The Cleveland Cavaliers Weird Me Out
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a good basketball team. But, I feel like they should be better. Their offense needs some soul-searching.
I have been on the Cleveland Cavaliers bandwagon for some time. I was one of the first members of the Evan Mobley fan club. When they traded for Donovan Mitchell this past off-season, I had nothing but good things to say. And, at times, Cleveland has looked like a team that had already arrived on the scene.
But something has been up with this team. Sure, the Cavs are ten games over 0.500 (29-19) and hold the 5th seed in a top-heavy Eastern Conference. I’m sure that’s where people expected them to be this season. And I’m by no means saying that this Cavs team — anchored by the second-ranked defense in the league — is bad. I’m not.
What I’m saying is that this team is weird. Cleveland has another gear to hit, but I don’t know if they can reach it. Let’s go down this bizarre Cleveland rabbit hole.
A Painfully Simplistic Offense
One would think that Cleveland’s offense isn’t a problem. They currently rank 10th in offensive rating (114.2). And, when healthy, a backcourt of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell is elite. I’m not doubting that. But I’m not a huge fan of how Cleveland gets their offense.
For starters, Cleveland’s offense hardly moves at all. They rank 22nd in assists and 24th in passes made. But it’s more than that. No team in the league has longer possessions than the Cavaliers. Each one of their possessions takes 22.2 seconds. Is it any wonder they play at the slowest pace in the NBA?
The Cavaliers are also fourth in dribbles per touch (2.59). Whenever a guard gets the ball, they’re dribbling the air out of it. There isn’t any shifting of the defense or anything like that. It’s me first, not team first.
Most of Cleveland’s offense comes from one possession. They’re in the bottom 10 of both fastbreak and 2nd chance points. It’s hard to score when you play at that pace, and when 81% of your plays come in the half-court, according to cleaning the glass.
While the Cavaliers are one of the best pick-and-roll teams in the league, they’re one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA. In catch-and-shoot opportunities, it’s hard to be worse than the Cavs.
The Cavaliers make 34.5% on catch-and-shoot opportunities, 26th in the league. They also make just 6.9 of those threes per game, which is last in the league. So, not only do the Cavs hardly ever get any easy opportunities, they aren’t converting their good looks from beyond the arc.
Despite being a very talented team, Cleveland’s style of play doesn’t fit their personnel. They’re playing too slow and they’re not moving the ball. Part of their problem may be Evan Mobley.
Is Evan Mobley The Problem??
Evan Mobley has been just as good as he was last year. He remains one of the more versatile defenders in the league. But, he remains a player who struggles to finish inside at times due to his lack of polish and his absence of an outside shot. And, he may be holding Cleveland back in some ways offensively.
Cleveland’s most used lineup is Mitchell, Garland, LeVert, Mobley, and Allen. That lineup manages a 110.0 offensive rating, putting them in the 29th percentile of the league. That lineup is effective, but they’re relying on their defense to hold things down.
Meanwhile, lineups that feature Jarrett Allen as the lone big have been much better for Cleveland. Pairing Allen with Kevin Love instead of Mobley works better. The floor is more spaced out, and Allen has more room to operate in the pick-and-roll.
With Love and Allen on the floor this season, the Cavs are outscoring opponents by 9.3 points per 100 possessions. When Allen is on the floor without Mobley, the Cavs have a 11.4 net rating with an offense ranking in the 83rd percentile of the NBA.
Evan Mobley is vital to Cleveland. They need him defensively. But the offense frees up when he’s not on the court. Lineups with more shooting-oriented bigs like Love or Dean Wade, who recently returned from a shoulder injury, open up the floor more for Cleveland.
Here’s another thing to consider. Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell still don’t know how to play with one another. Garland got poked in the eye during the first game of the season and missed the ensuing five games. Mitchell has missed eight games this season.
Even though we’re passed the midway point of the season, these two have another level to hit;
Mitchell ON and Garland OFF: +4.7 net rating (80th percentile) 1285 possessions
Mitchell and Garland ON: +3.6 net rating (74th percentile) 1585 possessions
Garland ON and Mitchell OFF: +6.6 net rating (88th percentile) 1218 possessions
I don’t know whether to be concerned about this or amazed. Cleveland clearly has another gear to hit. But, through about 50 games, they haven’t hit it. Mobley compromises their spacing, and the backcourt isn’t fully in sync.
Possible Solutions
Other than just shooting better (hey there, Isaac Okoro), there are some things the Cavs can do better. For one, playing faster will benefit Cleveland greatly. Allen and Mobley aren’t exactly 40-year-olds. They can run the floor, at least more than what the Cavs are doing now.
Cleveland’s stout defense forces 14.9 turnovers per game. The Cavs need to look to use those opportunities and cash them in for easy buckets on the other end. This is a young team! They shouldn’t be playing at a pace that rivals the early 2000s.
Getting Dean Wade back allows Cleveland to play more of those spaced-out lineups. But, if I’m J.B. Bickerstaff, getting more shots is the key. The Cavaliers take the third-fewest field goals per game. More passing, movement, and offensive rebounding will help in that regard.
But here’s the thing. The Cavs’ defense thrives in the halfcourt, allowing just a 95.9 offensive rating. So, it’s a double-edged sword. A slower pace helps the defense excel, but it holds the offense back. There’s a balance that needs to be struck.
GM Koby Altman will need to prioritize shooting with his teams in the coming seasons. This Cleveland team doesn’t have a lot of great pure shooters. Okoro and LeVert are streaky. Love and Wade are good, but you need more than that. Hoping that Evan Mobley expands his range isn’t a solution, it’s a prayer.
But most of these changes can’t be implemented in one game. These changes would require a schematic and philosophical transformation that you can’t just throw in the middle of the season. Teams don’t drastically change their playstyle in mid-January.
So, with that in mind, how dangerous is this Cavs team?
Can Cleveland Do Damage In The Postseason?
Defense wins championships. It’s a tale as old as time. But, in the modern NBA, your ability to score is just as important, if not more so. So, can the Cavaliers overcome their offensive shortcomings to make a run at the postseason?
I think it’s possible. In a playoff series, you need guys to elevate their level of play. Donovan Mitchell has shown us he’s capable of doing so, and don’t forget about Darius Garland. Either one of those guys can have a big night with their ability to carve up defenses.
But, defenses are going to leave Mobley and Okoro open on the perimeter. Okoro, in particular, will have to make them pay. In January, Okoro has been shooting 58% on catch-and-shoot triples. He’ll have to keep that up in a playoff series.
As we saw with the Celtics last season, elite interior defense is timeless. In Mobley and Allen, the Cavaliers have a brick wall down low. The one thing that Cleveland can always rely on is their defense, which has been elite all year long. When playing the top ten offenses in the league this season, the Cavaliers have the best defense (110.5 defensive rating).
In a grind it out playoff series, the Cavaliers are probably the team you’d least want to face. Even with that questionable offense, they can hang with anybody. And that’s why they’re the ultimate wild card heading into this postseason.
The Eastern Conference is filled with our usual suspects. Cleveland has a chance to cause some disruption to that hierarchy, and their defense can lead the way. But, for any noise to be made in the first place, the Cavaliers offense will have to work out some of its kinks.
How Far Will Cleveland Go In The Postseason? Leave a Comment Down Below!
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