Do the Cavs have a “Big 4”?

Are the combined talents of LeBron James, Kevin Love, Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson enough to be considered a “Big 4” for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

The Cleveland Cavaliers currently have four players averaging at least 14.0 points per game this season in LeBron James (27.9), Kevin Love (17.5), Rodney Hood (15.0) and Jordan Clarkson (14.3). Together, this quartet averages a grand total of 64.7 points per game.

While each possessing completely different games, these players are the quartet of Cavs that makes the team lethal from the perimeter.

Love is the purest three-point shooter of the bunch despite being the biggest player (6-foot-10, 251 pounds).

He’s shooting 40.0 percent from three on 5.5 three-point attempts per game while largely playing the center position. This makes him an automatic mismatch and decoy as opposing teams don’t want to put smaller players on him with his low-post ability and rim-protectors are drawn out of the paint because of his perimeter prowess, opening up ample space inside the arc for drives and cuts. Not to be ignored, Love’s passing ability (especially for a big man) only serves to make the team more dynamic.

With or without Love, James is a ruthless slasher (11.6 drives per game this season) with great touch inside who attacks the rim and the teeth of the defense by driving and using his overwhelming size (6-foot-8, 250 pounds), strength and athleticism to convert on the drive (60.7 percent shooting on drives this season).

Other times he operates out of the low or high-post. Even still he’s a threat to pull-up from three or hit a catch-and-shoot three because he’s improved his shooting stroke. When you add his court vision, basketball IQ, experience and passing ability he becomes an otherwordly playmaker off-the-dribble (9.1 assists per game).

Hood, a 6-foot-8 swingman, is also an aggressive slasher, able to penetrate the lane in the open court or in the halfcourt after receiving a screen.

He isn’t the most natural ball-handler and definitely favors his dominant hand but he knows how to use his size to get deep in the lane and uses a sweet lefty shooting stroke to convert a shot anywhere from the paint to the three-point line (38.3 percent shooting from three this season). He’s not on James’ level (who is?) but he’s also a nice playmaker off-the-dribble and in the pick-and-roll (0.90 points per possession in 11 games for the Cavs, 74th percentile).

Clarkson, a 6-foot-5 combo guard and “professional scorer”, is a player who attacks the rim as much as possible.

If he can’t get to the rim, where he’s done a great job of converting layup attempts in traffic, he’s always a threat to pull-up and hit from the midrange. He’s also seemingly got his stroke from deep down pat (shooting 41.7 percent from deep in 22 games with Cleveland).

You can put any player around these four and have a stellar five-man lineup. Especially if the fifth player is a plus defender or catch-and-shoot threat.

Look around the league and there a number of superteams but the only team that currently has a Big 4 are the Golden State Warriors, although squads like the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers are pegged to have those types of teams once their young cores develop.

The Warriors have Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green as their Big 4. They average a grand total of 83.7 points per game, 19.0 points more than the Cavs’ “Big 4”, a difference due in large part to the Warriors’ top quartet having two former NBA MVPs.

However, their “Big 4” might be less dynamic as far as scoring goes (not to confused with dominant) considering that Green (who averages 11.3 points per game), isn’t a big-time scoring threat, whether off-the-dribble, in the post or spotting up. That’s why the Cavaliers literally let him shoot in the 2017 NBA Finals.

You can’t just leave James, Love, Hood or Clarkson open though. Especially if the Cavaliers get the ball moving and popping with energy and have surrounded these four with a player that fits the matchup.

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For the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have been marred by injury all season long, it’s been either “The LeBron James Show” or “The LeBron James Show, co-hosted by Kevin Love”.

Sure, there are other outfits that run their squad with a two-headed beast; the Houston Rockets are headed by James Harden and Chris Paul. However, with Rockets guard Eric Gordon averaging 18.3 points per game while breakout center Clint Capela averages a double-double and helps the team on both ends, you might say they have a Big Four in H-Town.

In other words, while a team may not have four household names as their top four players, that doesn’t mean their contributions aren’t necessary for the team’s success.

The Cavaliers’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night was a perfect example of that.

James scored 25 points and nearly had a triple-double with 11 assists and 9 rebounds, Clarkson scored 25 much-needed points and Hood scored 16 points. While Love only scored 8 points, just the threat of his shooting ability forced big men to guard him on the perimeter and allowed James and Hood to come out hot, attacking the rim. Love also had 8 rebounds in just 23 minutes.

Hood, Clarkson and Love each added 2 assists.

Together, the four accounted for 74 of the team’s 107 points (69.2 percent) and 17 of the team’s 22 assists (77.3 percent).

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