David Blatt is a former NBA coach

[Simmy]

Playing in the East should certainly permit a decent number of games where LeBron can sit out the 4th quarter and maybe the entire 2nd half. Combine that with an occasional nite off (Orlando fans better not pay too much for those tickets on 12/26 and Detroit fans might want to avoid the 1/27 single road game in the middle of 2 weeks at home.) and he should be good to go 36 minutes a nite in the post season

As long as he plays at home vs Sacramento on the 30th of January, I'm a happy man. The worst thing would be to fly half across the world and not see this team in all of its glory.

 

[cavsfever]

Nice response. I agree. I think it's wise to implement this system. Sometimes pick and roll doesn't work like in the finals. You can always fall back on pick and roll. You can't just fall into a system of passing.

Great point.

And we won't look like the Spurs because we have so many people who can break and create their own plays if needed, plus the disruptive potential of K-Love's outlet passing. Can't wait to see this team at their peak! (Gonna be fun to watch them get there too).

 

[Cavatt]

Yes you want your ISO players to go for it when the offense balls or breaks down-not as the primary option.

The first time LBJ played with Kidd in te Olympics he shot 70% from the floor. Getting wide open shots helps even for the most efficient players. A lot of us have wanted to see a true pg paired with Lebron for a long time.

I think about that with Duranr too. He would be unbearable in a good system.

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

Yes, that's right. I do wonder if it's the right move to take a group of players with such a high basketball IQ and impose an offensive scheme on them. When Lebron was surrounding with a bunch of clowns on some of his previous Cavs team then this would have been just the thing, but with Love/Kyrie et al it seems like everyone freelancing would work well as there is so much talent and smarts out there.

OTOH I did see some of the 'everyone else stand around while Lebron dribbles' problem reemerging even on the Heat, and this should certainly prevent that.

Yeah, because the triangle worked pretty horribly for Jordan, Pippen, Kobe, Shaq, etc....

Pop designs his offense to suit his players skills, ala Blatt.

A system isn't designed to restrict players. It allows everyone to be on the same page, no matter what personnel groupings are on the floor.

Think of it this way...NFL teams have a ton of guys on offense that have high football IQs. However, can you imagine how ineffective it would be to have everyone just freelance the whole time? It'd be insane. Sure, you'd get lucky and hit plays every now and then, but you'd never be able to consistently move the ball and create scoring opportunities.

That's all a scheme or a system is designed to do. It's to create opportunities for players to make plays, not restrict them from playing their game. You need a system, especially in late game situations. It becomes too easy and predictable if you can't run a play to get an open shot for LeBron, Kyrie, Love, or whoever. The Cavs could win plenty of games just rolling the ball out and playing, but they'd make it a lot more difficult on themselves in doing so.

Also, I think it's even more important to have a system when you have so many guys that are used to being the #1 scoring options on their team. We all saw LeBron and Wade have issues learning how to play together. They eventually figured it out, but maybe a better system would have sped up the process. A system doesn't necessarily define roles per say, but it does define spots where guys need to be on the floor.

 

[CavsHomer]

Sorry if this has already been posted.

 

[wuck]

The cavs.com postgame conference with David Blatt after the Maccabi game was very entertaining for many reasons:

• They should have Israeli reporters participate in every news conference. Those guys are funny (or crazy), and they brought out some good answers. He talked about how nervous he was before the game and also about what he told the other coach afterwards.

• Blatt seems willing to talk mechanics and strategy if the reporters question him about it. Should be interesting during the regular season if he keeps that up.

• In the first game of preseason, Blatt talked about how they were getting burned on the pick-and-roll in the first half, so they made an adjustment defending in the second half. I'm used to waiting months for a change in pick-and-roll coverage...

• He addressed some of the team's "overpassing" by saying it's a good problem to have, and something that can be tweaked. Much prefers overpassing now than an unwillingness to pass.

• Perhaps most importantly, the Cavs had him do the press conference in a room where they used a microphone to capture reporter's questions. And the microphone actually worked. Hope they keep that up.

 

[Simmy]

This is very cool:

 

[chuck0609]

For only have about a week, one can really see how explosive this offense is going to be. K Love in particular was very deferential last night; there were at least four occasions when he could have taken a high quality look and passed instead. He did a lot of facilitating.

LBJ is going to have a field day this year. He's has so many options he's just picking and choosing.

Dion is going to be the biggest winner in all of these moves. His looks are wide open.

Once this team really hones in on this offense, they're gonna be unstoppable.

 

[blommen]

what I like the most about the system is that it isn't just a copy of the Spurs offense. Blatt has found a way to push the tempo more which allows our young, athletic players players to use that athleticism all the while implementing a system that utilizes their basketball I.Q. the Spurs are too old to play that up tempo style so they make up for it in experience and crisp ball movement. we have the opportunity with this team to do the same while still maintaining a high pace and 'cause havoc in the open floor. It's obviously going to take a while for us to fully maximize the potential of the system but when we do, we will have a clear advantage over basically any team we might face on any given night.

 

[catfish]

National media is going to have to recognize that we are the second coming of the showtime lakers. Whoda thunk it? Most of out games are going to be like all star games or fiba games. Lebron will only have to play about 30 minutes a game.

 

[breaking bad]

spurs are not an old team.
and they push the ball like crazy.

they're not a very athletic team - which is why they often have to set up their half court offense even when they try to run, but that's a different story.

 

[oracio]

quote of the day:

 

[Omar The Horse]

The Bullshit Whisperer is saying that Blatt has said he may play some zone defense.

Hmmm

 

[wuck]

The Bullshit Whisperer is saying that Blatt has said he may play some zone defense.

Blatt is known not only for playing zone but also famous for disguising his defenses at the start of plays and the switching in the midst of defensive sets to something else. For example, starting out with a zone look, and then moving to man-to-man or a different zone as the play develops. Basically he likes to introduce variables on defense that force the other team to reset or lose time on the clock and have less time to produce a decent shot opportunity. They played some zone toward the end of the Maccabi game. I think the question is not if the Cavs will play zone, but when and how they will play it. I don't think they have advanced anywhere close to the level on defense to handle what he will want them to do eventually. It should be fun to see how well the Cavs take to it and whether it's effective against top teams.

 

[Adam]

In the maccabi games they used some zoning after the pick and roll as well. It didn't work very well but with practice it might be a great wrinkle to use against certain teams. Lineups with interchangeable pieces like Irving miller James Marion Thomas would really suit a half court zone/trap