass or so every possession. But this is a team that coasted on offense for much of the second half. If they played up to their offensive skills and utilized their passing as much as their finishing skills they could make this work -- but it will probably only be really useful against teams with bigs. And even so I don't foresee them playing more than a couple 6 minutes stretches/game together.

that said, not being a black hole offensively during those stretches will be important, and I suspect that may prove a more reliable source of points than the feast/famine of relying on a third/wing option of James Jones/Mike Miller/Shawn Marion/Shumpert on 3s. Probably a lower ROI, but a lot more consistent in the short run.

I would like to see Shump get 26-30 minutes, bump TT up to about 28, get Mozgov up to 28 and probably spot Perkins 6 minutes. That's 92 of your 144 frontcourt minutes. That means 12-16 non-James from Marion/Jones/Miller, and probably a few more since Shump will see some minutes at the 2.

 

[Simmy]

Well Simmy, that's exactly what I was looking at in my article. I went back and looked at what they ran against Miami and Orlando on the road a month ago and show some of those sets. You can use the bigs to pick and screen on and off the ball simultaneously. Undoubtedly there will be a lot of high post action and double screens out high. They've had some success with T-Mo diving after the ballhandler for a back pass & dunk and the fact that one of those bigs guys will be rotating certainly opens them for lobs and other interior passing.

there's no doubt that TT/T-Mo makes the offense more labor intensive and probably requires an extra pass or so every possession. But this is a team that coasted on offense for much of the second half. If they played up to their offensive skills and utilized their passing as much as their finishing skills they could make this work -- but it will probably only be really useful against teams with bigs. And even so I don't foresee them playing more than a couple 6 minutes stretches/game together.

that said, not being a black hole offensively during those stretches will be important, and I suspect that may prove a more reliable source of points than the feast/famine of relying on a third/wing option of James Jones/Mike Miller/Shawn Marion/Shumpert on 3s. Probably a lower ROI, but a lot more consistent in the short run.

I would like to see Shump get 26-30 minutes, bump TT up to about 28, get Mozgov up to 28 and probably spot Perkins 6 minutes. That's 92 of your 144 frontcourt minutes. That means 12-16 non-James from Marion/Jones/Miller, and probably a few more since Shump will see some minutes at the 2.

My mistake, I quoted your post before I read the article and you beat me to the 'EDIT' - whoopsies!

But thank you for clearing that up nonetheless.

 

[David.]

1

M. Dellavedova | L. James | I. Shumpert | J. Smith | T. Thompson

34:51



+60.1


M. Dellavedova | L. James | T. Mozgov | I. Shumpert | T. Thompson

40:13

+45.1




looks like we'll be going with these lineups sooner than later.. only 40 minutes, not a great sample size, but its something.


smith and shump in at the same time is pretty interestign

 

[Lee]

Don't get me wrong, I think shumpert at 3 and James at 4 is the best answer, but in order to advance they will have to make T-Mo/Thompson work because James can't play 4 the whole time. If they can get some offense out of that pairing it would be great since it's their best defensive one outside Shump.

I am not sure starting Lebron at 4 is the answer. He can play there for 20 mins a game, but to start him there is difficult. We might see TT start and be the first out replaced by Marion or Shump, sliding Lebron to 4, mainly against back ups or shorter stretches against starting big men.

It will improve the defense, and might need to slide Moz out a bit as he can hit a 14 footer and that opens it up a bit, just not as much as Loves 37% on 4 3's taken a game.

 

[cavsfever]

Our lack of depth is going to hurt so much now, especially in those first two games without JR Smith. Marion/Miller/Jones were supposed to provide depth but they have all looked seriously washed up this year. So has Perkins. And Delly is, well, Delly...I like him but he's limited. Been better/more consistent than those guys though.

Those first two games we have only five players you'd really want to see on the court during a tough NBA playoff -- TT, LBJ, Kyrie, Moz, and Shump. They aren't going to be playing 48 mpg, so there are going to be some ugly lineups out there. After JR comes back it will be better but not much.

This team always lacked depth, particularly after AV went done, it is something that Griffin needs to address in the off season. No more geriatric friends of Lebron!

It is hard to see us getting to the finals, let alone winning them, without a throwback game or two from Marion or Miller. I would say JJ too but he has no past stardom to be a throwback to...just hit some 3s please?

 

[Kypus]

If this team wants to try to win a title this season, I don't really see a scenario where we can't play LeBron at PF for at least 15-20 minutes. That's not the whole time but still a very significant minutes log at a more demanding position...

I am not sure starting Lebron at 4 is the answer. He can play there for 20 mins a game...

Agreed. You guys have to look at this team from our enemy's perspective. Without Love, the Cavs are down to only 2 true big men (Moz, TT) and are already being forced to fill the 3rd big man slot with scotch tape & chewing gum. The obvious junk move for other teams here is to go after Mozgov. Take him out- our rotation collapses like a house of cards.

We now have to view protecting Mozgov as a top priority. Let's face it- Lebron is the only one intimidating enough to keep teams from handling Mozzy. I agree there's no way we don't play Lebron at PF at least 20 mins a game, but not just for a bunch of complicated +/- lineup reasons. It's not like teams aren't going to know we had the league's best record after trading for the guy. It's simple protection and attrition.

I say keep everybody in their same spot (Tristan off the bench)- swap Marion into Love's spot, and let he and Lebron sort it out between the 3 & 4.

 

[mAo_mAo]

Our lack of depth is going to hurt so much now, especially in those first two games without JR Smith. Marion/Miller/Jones were supposed to provide depth but they have all looked seriously washed up this year. So has Perkins. And Delly is, well, Delly...I like him but he's limited. Been better/more consistent than those guys though.

Those first two games we have only five players you'd really want to see on the court during a tough NBA playoff -- TT, LBJ, Kyrie, Moz, and Shump. They aren't going to be playing 48 mpg, so there are going to be some ugly lineups out there. After JR comes back it will be better but not much.

This team always lacked depth, particularly after AV went done, it is something that Griffin needs to address in the off season. No more geriatric friends of Lebron!

It is hard to see us getting to the finals, let alone winning them, without a throwback game or two from Marion or Miller. I would say JJ too but he has no past stardom to be a throwback to...just hit some 3s please?

Yeap, perfectly said. The construction of the depth of the team is more to appease LeBron than building a bona fide bench. We only need two useless vets on the team, that is enough. Miller and Perk could have that role. But no, we have 4 (5 depending on Marion) vets who are practically useless in a competitive NBA game. That shit really bites us in the ass now.