Who deserves the blame for the still weak offense?

[Winnersville]

Cavs starting out 5-4. Heat also started out 5-4 in 2010-11

 

[*L-Train*]

Cavs starting out 5-4. Heat also started out 5-4 in 2010-11

a lot of people continue to bring this up and i don't think it's a great comparison to be honest. watching our games right now i think our main problem (and it's likely gonna be a problem all year) is defense. right now it's just atrocious, the hope is that with more effort and chemistry they can become average in that department (while being great on offense). the Heat on the other hand finished that year as a top 5 team on offense AND defense which i don't see happening here (there just aren't enough good defensive players on this team)

 

[godfather]

a lot of people continue to bring this up and i don't think it's a great comparison to be honest. watching our games right now i think our main problem (and it's likely gonna be a problem all year) is defense. right now it's just atrocious, the hope is that with more effort and chemistry they can become average in that department (while being great on offense). the Heat on the other hand finished that year as a top 5 team on offense AND defense which i don't see happening here (there just aren't enough good defensive players on this team)

Couldn't agree more. The offensive struggles at times, to me, speaks more to lack of cohesiveness, and guys not really understanding their roles yet.

We're definitely taking too many perimeter jump shots. Offensively, we'll be fine, they're going to get better. It will be more of a balance than it what it is right now, and that's us taking too many perimeter shots.

Defensively, it's not going to get that much better. We're really this bad defensively.

We're definitely going to be in the playoffs, and one of the top-3 seeds. I still think top-2, maybe even 1 possibly.

This team is built great for the regular season. Moves can still be made, and I think they will eventually.

But, realistically, I think championship this season is probably not going to happen.

It's really hard to take a team with lots of young players, that have never even made it to the playoffs, and just win it all the next season. Even as great as LeBron James is.

My hope is that fans and the front office doesn't panic. We can definitely win a title going forward. I think we will, but don't let the outside perception and expectations influence what can be a pretty special thing.

It just probably isn't going to happen this year. But it's still really early, and too hard to make a definitive conclusion yet.

But defensively, it might get better, but it's still going to be a massive struggle for us going forward.

 

[tristan+kyrie=$]

people already saying no title this season and we have only played 9 games...Mike Brown took some bad defensive rosters and scraped out good defenses....not saying we will be top 5 or anything but moves can still be made and kyrie and dion are capable of becoming good defenders it just hasnt clicked yet

 

[CSF]

people already saying no title this season and we have only played 9 games...Mike Brown took some bad defensive rosters and scraped out good defenses....not saying we will be top 5 or anything but moves can still be made and kyrie and dion are capable of becoming good defenders it just hasnt clicked yet

What does Mike Brown got to do with this?

 

[Douglar]

What does Mike Brown got to do with this?

Mike Brown was a coach who was able to get a bunch of guys to play team defense even though few of them had great defensive gifts. However at times it seemed like he did that at the expense of the offense, putting the team in places where they had to defend or they would lose. Many fans didn't like watching those games. And while that game plan seemed to work when the team had a lot of vets, I don't think that approach was compatible with the temperament of some of the young guys on the team when he came back last year.

Getting the team a defensive identity is going to take time when the coach does not have a "defense first" philosophy and many of the young guys have never had to be knuckle down defenders. So I'm saying that the defense might not start clicking until March.

 

[godfather]

people already saying no title this season and we have only played 9 games...Mike Brown took some bad defensive rosters and scraped out good defenses....not saying we will be top 5 or anything but moves can still be made and kyrie and dion are capable of becoming good defenders it just hasnt clicked yet

I've always been under the belief we're not winning a title this year. Does that make me a hater, or cynical?

What's wrong with just being a realist. Do you really believe this team is seriously ready to win a title? The core itself, has never even made it to the playoffs.

A switch just doesn't suddenly come on, that fast, and like that you win a title. I know we're talented, I know we have LB, Kyrie, etc, etc, but talent alone doesn't win in this league.

I don't think its ever even happen before, where an inexperience talented team, just won it all.

