The defensive potential of the Cavs’ “Big 4”
Is the “Big 4’s” defense good enough for the Cleveland Cavaliers?
In a recent post, I examined the offensive dynamics of what the “Big 4” for the Cleveland Cavaliers — the four-man unit of LeBron James, Kevin Love, Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson — would bring for the team. In this post, I’ll examine the group’s defensive potential.
First things first, there are two things that need to be said:
(1) the Cavaliers want to use their defense to ignite their offense
(2) the Cavaliers’ offense can ease the pressure on their defense
That being noted, while none of the “Big 4” of the Cavaliers have outstanding defensive reputations, three of the four players — James, Hood and Clarkson — have either exceeded expectations on the defensive end or have shown the ability to be a consistent game-changer on defense.
The conversation starts with James because of the idea that James’ defensive intensity is constantly reflected by his teammates. Though it’s questionable that poor defensive effort by James leads to poor defensive effort by the rest of the rotation, when James in engaged and locked-in on the defensive end, his team does tend to feed off of that energy.
However, as I’ve mentioned before, James has adopted a defensive strategy that replaces aggressiveness with intelligence.
James will consistently give his man a couple of feet of room when defending on the perimeter. This is likely because at his age, he finds himself better equipped to stop a drive to the rim and pull-up attempts by using a combination of angles, his size and athleticism as it allows him to save more energy than what he’d expend with constant ball pressure.
This strategy also allows him to keep eyes on the rest of the team, a team of players in which he’s not just the most intelligent player on the team but has played over 20 times as many games for the Cavaliers since the 2014-2015 season as Hood, Clarkson, George Hill and Larry Nance Jr., four of the top nine players in their rotation. Suffice it to say, James is responsible for a heavy dose of defensive communication when he’s on the floor.
James gets quite a few steals from playing off-the-ball too.
However, the strategy has led to players making quite a few threes against him and getting to the rim more than you’d like to see.
When James has his body on players though, you can can believe they feel all 250 pounds if muscle packed into his 6-foot-8 frame. He’s also still an exceptional athlete though he likes to conserve his energy throughout the game. It’s what allows him to turn up the defensive pressure when needed, guard every position and be an impactful post defender to boot.
James is still a feared rim-protector as well, averaging 0.9 blocks per game this season (tied for the third-highest mark of his career).
Hood has been a player who exceeded expectations defensively, consistently staying with his man on the perimeter and preventing them from getting off easy buckets. He’s shown an ability to guard all three perimeter positions, though he’s better guarding wings, and been able to guard elite players as well. At 6-foot-8, he’ll be a potential defensive weapon against the top wings in the postseason (i.e. DeMar Derozan, Jayson Tatum, James Harden, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant).
He doesn’t get many steals or blocks but so long as he forces the pass or a miss, that’s fine.
Clarkson is another player who has exceeded expectations on defense though his performance on that end has been shaky at times. He’s long, athletic and aggressive fighting through screens, which is a great benefit for the Cavs. He’ll go flying to contest a shot.
However, players do have success scoring against him off-the-dribble and he can get lost (or just can tend to have poor communication) in his pick-and-roll coverage.
Love, for all his exceptional abilities on the offensive end, isn’t a player who has done either.
The problem for Love is that, if the Cavaliers opt to switch 1-5 and he’s at the center position, he does a good job of sliding his feet to stay in front of ball-handlers but often gets lost in who to cover and can look lethargic after multiple switches.
If they’re switching 1-4 and he’s at the center position, his pick-and-roll defense leaves a lot to be desired.
At the point-of-attack, he doesn’t do a great enough job of getting in the ball-handler’s space. When dropping back to try to protect the rim, he doesn’t possess the athletic ability to play middle ground — he can neither recover fast enough to stop a perimeter attempt or a lob at the rim.
His post defense is solid. Although there very few exemplary low-post scorers in the league, Love has shown strength and length in the post, rarely getting backed down and bullied on the block.
At the power forward position, he’ll often be in a position to guard out on the perimeter, whether that means contesting a spot-up shooter or playing his man straight-up. However, as previously mentioned, Love can be lethargic on rotations — a problem when he needs to contest a spot-up shot.
When he’s particularly engaged on the defensive end, the transformation Love has made in slimming down his physique shines.
He moves his feet well on the perimeter and on rotations, even moving in to take charges.
Nonetheless, Love needs to be that player more often for him to avoid being taken off the court in crunch time minutes, which has not been an unusual occurrence in his time in Cleveland.
As previously mentioned, the Cavs want defense to ignite their offense. However, this is a team who’s best players are simply better on offense.
On a scale of 1-10, this four-man unit’s defensive potential probably tops off at an 9. According to stats.nba.com, opponents only scored 88.8 points per 100 possessions against the “Big 4”, shooting 36.4 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three-point range. They have a defensive rating of 101.7.
There’s enough positional versatility for them to insert a strong defensive player and be better than that. Luckily, players like Hill, Nance Jr. and Cedi Osman have strong defensive reputations while players like J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver, Jeff Green and Tristan Thompson can put together solid defensive performances when healthy and engaged.
Against teams with firepower like the Houston Rockets or Golden State Warriors, defense is going to be a must, sooner or later. For teams with more athletic centers, like the Rockets, a player like Nance Jr. can fit in the fifth slot. Against the Warriors, who like to use 6-foot-7 power forward Draymond Green at center, a versatile defender like Osman or Green could be particularly useful.
No matter who the fifth player is though, they can fit with the “Big 4” on both ends and that’s the beauty of it all.