The Cavs have been sluggish on offense and defense. I've read posts on here blaming everyone from Mike Brown to Larry Hughes, to Damon Jones, to Eric Snow, but no one has offerred REAL solutions, other than "the cavs just aren't trying hard enough."
Here's the Cavs problem: Brown has worried too much about defense on a team that is designed to play great offense. Danny Ferry didn't bring Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall here to play great defense; he brought them here to shoot the lights out. So why doesn't Brown, instead of trying to a force a philosophy on a team that doesn't fit into it, instead change his philosophy to fit this team. Instead of running a slow, set offense, where Snow brings the ball up the floor, the Cavs make a couple of passes, then kick it down low to Z with 10 secs on the shot clock, why doesn't Brown let the Cavs run the floor? Let Lebron (or DJ or Larry) play point. They can run an uptempo game, force mismatches, and take high percentage shots. Let Snow come off of the bench, because his style of running the point is not suited for this type of offense.
The fact that the best player in the league goes stretches of 3 minutes or more without touching the ball on offense is just stupid, and it frustrates The Chosen One. Let Lebron handle the point, because his court vision and passing abilities are better than Snow's-- he simply sees the floor better than almost anyone else in the league, so let Lebron handle the point, as a point forward, in the Magic Johnson or Scottie Pippen mold. Let the team run the floor. When the defense collapses on Lebron or Larry when they slash to the hoop, they can kick it out to DJ or Marshall for open threes. The Cavs can be like the Phoenix Suns or they can be like the Timberwolves-- which would you rather have? A team that runs teams out of the arena or a team that doesn't take to their coach's philosophy and quits on him?
Let D.J., Larry, Lebron, Marshall, and Z start. Why start Snow anymore? His shot is so bad that teams don't even bother covering him, because they know Eric Snow will not beat you. So they collapse on Lebron or Z, and when the CAvs kick it out to a wide open Snow, he throws up a brick. On defense, people like to talk about him like he's the next Mo Cheeks; he's not. He's too slow to guard quick point guards, and too small to guard the 2 or the 3. Let Hughes cover a team's best small player (even if that player if a pg, which he's been doing all year), let Lebron cover their swingman, and hide Jones's defesive inefficiencies by having him guard the remaining small player. Neither Snow nor Jones is a shutdown player on defense, so it's not like the drop off on the defensive end will be huge.
With the players the Cavs have, they will never be able to shut down teams like the Spurs or Pistons. So change the philosophy, Brown. Let the Cavs run the floor.
Here's the Cavs problem: Brown has worried too much about defense on a team that is designed to play great offense. Danny Ferry didn't bring Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall here to play great defense; he brought them here to shoot the lights out. So why doesn't Brown, instead of trying to a force a philosophy on a team that doesn't fit into it, instead change his philosophy to fit this team. Instead of running a slow, set offense, where Snow brings the ball up the floor, the Cavs make a couple of passes, then kick it down low to Z with 10 secs on the shot clock, why doesn't Brown let the Cavs run the floor? Let Lebron (or DJ or Larry) play point. They can run an uptempo game, force mismatches, and take high percentage shots. Let Snow come off of the bench, because his style of running the point is not suited for this type of offense.
The fact that the best player in the league goes stretches of 3 minutes or more without touching the ball on offense is just stupid, and it frustrates The Chosen One. Let Lebron handle the point, because his court vision and passing abilities are better than Snow's-- he simply sees the floor better than almost anyone else in the league, so let Lebron handle the point, as a point forward, in the Magic Johnson or Scottie Pippen mold. Let the team run the floor. When the defense collapses on Lebron or Larry when they slash to the hoop, they can kick it out to DJ or Marshall for open threes. The Cavs can be like the Phoenix Suns or they can be like the Timberwolves-- which would you rather have? A team that runs teams out of the arena or a team that doesn't take to their coach's philosophy and quits on him?
Let D.J., Larry, Lebron, Marshall, and Z start. Why start Snow anymore? His shot is so bad that teams don't even bother covering him, because they know Eric Snow will not beat you. So they collapse on Lebron or Z, and when the CAvs kick it out to a wide open Snow, he throws up a brick. On defense, people like to talk about him like he's the next Mo Cheeks; he's not. He's too slow to guard quick point guards, and too small to guard the 2 or the 3. Let Hughes cover a team's best small player (even if that player if a pg, which he's been doing all year), let Lebron cover their swingman, and hide Jones's defesive inefficiencies by having him guard the remaining small player. Neither Snow nor Jones is a shutdown player on defense, so it's not like the drop off on the defensive end will be huge.
With the players the Cavs have, they will never be able to shut down teams like the Spurs or Pistons. So change the philosophy, Brown. Let the Cavs run the floor.
