The Cleveland Cavaliers need Derrick Rose to return ASAP

The Cleveland Cavaliers need Derrick Rose to return to the starting lineup, badly.

Derrick Rose may be one of the most polarizing figures in the NBA. However, no matter what you may think of Rose, the Cleveland Cavaliers need him to return to the starting lineup as soon as possible.

For their third straight game, the Cleveland Cavaliers have struggled to put away an inferior opponent.

First, it was the Orlando Magic – who came away with a 114-93 beatdown of the Cavs despite having two starters out of the lineup (Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon).

Next, it was the rebuilding Chicago Bulls squad – who lost 119-112 but were leading the Cavs after the third quarter.

On Wednesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Brooklyn Nets (112-107) despite Jeremy Lin and D’Angelo Russell being out for the game.

If there are any similarities between these three games, outside of the fact they’ve given up 17 threes in each, it’s this: the Cleveland Cavaliers have been playing without Derrick Rose. Without Rose, LeBron James has twice started at point guard after Jose Calderon flamed out in his debut against the Magic.

Calderon seemed to have lost some of the confidence Lue had in him, as he was benched in the next game. He returned to play the Nets and while his defense wasn’t as paltry, he made too many careless mistakes on the offensive end, resulting in two turnovers and a plus/minus of -3 in 14 minutes. Unfortunately, Calderon has looked little better than the NBA Finals version of Deron Williams to start the season.

While James is the best point-forward in the game and could be the best point guard in the NBA if that was his nominal position, starting a game without a player capable of being a primary playmaker is unfamiliar territory for James. No matter the inclinations of volume scorers like Kyrie Irving, Dwyane Wade, Mo Williams or Larry Hughes – James has started beside some player with the skill to be and the experience of being the primary ball-handler full-time. At least, that’s been the case since February 3rd, 2005.

The difference for James, as he told reporters in the locker room following Tuesday night’s victory over the Chicago Bulls, is that being the nominal point guard makes him more aware of having to make precise passes and he’s inclined to leak out in transition since he’s not just the primary ball-handler, but the lone perimeter playmaker on the floor.

That difference is seen in the amount of points the Cleveland Cavaliers have scored in the paint without another ball-handler capable of getting into the teeth of the defense at will. In two games with Rose in the starting lineup, the Cleveland Cavaliers have averaged 59.0 points in the paint per game. In the three games since, the Cleveland Cavaliers have averaged 38.0 points in the paint per game.

Rose wasn’t scoring 21.0 points in the paint per game of course.

In fact, he’s averaging 7.0 points in the paint per game but only he, Kevin Love and LeBron James are averaging at least 7.0 points in the paint per game.

Rose’s replacement in the rotation, Calderon, has only averaged 1.2 points in the paint per game. Though J.R. Smith has been prodding the defense for two-point shots, he’s only averaging 1.6 points in the paint per game. With all the dribbling Iman Shumpert does at the top of key, you’d think he had more than 1.2 points in the paint per game.

Those are the Cleveland Cavaliers other ball-handlers on the perimeter: three players who don’t average 7.0 points in the paint combined.

As a result, the Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t able to drive-and-kick or use the pick-and-roll to get easy buckets like they were able to do in the first contest. Scoring on the interior also allows players to draw fouls – fouls that play on the psyche of defenses and may make them less aggressive with their interior defense. Fouls that may cause the team’s best rim-protector to have to sit on the bench.

The Cleveland Cavaliers need that. They also need to return to the pace at which Rose played. James has always been a more methodical player than most, using his otherworldly basketball IQ to calculate the best way to score on an opponent’s defense. However, without any other players beside him to push the pace with the ball, the Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t able to (a) get out in transition as much as they should, especially with a player like James on the team or (b) able to play on the fatigue factor and able to try to wear the opposing team’s defense down with their pace.

The difference between Rose and James’ pace on the court?

Rose is playing at a PACE of 103.8 possessions per game, a team-high. James is playing at a PACE of 98.4 possession per game, the second-lowest on the team. The Cavs’ pace of 97.5 possessions per game (21st in the NBA) is likely a result of James playing point guard for extenuated period of time, as Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue constantly preaches the importance of playing at a fast pace.

For the record, Smith has played at the lowest PACE on the team (98.0 possessions per game). Meanwhile, Calderon has played at a PACE of 101.1 possessions per game and Dwyane Wade has played at a PACE of 103.0 possessions per game but neither are likely to consistently take an opponent off-the-dribble from the perimeter, get into the lane and convert the attempt like Rose has proven he can and will do.

The Cleveland Cavaliers three-point defense deserves to be a topic of conversation as they’ve given up 17 threes and over 100 points per game to three teams that were expected to be in the NBA dungeon this season. However, while the Cavs’ certainly can put more pressure on players behind-the-line, some of the shots other teams are making against the Cavs are genuinely surprising.

The surprise is over. The Cavs now know that other teams will take and make a large volume of threes against them. Now they should close out harder, get closer to their man on-ball defense and be more alert and aware of their teammates defensive responsibilities through on-court communication and studying. They need to respect their opponent and treat every team like they’re the Golden State Warriors if they have to.

A bigger issue for the Cavs is getting into the paint. For that, they need Rose. While it may seem like this prioritizes the offense over defense, the truth of the matter is that sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Efficient scoring and shots closer to the rim allow a team to be able to get back and be set on defense. Although we’re talking about three-point shots, some of the attempts other teams are making have come in transition.

As an aside, having Rose on the court will help the defense too. He has size, quickness and a load of energy on the defensive end that help him make an impact past what may be seen in a statistical analysis.

The way D.J. Augustin put Calderon in the torture chamber is unlikely to have taken place against Rose, a quicker point guard. The way Jerian Grant and Kay Felder went bananas against the Cavs is unlikely to have taken place against Rose, as the Cavs would have had a quicker defender to stop Grant’s perimeter penetration and Rose’s size to help obstruct Felder’s vision on shot attempts.

The shot Spencer Dinwiddie made over Smith at the end of the game against the Nets, which was virtually the game-winner – it’s highly unlikely that Rose would have played that far back.

Why? Because Rose in a contract year with everything to prove and everything to lose if he doesn’t perform well for a squad in title contention. He has to give his all and he does.

Despite what detractors may say, Rose is pretty darn good. Without any other point guard that Lue can trust to be a starter, the Cleveland Cavaliers need him. Having James as the solitary “point guard” in the starting lineup is an experiment with more layers than wins, losses and assists.

As James said following Wednesday’s victory, “teams are playing with a faster pace than us to start the game”. He may not be able to key in on what the difference is but I can.

The absence of Rose.