Who should the Cleveland Cavaliers start in their frontcourt?
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue has been teasing the idea of starting Kevin Love at center and moving Tristan Thompson to the bench. Two weeks ago, I explored the idea of starting Love at center in a piece that examined what the Cavs’ ideal starting lineup should be. However, that was written before shooting guard Dwyane Wade – who could be named as a starter – was signed.
In the aforementioned article, I asserted that the Cleveland Cavaliers starting frontcourt should be LeBron James at small forward, Jae Crowder at power forward and Love at center. Although I’ve toyed with the thought of J.R. Smith starting at small forward and James starting at the four spot, I still believe a frontcourt of James – Crowder – Love gives the Cavs the best chance to succeed on both ends of the court.
Let’s start with the defensive end. A three-man unit of James – Crowder – Love features two forwards who are interchangeable, the same two forwards who are capable of defending guards or wings out on the perimeter. Their defensive versatility and their combined defensive aptitude will allow them to slow down two of the opposing team’s best players at any given time. In a league that’s becoming dominated by Big 3s, that means there could be one other player on the court that will be a threat to take over as a scorer. A team like the Oklahoma City Thunder, a championship contender, is one that has a plethora of scorers the Cavs’ would be able to slow down from the offset if Crowder starts in place of Tristan Thompson.
Cleveland Cavaliers
That’s not because Thompson isn’t a versatile defensive player. It’s because Crowder is the better perimeter defender.
Last season, Crowder held opposing small forwards to a player efficiency rating (PER) of 12.4 and an effective field goal percentage (eFG%) of 45.2. Those are below average offensive numbers for Crowder’s matchup, a sign of how effective he is on the perimeter. Crowder held opposing power forwards to a PER of 16.9 and an eFG% of 49.2. That’s not far off from Love’s defense against power forwards (which was better than expected). Love held opposing power forwards to a PER of 14.4 and an eFG% of 48.7.
Thompson was excellent defending players after being iso’d on the perimeter, holding them to a field goal percentage of 40.2. However, Crowder was even better, holding his matchup to a field goal percentage of 32.2 when isolated on the perimeter.
All this goes to show how Crowder is simply the better perimeter defender. Stats aside, Crowder is swifter and better at moving his feet than Thompson. His physical profile is that of a wing and it would make sense he’d fare better defending out on the perimeter.
For the record, Love allowed opposing centers to have a PER of 21.7 and have a eFG% of 59.4 while Thompson allowed opposing centers to have a PER of 19.0 and an eFG% of 53.2. However, Love only allowed opposing centers to have an inside field goal (iFG) percentage of 44.4 while Thompson allowed opposing centers to have an iFG percentage of 57.0.
Thompson and Love’s interior defense, sans their shot-blocking ability (where Thompson has a clear edge), is pretty close at the center position. Thompson and Love are both undersized for the position though Love is taller and has a broader frame. Though there are quite a few athletic centers in the league, like DeAndre Jordan, Andre Drummond and Hassan Whiteside, there are still quite a few ground-bound centers in the league like Marc Gasol, Jonas Valanciunas and Marcin Gortat. One way or the other, the starting center for the Cavs would be at some type of physical disadvantage eventually, with Thompson too slight for bulky centers like Gasol and Love lacking the athleticism necessary to deal with a player like Jordan all game long.
Luckily, Love can play solid defense against power forwards. So if the Cavs want to play a lineup with their original starting frontcourt, they should still perform well. In addition, James can switch onto some of those athletic centers from time-to-time if need be. According to 82games, James held opposing small forwards to a PER of 12.6 (eFG% of 47.4), opposing power forwards to a PER of 17.8 (eFG% of 53.5) and opposing centers to a PER of 13.0 (iFG of 50.0). James is strong, tall, cerebral and still one of the best athletes in the world. He’s the ultimate Swiss Army Knife for a team that may need him to plug up defensive holes from time-to-time.
With James and Love two of the Cavs’ Big 3, and the only two that are healthy, there’s nowhere for Thompson to fit in the starting lineup though. That’s primarily because he doesn’t have the offensive game of a perimeter player, though his passing ability is above average for a center.
Thompson doesn’t can’t space the floor like Love though. One of the factors in what would make Lue move Love to center permanently.
Per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:
"“Spacing opportunities, spacing the floor,” Lue said when asked what he likes about Love playing center."
Love took 6.5 three-point attempts per game last year and made 37.3 percent of them. He’s taken 4.2 three-point attempts per game and made 36.4 percent of them for his career. In the playoffs, his deep-ball accuracy only improves. He made 45.0 percent of 6.2 three-point attempts per game in last year’s postseason. He’s made 43.2 percent of 5.8 three-point attempts per game in his playoff career.
