Cleveland Cavaliers: Larry Sanders And Derrick Williams Have To Be The Defensive X-Factors Heading Into The Playoffs

Larry Sanders and Derrick Williams will have to be in the rotation for the playoffs. Their impact on the defensive end of the floor could make or break the Cleveland Cavaliers postseason run.

Larry Sanders, the Cleveland Cavaliers need you. Derrick Williams, the Cleveland Cavaliers need you too.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are giving up 44.0 points in the paint per game, putting them at 17th in the league, and that’s not going to cut it. In fact, only four other playoff teams are worse in that aspect: the Golden State Warriors, the Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets.

Of those teams, the Warriors, Nuggets and Thunder have lowered the average amount of points they give up in the paint over their last three games. The Rockets have given up 3.9 more points in the paint in that time. The Cavs have given up 13.3 more points in the paint in that time.

Looking back over the Cavs last month, they’ve played 11 games and given up 44 or more points in the paint in 9 of them. In those 9 games, they’ve went 4-5. While one of those losses came as the team rested the Big Three, the only teams they’ve beat in March (in games where the opponent scored 44 or more points in the paint) were the Los Angeles Lakers (125-120), Utah Jazz (91-83), Orlando Magic (116-104), Atlanta Hawks (135-130).

Of those teams only the Jazz and Hawks are playoff contenders.

It’s worth noting, however, that against the Jazz they faced a team without Rodney Hood. Hood has played exemplary basketball when facing the Cavs over the last two seasons. Against the Hawks, they were without J.R. Smith.

It’s also worth noting that in the Cavs two other games, games where the opponent didn’t score at least 44 points in the paint, they recorded a blowout win over the Detroit Pistons and lost to the Boston Celtics. Of those teams, only the Celtics are a lock to be in the playoffs.

Looking at the overall picture, the theme is that the Cavs are barely beating anybody and don’t have a great chance to beat the playoff contenders if they don’t stop allowing teams to get points in the paint.

The reasons why the Cavs give up so many points in the paint are many:

Iman Shumpert gets caught on screens and never seems to be able to get over a screen, leading to the Cavs getting destroyed in the pick-and-roll.
Channing Frye and Kevin Love don’t offer much resistance in the paint.
Despite his increased effort, Kyrie Irving’s lack of lateral agility will always leave him at a disadvantage against the quick and explosive point guards in the league.
Tristan Thompson is a decent rim-protector but he’s undersized, not a quick leaper and doesn’t instinctively try to block many shots; he doesn’t deter opponents from foraying to the rim.
At times, because of turnovers, the opposing teams get out in the fast break.
At times, the Cavaliers defense gets caught over-helping and allows backdoor cuts.
The Cavaliers give up too many offensive rebounds.

With so many different problems, and some overlapping, there’s no singular solution for the Cavs to play better defense.

One solution would seem to be play Shumpert in the way he was used during the 2016 NBA Finals.

Use him as a situational player and allow him to come and defend the quick and explosive guards that Irving (and Deron Williams) will face. Don’t run him out there all game long because ever since he’s seen an uptick in his minutes, the Cavs have went 18-13. Put him on the floor only when it’s clear that Irving or Williams are getting torched by an opposing guard.

Another solution would seem to be putting (the younger) Williams, a solid team defender with more versatility, better size and a better chance at getting rebounds in front of Shumpert in the rotation. When Williams is in, he’ll need to focus on getting offensive rebounds and boxing-out. However, he’d be better at that than Shumpert or Frye. In addition, let’s not forget that the Cavs discovered a jumbo package lineup that was quite efficient last month and they would be best served using it.

It comes down to the differences in their defensive styles though. Where Shumpert will faceguard his man to the point of ignoring the rest of the floor and get caught on screens, Williams will look to cover all of the Cavs’ defensive holes while using his length and size to contest shots, get around screens and disrupt the pick-and-roll.

More from Cavs Analysis

For some reason the Cavs got away from having Irving guard other teams wings rather than their point guard and it’s cost them mightily. No matter if Irving is on the court with (the elder) Williams, Smith or Shumpert, there needs to be a player on the court that’s guarding the opposing team’s point guard that’s not named Irving.

If Shumpert only comes off the bench as a specialist and Williams moves ahead of Shumpert in the rotation, there are still three Cavs players that can rotate the defensive responsibility of guarding the opposing point guard: Smith, Williams and James.

Their size and foot speed will cause problems for the ball-handler and blow up a lot of pick-and-roll attempts. Better defense at the point-of-attack will lead to less perimeter penetration and make Frye, Love and Thompson’s jobs a lot easier.

Ultimately though, Sanders will have to be a part of this equation too.

While Frye keeps other teams rim-protectors out of the paint, his effectiveness at center is overstated. For one, defenses attack the rim incessantly when he’s at center. Second, his effectiveness is predicated on Frye hitting shots from the outside while playing solid enough defense to be a make-shift center for the Cavs. That’s not a strategy that consistently works.

He keeps the ball moving, has shown the ability to post-up and is a three-point specialist though and so the Cavs, and LeBron James, need him on the court. However, those minutes should primarily come at power forward.

Meanwhile, Sanders can come in and not only play in the rim-protecting role that Thompson has but thrive in it. Opponents will attack Sanders less than they attacked Thompson because of his size, length, reputation and true shot-blocker instincts. If he’s on the court for about 10 minutes per game, he has more than a chance to substantially reduce the amount of points the Cavs give up in the paint.

In addition, he’s way more likely to crash the boards than Frye and will be more of an immovable object than Frye under-the-rim. The Cavaliers can make all of these defensive changes and still get outscored in the paint if they don’t have a third big man who can excel as a rebounder.

Sanders, who will play for the Canton Charge tonight as he continues to work himself back into the flow of the game, still has three weeks to prepare. That’s more than enough time for Sanders, who will likely see a lot of playing time for the Cavs in the final week of the season as playoff teams usually opt to rest their main players before the playoffs.

Hopefully, adding more length and size to the backcourt while adding more mobility, rebounding and rim-protecting ability to the center position would help the Cavs give up less points in the paint.

What the Cavs have to realize is that 4 of the Cavs’ 6 worst lineups involve Shumpert as well as 4 of the Cavs’ 9 best lineups. How they use Shumpert, and where they use Shumpert, may matter more than any other player on the roster. Nonetheless, with J.R. Smith returning and the Cavs inability to stop opposing teams to attack the paint, hopefully the decisions can make themselves.

Shumpert should be a specialist who comes in against particular point guards. Sanders and (the younger) Williams can give the Cavs a much better defensive unit if they’re in the rotation instead of Shumpert.

How do you think the Cleveland Cavaliers should fix their defensive issues? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.