May not be telling him directly, but with this offense, the result is the same. Cavs have a very basic half-court high pick and roll offense where the PG *is* the offense. There's not much space to move in the half-court.
I would rather he stand there then weave through defenders in limited space and wreck his shoulder when he inevitably runs into a planted defender. Strus can only get space like that off a screen as the ball handler. He's not getting those shots fed to him unless it's off a fast break.
That made sense last year based on the talent and last minute trade for Mitchell. Where were the shooters that would make a more motion based offense succeed?
This year, with the addition of Strus and Niang to the team and a full year under their belts with the other main guys, you can justly argue that a more diverse offense should be implemented that contains the best of last year with the best of the new guys
For whatever reason, whether injury, ball handling ego clashes, rotation mistakes etc, it’s just not coming together.
I’m fully aboard the Bye Bye JBB train now but I still think people who pin the underwhelming start all on him and think that all are players will be magically fixed and optimized under a better coach are in for a world of hurt.
Most teams in the NBA never come close to putting together a core that reaches the Conference Finals once, let alone Finals. That’s reality.
It as fans, the only thing that satisfies us and makes us feel secure, safe, and rewarded in the investment of time we give to the franchise is the kind of certainty we got in the second LeBron era, we’re dreaming.
Now right now, some changes need to be made for the betterment of the future for sure. And a new leader/coach is the first domino that should fall. But as much as it’s easy to want to scapegoat and lump all the negative into an outgoing element, it’s just not reality. The new coach will come in and hopefully do many things better than JBB. But you can be sure that that new coach will also have shortcomings or blind spots of their own and that we still may need to make a drastic decision about Donovan.
I’m excited because I love being a Cleveland sports fan. But I know the odds of us getting to a ECF run are small and were always small.
TL: DR: mostly rambles