2020-2021 Cavs Season General Discussion

[Rich]

Ultimately, this is my take on the overarching problem with the offense on this team.


You win in the NBA by creating and making open 3s. That's the game now. Love it or hate it.

THe Cavs only two truly reliable 3 point shooters are ALSO the only two guys who can handle the ball and break down the defense.


And therein lies the problem.

There's no one else on the roster who you're afraid of shooting open 3s. Maybe Kevin Love one the rare night he's feeling it, which is less and less as he ages.


Likewise, there's basically no one else who can take the ball and create shots for those 2. Delly in like tiny little spurts, but teams have started to figure out he actually can't score the ball from anywhere on the court anymore and are just ignoring him and playing passing lanes.


Above all else, they need good, reliable spot-up shooting this off-season.

 

[FrontPageNews]

Just curious, are the Cavs allowed to sign and trade JA? I like him as a player, but it feels like he does not want to be with Cavs with his body language....

Also, would be nice if the Cavs can get Markkanen from the Bulls at the off season, they seem to be leaning into developing Williams to the extent of demoting Markanen to the bench....

No one wants to be here. Who would want to be on a lower mid market lottery team? Can’t just go letting players go because they look like they don’t want to be here. Get better and they’ll be ok.

 

[Rich]

If I had my way Love would be end of the bench and they'd roll with the other 4 bigs the rest of the way.

But assuming that isn't gonna happen, Hart or Nance need to be the odd man out.

That bench crew has too many guys who want to catch and hold looking to pass. Delly, Hart, Nance is too many.

I'd run Nance and Wade. They need another shooter in that group.


Find a decent backup PG who teams can't just ignore and who plays smart this off-season and a lot of that gets fixed.

But right now it's three guys trying to find Sexton and never looking to score themselves.

 

[daddywags]

I don't mind them trying to find a way to make Love useful, he's here for at least another year and a half. But I think it's wrong to pigeon hole him as a pure stretch 4. Except for a couple of years he's never been an elite 3-point shooter. His career average is around 36%. He's a good passer, rebounder, and he's clever around the basket. It's not going to happen this year - our spacing is so awful we can't even make a decent entry pass when he's got the defender on his back and he's calling for the ball - but we should try to use him more inside next year if he's healthy.

 

[dms]

I don't mind them trying to find a way to make Love useful, he's here for at least another year and a half. But I think it's wrong to pigeon hole him as a pure stretch 4. Except for a couple of years he's never been an elite 3-point shooter. His career average is around 36%. He's a good passer, rebounder, and he's clever around the basket. It's not going to happen this year - our spacing is so awful we can't even make a decent entry pass when he's got the defender on his back and he's calling for the ball - but we should try to use him more inside next year if he's healthy.

Love will be 33 by the time next season starts. If you check his career, his shots inside have decreased as he ages. He was taking 11-12 a game in Minnesota, it fell down to 8 or so his first few years here, then to 6 the last couple and now to 3. Most of that is simply age and his body breaking down. A 33 year old Love playing inside on offense is going to get his body beat on more and also won't be able to get back on defense. He's not going to reverse the aging process and become an inside force again. Expect more years like this with his game becoming exclusively 3 pointers and defensive boards and lots of towel waving.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Love will be 33 by the time next season starts. If you check his career, his shots inside have decreased as he ages. He was taking 11-12 a game in Minnesota, it fell down to 8 or so his first few years here, then to 6 the last couple and now to 3. Most of that is simply age and his body breaking down. A 33 year old Love playing inside on offense is going to get his body beat on more and also won't be able to get back on defense. He's not going to reverse the aging process and become an inside force again. Expect more years like this with his game becoming exclusively 3 pointers and defensive boards and lots of towel waving.

He tried a jump hook from in front of the rim the last game and had it blocked. I don't think I've ever seen that before. He's always been able to use his body and his length to get that shot off. I agree that he no longer has a post-up game, other than if we get a switch and he's got a guard or skinny forward on him that he can back down until a double-team comes, then kick it out for a 3.

