Open Discussion (Cavs + related issues)

[czvo]

This game was basically the OKC game, except the Cavs missed shots early in the fourth when the game was close. In OKC, they made those shots and extended the lead to double digits.

Oh well.

 

[czvo]

Hill's defense has been good, but I am slightly worried now. I thought initially he was going to be the last one to get going, but at least his defense would be great.

The biggest gripe in Sac was that he wasn't aggressive enough. We are going to see that too I think. Have to get Clarkson going if that is the case in games. Having Clarkson only play 16 min when we need scoring is nuts

I mean... he took 10 shots last night, and three of them rimmed out. He easily could have been 5-10 instead of 2-10.

If he keeps throwing up 2-10 games, then I'll get concerned.

 

[rabman_gold]

To be fair, we lost all the momentum we had with the all-star break. I'm more than willing to give them a week at the very least to see if they can get their luster back.

Hill doesn't need to be a go to guy to work with us. But hitting the open shots should be expected.

Clarkson didn't seem as impressive defensively as before (he wasn't able to contest a corner three late in the game), but we'll have to see where he fits.

While I think Nance should play a little more, he probably just froze up a bit in an emotional return.

And I expect Hood to hit open shots in the future.

 

[PIP]

I want more shots for Hood... (that one at the end was hideous) but I’m ready to turn him into a JR-2.0

The more active this team is defensively the better they react and move the ball offensively..

I want a lot of shots for some of these guys and active hands to get out in transition and just play some freelance basketball...

 

[TyGuy]

I want more shots for Hood... (that one at the end was hideous) but I’m ready to turn him into a JR-2.0

The more active this team is defensively the better they react and move the ball offensively..

I want a lot of shots for some of these guys and active hands to get out in transition and just play some freelance basketball...

He hadn't taken a shot in like 30 minutes. Way too low of a usage for a guy with his scoring talent.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Hood reminds me of JR post trades in 2014-2015. The difference is that Hood is a better PnR ball handler and is a threat as a passer and a shooter in that situation. Need to use him more like that as a shooter and a passer off the dribble at the top of the break.

Give him 13 shots a game for all I care...I don't mind him missing, they all look perfect coming out of his hands.

 

[Alec]

Who should have the ball if Hill and Hood are both on the floor? No LBJ.

Hill, Hood, and Clarkson?

There’s a winning combination somewhere. I’m still not sure yet who plays best with LeBron.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Who should have the ball if Hill and Hood are both on the floor? No LBJ.

Problem with Green at the 4 is that he isn't a big man. He doesn't screen and he either floats on the perimeter or cuts to the basket... So you don't have a lot of weak side or even other strong side action if Nance is the On-Ball PnR Roll man. Ideally(for example), I'd like to have Hill start the offense and have Nance screen for him On the Ball while simultaneously run off-ball screening action for Hood to get the ball on the weak side to either shoot off a screen, or get the ball and run his own PnR in motion. We just need to be dynamic and unpredictable. Too often we try to run a set play and have it completely break and instead of continuing to run some sort of a motion offense we settle on low percentage off-rhythm isolation plays.

There shouldn't be either/or, just share the ball and run multi screening action for a bunch of guys. Luckily for us most of guys are dangerous with or without the ball and we have enough creators, so it shouldn't be a problem on paper.

You get a lot of opportunities in a motion offense... ball doesn't have to stick. With Lebron though(and on the Cavs to a lesser extend), he would rather score an assist than an hockey assist, so you only have a limited amount of open looks and plays you can run on every possession if the ball goes through him(and he isn't a very wiling off-ball player either when he is involved in the play or as a off-ball screener to make it easier for others)... that makes it tricky trying to incorporate players with different skillsets. You often gotta knock your limited open looks even if you are out of rhythm.

I swear, if there was a great coach out there to coach this team and you had Lebron completely buy-in(like he never did in his entire life), this team would be the favourites... and i'm talking about the same roster that we have. Lebron with all his greatness just doesn't do the "little things" that would elevate this team to another level.

Lebron is almost sabotaging himself(or the team) to achieve greater individual success(as in all-time stats) to surpass Jordan as the GOAT.

 

[Alec]

Hill - shooting, ball handler
Smith - shooting
Hood - shooting, ball handler
LeBron
Love - shooting

Not optimistic about those 5 defensively. But that spacing yeah? You could always substitution Cedi for Smith if you want more grit on the defensive end. You’ll still have plenty of shooting on the floor.

Clarkson
Cedi
Green
TT
Nance

TT and Nance aren’t playable together. So this doesn’t work. Should you even worry about having additional shooters on the floor if Clarkson is running the second unit? Should you just surround him with good defense and rebounding? I’m curious to see how Clarkson as an idea works in the playoffs. I think Clarkson-Smith-Cedi-Green-Love could work as a unit on both sides of the ball.

Lue has his work cut out for him. I see a lot of redundancy of skill sets and some flawed players. I think TT is basically unplayable as Nance is a better version of him. I think you have to decide if Osman defensively is so much better than Korver that his offensive deficiencies are worth benching Korver.

There’s only one ball and we have a lot of guys who tend to do better the more they have it.

 

[buzzdog]

It’s the new guys’ third game with the Cavs. Relax.

The Cavs were ice cold from the perimeter, while the Wizards couldn’t miss. The new guys kept messing up the pick and roll coverages which won’t happen as the Cavs continue to get experience playing together. And it will take months before the Cavs offense really reaches its potential.

AC- you're one of the better Cavs fans at this site.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

So typical of the Wizards. They play like world beaters against us and then proceed to shit the bed the next night against CHA.

They lose to teams like BKN but get up to play good teams. So pathetic.

 

[LeShaq]

This is the most impressive thing about the Memphis win, for me:

The pace of the game was around 107 possessions [EDIT: The exact number was 105.4]. That's extremely high. Up-and-down running. To put it into perspective, the Lakers lead the league in pace at 100.7 possessions per game.

And we're on a back-to-back.

Not only did we survive it, we thrived in it.

This is what depth and athletes will do for you.

Last year, or before the trade deadline, we would not only lose this game but be embarrassed while doing so. We would have gotten run out of the gym.

It's a whole new world now.

Also, we only have 2 more back-to-backs for the rest of the year.

I doubt LeBron wins MVP, but I think he's going to put up some monster numbers for the rest of the regular season.

 

[FrontPageNews]

Who should have the ball if Hill and Hood are both on the floor? No LBJ.

Hill, Hood, and Clarkson?

There’s a winning combination somewhere. I’m still not sure yet who plays best with LeBron.

Clarkson. He doesn’t need Lebron to score. As long as he’s out there when Lebron isn’t we are fine.

 

[Omar The Horse]

Start planning for the parade

 

[noisymicrophone]

This is the most impressive thing about the Memphis win, for me:

The pace of the game was around 107 possessions. That's extremely high. Up-and-down running. To put it into perspective, the Lakers lead the league in pace at 100.7 possessions per game.

And we're on a back-to-back.

Not only did we survive it, we thrived in it.

This is what depth and athletes will do for you.

Last year, or before the trade deadline, we would not only lose this game but be embarrassed while doing so. We would have gotten run out of the gym.

It's a whole new world now.

Also, we only have 2 more back-to-backs for the rest of the year.

I doubt LeBron wins MVP, but I think he's going to put up some monster numbers for the rest of the regular season.

Would you say that's a result of us actually being that good or the Grizz just sucking that bad/tanking? I think we do well against teams with stagnant offenses like OKC, the Grizz, and Boston but Washington just carved us up. Would like to see how we fare against a good team that moves the ball a lot because that would be the barometer for us against Golden State.