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Cavs New Year’s Resolution: Play Faster

By Luke Sicari

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With 2015 coming to a close, it is time to look ahead and begin planning for the year of 2016 and those plans, as with every new year, begin with a New Year’s Resolution.

Whether it is to quit sugar, start going to the gym daily or simply just being a better human being, New Year’s Resolutions are usually broken after a week and then just repeated year after year.

“No, I promise this year I’ll actually carry out my New Year’s Resolution for the entire year.” Common saying, but how often is that said but it never actually happens. Don’t sit there saying you have never broken a New Years’ Resolution- everyone has.

The fact of the matter is that resolutions are nothing more than something fun to say when you’re excitement is at an all-time peak for the new year- you don’t need to wait for January 1st to start going to the gym, you can start whenever you like!

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, this also rings true, as they don’t have to wait until January 1st to start playing at a faster pace but considering their next game is on January the 2nd, it would be a good time to start.

The Cavs are stacked with offensive weapons and it isn’t a secret. LeBron James is well, LeBron James. His combination of strength and power makes him almost unguardable at the rim. Despite his horrible shooting outside the paint this season, James is still averaging 25.7 points per game, 4th in the entire league.

Kyrie Irving is slowly regaining his rhythm after returning from his knee injury, as he scored 22 points in just 24 minutes against the Phoenix Suns. It was a sight for sore eyes to see Irving hitting jumpers again and doing his trademark dribble moves to finish around the basket.

Kevin Love has been more involved in the offense this season, as his comfort level with the Cavaliers has increased, as the team is getting him the ball in positions he wants it. Love is receiving more post touches this season, which leads to him being a much more effective and efficient player on offense.

Surrounding the Big Three, the Cavs are filled with shooters like Matthew Dellavedova (shockingly true statement), J.R. Smith, James Jones, Richard Jefferson and Mo Williams. Then add in the presence of offensive rebounding machine Tristan Thompson and Cleveland’s offensive firepower ranks among some of the best in the entire league.

When the Cavs initially put together the Big Three and hired coach David Blatt, whose offense has been regarded as “genius”, many thought that Cleveland would play at a fast pace and potentially break offensive records.

While the Cavaliers have been the offensive machine many though they would, as they rank 8th in the league in offensive rating, they have been doing at an extremely slow pace.

Last season, the Cavs ranked 25th in the NBA in pace (which measures the number of possessions a team has per 48 minutes) with a 94.78 ranking and that hasn’t improved much this season. In fact, this season, Cleveland is actually playing at a faster pace at 95.39 but yet that ranks them 28th in the league, which is a reflection of how the NBA is morphing towards a faster pace of play.

Now, to be clear, just because the Cavaliers are playing at such a slow pace doesn’t mean that their offense is bad, in fact, it is one of the best in the entire league. As mentioned earlier, the Cavs are ranked 8th in the league in offensive rating and they also rank highly in other offensive categories. Cleveland is 9th in the league in assist percentage, 6th in effective field goal percentage and 13th in true shooting percentage. While those numbers are good, with the Cavs offensive firepower, it could be much better.

Their offense has looked a lot better then last season, as the Cavs are running less isolation plays and are moving the ball leading to a much more effective and prettier offense. The ball and player movement shows that Cleveland have brought more into Blatt’s system more than they did at any time last season but at times, the Cavaliers still fall back into isolation ball, which is a dangerous habit to still have.

A way to stop falling back into the isolation ball at times is for Cleveland to adopt a faster style of play and this should be their new years resolution for 2016: play at a quicker pace.

With the Cavs offensive weapons, just imagine how good the team will be if they played at a quicker pace. How can a defense respond to a Love defensive rebound, quick outlet pass to the half court to James, who can then attack the defense with shooter like Irving and Smith running to the three-point line? Unstoppable.

If Cleveland can run their offense at a faster pace and beat the defense down the floor, it may allow them to break some of those offensive records that many predicated they would when the Big Three was formed. It would also allow them to do something that many are surprised they haven’t done more of this season, despite their high rankings in most offensive categories and that is score points.

The Cavs are 21st in the NBA in points scored, as they’re averaging just 99.7 points per game, which is better then only the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers.

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According to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal, one NBA scout is “perplexed at how a team with this much offensive firepower can rank 21st in the league in scoring.” Well, if Cleveland played at a faster pace, they would get more offensive possessions, which in turn allows them to have more scoring opportunities.

When you give a team with the offensive firepower like the Cavaliers more offensive possessions, the chances are they will be able to score more points, hence creating a more dangerous and effective offensive attack. In 2016, if the Cavs are looking to make a New Year’s Resolution, they should be thinking of playing faster, quicker basketball.

What if your New Year’s Resolution for the Cavs?