 

[Derek]

Love is doing a really good job of picking his spots when he goes inside. He's shooting career-high %'s from 0-3 and 3-10 feet.

 

[Blazie]

Love is doing a really good job of picking his spots when he goes inside. He's shooting career-high %'s from 0-3 and 3-10 feet.

Hey, stop interjecting all this logic into an otherwise entertaining round of "shit on love"...

 

[Ohioplayer00]

Love’s career (and I’m probably his biggest fan on this board) is quickly coming to an end as a real productive player! His mins should not exceed more than 15 a game. I truly believe that next year will be it for him. I think he knows that physically he doesn’t have it anymore to play major mins.

 

[Rich]

Hey, stop interjecting all this logic into an otherwise entertaining round of "shit on love"...

It's simply not what the team needs from him.

Garland and Sexton need spacing.

I'm glad he's finding some way to remain at least marginally effective, but they need a sniper. And his defense is bad as ever.

 

[roozy]

This has to be the worst 3 point shooting team in the league, its what's causing the majority of these losses too other bottom feeder teams.

 

[Sebastian]

Allen seems flat.

Lingering effects or morale issue?

Hope its one of the two. Need him to be a piece moving forward.

Otherwise yeeesh.

Also, OKC is a disgrace. 0-10 in their last 10. Blatant. As bad as the Cavs have been it is stunning to see that they will likely finish with the 6th worse record because there are teams that are tanking their tanks. The P. 1000 Ratte of tanks.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

Ultimately, this is my take on the overarching problem with the offense on this team.


You win in the NBA by creating and making open 3s. That's the game now. Love it or hate it.

THe Cavs only two truly reliable 3 point shooters are ALSO the only two guys who can handle the ball and break down the defense.


And therein lies the problem.

There's no one else on the roster who you're afraid of shooting open 3s. Maybe Kevin Love one the rare night he's feeling it, which is less and less as he ages.


Likewise, there's basically no one else who can take the ball and create shots for those 2. Delly in like tiny little spurts, but teams have started to figure out he actually can't score the ball from anywhere on the court anymore and are just ignoring him and playing passing lanes.


Above all else, they need good, reliable spot-up shooting this off-season.

The Cavs rank 25th in 2-point shooting percentage so it's not like passing up 3's gives them a higher percentage shot.

Larry Nance Jr improved his 3-point shooting by taking 10,000 of them in the off-season. Wade and Okoro need to do that. The Cavs also need to draft a 3-point shooter with some length.

Garland is a good 3-point shooter when he steps into his shot. The problem, however, is that he's so short that he needs a lot of room to get the shot off. When he's guarded he tries to create that room by using the James Harden step-back, but the shot is usually short because he's not stepping into it. That shot hits the front of the rim every time. He needs to step back and then get his body leaning forward as he releases the shot.

Part of the problem is that Garland and Sexton are so short that they need room to get their 3-point attempts off and opponents are not just letting them take the shot. So the alternative is to blow by their man and get into the paint for a high percentage runner, a lob to a big or a layup. But then you run into the height issue again.

The best play is when Garland or Sexton beat their man off the dribble and force the defense to collapse into the paint and then kick it out to Love, Nance, Okoro or Prince for an uncontested three.

I have no idea what Love's problem is; he's 3 for his last 21 from deep. Before coming back he had not played competitive basketball in a year, so maybe that's it. Whatever it is he needs to figure it out.

 

[weepinwillow]

I know JB has shortened the rotation and all, but Lamar Stevens should be getting some time out there at the 3/4 spot.. especially when this team comes out as flat as they did in the 1Q.

 

[kidduck]

Hartensteins' dunk at the 9:14 mark of the 4th quarter were the
last points of the game scored by anyone on the team other than
Garland and Sexton.

Cavs scored 20 points down the stretch, 12 for Garland, 8 for
Sexton.

These guys aren't good enough to go 2 on 5 and expect a win.

What a front line we have.