For the Cavs to succeed, the Big 3 must establish a pecking order

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Big 3 is going through an adjustment period, as was to be expected.

Isaiah Thomas, Kevin Love and LeBron James represent a fine collection of basketball knowledge and innate talent. However, they haven’t gelled quite well as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Big Three.

Not yet anyways.

The group has only played nine games together – or eight, if you want to discount a primetime game against the Oklahoma City Thunder that Love left early in the first quarter.

All the while the Cleveland Cavaliers have suffered humiliating defeats and been in a funk throughout January, going 4-7. They’ve been 4-5 with Thomas.

They’ve played the type of defense that would make for a full-length film of lowlight plays.

They’re giving up 117.0 points per game (on 49.2 percent shooting from the field) thanks to lackadaisical rotations and poor individual defense. They’re giving up 93.5 field goal attempts during this time, allowing opponents to get out and run on them, while they’re giving up 48.0 rebounds per game and being dominated on the glass.

All of these issues are exacerbated by Thomas’ lack of hustle and conditioning, Love’s lack of hustle and quickness and James’ lack of hustle and aging body.

However, as they say, good offense can lead to good defense and improved effort. As a result, perhaps improving the hustle factor for the Big 3 (the lone factor they can change) starts with their offense.

Part of the issue with James’ decreased offensive production stems from him playing in lineups lacking spacing. The issue with Thomas and Love’s, however, is each other.

Thomas and Love are two of the best at their positions and have been a franchise player, taking the bulk of the shots and being the primary playmaker. While Love has accepted a lesser role as a sacrifice to win championships, the head strong Thomas hasn’t kept the ball moving like he could, opting to try to score early in the shot clocks and with no passes.

That might have been needed in Boston but it isn’t necessary in Cleveland.

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No only do his misses effect the flow of the offense, a lot of them come during the first quarter, a quarter the Cavs use to establish Love on offense (and boost his energy for defense).

Thomas has been taking 4.7 field goal attempts per game in the first quarter, making 26.2 percent of his attempts. Love is taking 3.5 field goal attempts per game in the first quarter since Thomas’ return (making 25.2 percent of his shots).

Prior to Thomas’ return, Love was taking 5.2 field goal attempts per game in the first quarter (making 48.2 percent of his shots).

Thomas should attack when he sees a good shot but be more judicious in his shot selection early in the game.

To that point, as the primary playmaker, James needs to make sure Love gets his early touches and that Thomas gets his shots throughout the game.

Conversely, James needs to make sure the ball doesn’t stick to his hands too much and flies around with energy in order to generate good ball-movement and good shots for the team without players becoming stagnant.

With just the slightest adjustments from James and Thomas, Love should be able to put up All-Star numbers again.

The trio needs to put the team and this season above themselves and their future.

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*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com and stats.nba.com