The Celtics when they won, their big 3 were veterans, that have been around for awhile. This isn't the same scenario at all.

It takes time, guys have to learn, adjust, cohesiveness is needed.

There's nothing wrong with being in the middle, not predicting doom, but not getting ahead of yourself at the same time.

I didn't say they absolutely can't win at title, a lot can happen. I'm not a psychic. I just have always been under the belief, seriously expecting us to win it all this season wasn't that much of a reality.

We're talented, but we are very raw as a team. That shouldn't be that surprising.

It's going to be the fans that are expecting a championship, that are going to overreact when the reality is, that's probably not going to happen this season.

It's hard winning a title in the NBA. LeBron has been on the verge of having zero titles, and talent was never really a problem in Miami.

Right now, I'll take playoffs, and just improvement going forward. A championship to me was never something I seriously expected this year.

 

[Douglar]

Fear the sword had a QA on the team's issues. Here are some of the answers they had.

http://www.fearthesword.com/2014/11...-roundtable-what-is-wrong-and-can-it-be-fixed

1. Offensively, are the Cavs' struggles the result of a flawed scheme, or is it a matter of players just needing time to gel?

Magnotti: I think it’s a symptom of both, but more so the cohesiveness factor, both at a player-to-player and coach-to-player level. The Cavs don’t look like they’re running Blatt’s sets, but a lot of that stems from the amount of ISO-ball that the Cavs have fallen into. This is probably a product of the Cavs not understanding the full system, and when the system breaks down, they go to what they know. I have a feeling this will get better with time, as the players get more used to the system and each other. However, that said, the idea that Blatt’s system isn’t an NBA-worthy system is still a possibility, and that we will find out with time too.

Rowan: I think we are seeing that this roster is struggling to gel. However, David Blatt has failed to make the necessary adjustments to help get the team easy looks in order to raise their confidence. We saw that the ball moved freer in the preseason and players weren’t afraid to shoot upon receiving the ball. Players are second guessing themselves and it’s leading to bad shots and turnovers. Confidence is low and no offense will succeed when it’s players are stuck in a funk.

Luscher: It’s hard to say that the scheme is the problem when so little of what the Cavs do looks like a scheme. You see flashes when they actually run their offense, and those moments are promising. We can guess at the problems. I think Trevor is right that they don’t understand the system fully yet, so they don’t trust it. It goes beyond that, though. The best players on this team seem to trust themselves more than they trust each other. That’s when they ditch the system and go iso while everyone else stands around. So I guess it’s players needing time to gel, but I also don’t see them giving the system enough of a chance for that to happen.

Mourton: A combination of the two I think. Sometimes the Cavs run sets that are just wonderful, other times they abandon them altogether. Even when they're clicking, they're doing things I don't understand. Why run pick and rolls exclusively with Anderson Varejao and not Kevin Love? I don't get it. Why are Love and Varejao always paired, leaving Tristan Thompson to play with lesser creators, when he cannot create for himself? The team has 11 new players, it was going to take months, but the coaches aren't consistently making it easier for them.​

 

[Stark]

My only gripe is the fact that Tristan Thompson is guaranteed to shoot the ball if he gets it, no matter where on the floor he does get it or how much time is on the shot clock.

Tristan's offense should be based on wide open dunks and garbage put backs off of offensive rebounds. He's probably the 9th or 10th most talented scorer on this team, so he needs to quit trying to create.

 

[Pioneer10]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-art-of-the-wildly-efficient-dallas-mavericks/

Very interesting article about how the Mavs use Nowitzki basically as only a jumpshooter and decoy to stretch the D and allow Chandler/Wright to crash to the basket. They essentially run pick and rolls on top of pick and rolls till they get the shot they want. Part of the reason is to conserve old Dirk till the playoffs when they can go back to the post-up against tougher defensive teams. That being said, wouldn't be surprised to see the Cavs incorporate what the Mavs are doing since we have the pieces to do similar or even better (Dirk/Love, Parsons/Lebron, Chandler/TT and AV, Ellis/Irving).

Man how awesome would it be to have Chandler on this Cavs team?