Love made 39.4 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes last season and 44.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes in last year’s playoffs. Catch-and-shoot threes make up the bulk of Love’s three-point attempts so it’s fair to say that Love’s duty behind the arc is to be a spot-up shooter.
Thompson has taken nine total threes in his career and made none.
Beside Love, Crowder and James will try to continue their hot three-point shooting from last season.
Crowder made a career-high 39.8 percent of his threes (5.5 attempts per game) in the regular season and 35.2 percent (4.9 attempts per game) in the playoffs. For his career, he’s made 34.6 percent (3.4 attempts per game) in the regular season and 32.2 percent (4.2 attempts per game) in the playoffs. While it’s clear that Crowder isn’t a natural three-point shooter, he’s been a consistent threat from the corner. He’s made 40.6 percent of his corner threes in his career and 47.8 percent of them last season.
He also made 40.7 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes in the last year’s regular season and 36.5 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes in last season’s playoffs.
James, a career 34.2 percent shooter from three (4.0 attempts per game), made 36.3 percent of his threes last season (4.6). He made 41.1 percent of his threes (5.9 per game) in last year’s playoffs, while shooting 33.0 percent from three in his playoff career. Coming from an era where the three-ball was a luxury and not a necessity, James isn’t a natural three-point shooter either. However, James has shot 39.0 percent from the corners for his career (31.4 percent in the playoffs) and made 37.1 percent of his corner threes last season (43.8 percent in the playoffs), nowhere near his career-high of 56.8 percent (55.6 percent in the playoffs).
The interesting thing about James’ three-point shooting is that, unlike Love and Crowder, he prefers to take pull-up threes. Specifically pull-up threes from above the left break. In the regular season, James made 40.7 of his catch-and-shoot threes (1.6 per game) and of the 2.6 pull-up three attempts he took per game (more than double what Crowder attempted and five times as many as Love attempted), he made just 32.8 percent of them. However, in the playoffs, James made 37.9 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes (still 1.6 per game) and 40.9 percent of his pull-up threes (3.6 per game) as he found himself in a rhythm from behind the arc.
Whether the shot’s falling or not, James will take more pull-up threes than catch-and-shoot threes. It’s what he’s done since shot tracking data became available (2013-2014).
As a result, while Wade, Derrick Rose, or both, could start in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ backcourt, it will always be James who operates at the primary fulcrum of the offense. He’s going to be the one delivering rifle passes to outside shooters more often than not while a player like Crowder posts up in one corner and Wade or Rose waits in the other. Averaging 8.7 assists per game in the regular season and 7.8 assists per game in the playoffs, James’ court vision only gets better with experience and he was already one of the high-IQ passers in the league. With nearly as many shooters as last season but better talent and better player personnel from an IQ standpoint, James will still feed his team but be fed more than he has been in season’s past.
That’s not just because Rose and Isaiah Thomas will be more willing passers than Kyrie Irving was, keeping their heads up to make the right basketball play rather than get in a one-on-one battle with the opposing player, as Irving was prone to do.
It’s because while Love is a big man who will spot-up from anywhere he also allows Lue “to play through the elbows with multiple guys”, like they do with James. If Love is at the elbow, James (93rd percentile) and Crowder (98th percentile) are masterful cutters who Love can feed as they run to the rim.
Wade and Rose could excel as cutters too, with their offensive awareness and finishing ability. With enough varied ball and player movement, something also helped by replacing Thompson with a perimeter player, the Cavs’ offense can catch the opposing defense out of position consistently. As a result, their offense will be more complex than the simple drive-and-kick offense the Cavs ran last year.
Make no mistake about it though. Improving the Cavs’ spacing will allow James to do what he does best, attack the rim.
Whether it’s coming off screens in the halfcourt, operating in the pick-and-roll, having defenders flutter out away from the rim in transition or sizing up his man before he barrels towards the rim in isolation, James has more space to drive and dominate inside. Last season, James drove to the rim 9.5 times per game (11.9 in the postseason), more than any forward in the league. He scored 7.8 points per game on drives (9.3 in the postseason), more than any forward in the league. He made 62.4 percent of his field goals on drives (56.8 percent in the postseason), a higher field goal percentage than any player in the top-30 (top-9 in the postseason).
With Crowder starting in place of Thompson, both Love and James should have more opportunity to operate on the low block since opposing big men will be occupied with a man on the perimeter more often than not. So long as the Cavs get the switch they want, Love and James will be able to be as dominant as they can be inside. Love converted 51.2 percent of his post touches (3.4 per game) last season while James converted 80.4 percent of his post touches (2.6 per game).
Related Story: Dwyane Wade's role with the Cavs
What do you think? Should the Cleveland Cavaliers start LeBron James, Jae Crowder and Kevin Love in their frontcourt? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA. Follow @quentonalbertie on Twitter for more content, updates and coverage.