Yea, I get it. Nobody on here is a Cavs fan. But, it's an interesting team that will generate some chatter, so might as well put it in one thread.
One potentially huge issue that a small number of people continually raised was the lack of interior defense. A few months ago, Bill Simmons wrote this column:
Link
It contained this:
The other problem is that the Cavs don't only have an interior defense problem. Irving and Waiters were up there with Harden for bad/lazy defense, Miller and Marion are old stiffs, and Varejao is a hustle guy at best. In other words, James is the only one worth crap on that team as far as D.
Anyway, here are defensive FG percentages through the first 4 games
NYN: 53.6%
@Chi: 45.6%
@Portland: 49.3%
@Utah: 50.6%
Not off to a good start.
One potentially huge issue that a small number of people continually raised was the lack of interior defense. A few months ago, Bill Simmons wrote this column:
Link
It contained this:
quote:So statistically, the Cavs now have 2nd worst and 3rd worst rim protectors in the NBA. Now most of the talking heads blew this off "Yea they'll have to go find a rim protector somewhere, but that offense!!" I don't think it's that easy to fix. You have to find someone with talent who's available and then it takes time to work him into the system. And the offense isn't a solution; you can't outscore everybody all the way to a title.
Poor defensive teams usually miss the playoffs, right? Well, SportVU measures the opposing field goal percentage of every rim protector (from 1 to 5 feet). Of anyone averaging 30-plus minutes per game at power forward or center last season, the NBA's five worst interior defenders were Thaddeus Young (60.2% FG), Tristan Thompson (59.1%), Kevin Love (57.4%), Nikola Vucevic (56.4%) and Nikola Pekovic (55.2%). By that same criterion, the NBA's worst shot-blockers were Zach Randolph at 0.3 blocks per game, David Lee, Thompson and Pekovic at 0.4 blocks, then Love, Young and Glen Davis at 0.5 blocks. Yes, Love and Pekovic were Minnesota's two highest-paid players last season.
The other problem is that the Cavs don't only have an interior defense problem. Irving and Waiters were up there with Harden for bad/lazy defense, Miller and Marion are old stiffs, and Varejao is a hustle guy at best. In other words, James is the only one worth crap on that team as far as D.
Anyway, here are defensive FG percentages through the first 4 games
NYN: 53.6%
@Chi: 45.6%
@Portland: 49.3%
@Utah: 50.6%
Not off to a good start.