Cleveland Cavaliers: The hustle statistics will be crucial this season

The Cleveland Cavaliers will need to grind out wins, so the little things matter.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have good depth this season, and they will have a walking 20-point, 10-rebound man in Kevin Love. With a regular rotation that projects (at least to start the season) to have a number of solid, but not needle-moving players, they’ll need to win when it comes to the hustle statistics. For the first time in a while, they won’t have a guaranteed postseason spot, so they’ll need to be well-versed in the details and play team ball.

With the Cavaliers having so many lineup changes and even roster changes mid-season last year, I’ll give them a lot of slack for their less-than-stellar hustle statistics. The Cavs’ rotation will still take time to gel this season, too, but with younger pieces playing way more minutes in key parts of games, there shouldn’t be an effort issue, as there may have been at times in 2017-18.

That was understandable, as even after the trade deadline, Cleveland still had the third-oldest roster in the league at the time, (per Jim Oxley of HERO Sports). That was even after bringing in younger pieces such as Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood and Larry Nance Jr. (granted, Cleveland did bring back a veteran who they traded last season, in Channing Frye, on a veteran’s minimum contract).

Needless to say, as we’ve demonstrated for so long here at KJG, LeBron James covered up so many holes. Cleveland won so many games they probably shouldn’t have over the last few years because of James’ brilliance, and the Cavs will need to be more crisp throughout games to make the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

A few statistics come to mind, with the first two involving the defensive end of the floor.

The two crucial defensive hustle stats

If you’re reading this (well first, thank you so much), you probably know that Cleveland couldn’t have been much worse on defense last year. They had the league’s second-worst defensive rating, only two teams gave up more three-point makes per game, and only one team conceded more opponent assists, per NBA.com. That last statistic is really the one that’s overarching, as that means team defense is not coming through as it should throughout games.

This season, as was previously touched on, though, the team defense should be better with younger players playing many more minutes. Even with the constant change last year with the rotation, the Cavs gave up wide-open looks too often, and I don’t see that happening as much this year. Only four teams gave up more wide-open field goal attempts last season, per NBA.com. They need to concede significantly less wide-open field goal attempts (basically contest shots better).

What qualifies for that metric is an opponent shooter having at least six feet of room to shoot the ball. The Cavs were tied with the Chicago Bulls in conceding the most wide-open three attempts, and the Bulls gave up just a tad more makes (7.0 compared to Cleveland’s 6.9 per game).

With instinctive off-ball defenders playing often on the perimeter such as Cedi Osman, George Hill, Collin Sexton, David Nwaba, and even Kyle Korver and J.R. Smith, Cleveland should concede less wide-open shots. The Cavs placed in just the 10th percentile in defending against spot-ups, per Synergy Sports.

While they still don’t have much legitimate rim protection, with solid weak or strong side rotations, there should consistently be more active interior defense with less air space for opponents to have on the outside taking them into the paint with momentum. That leads me to my next hustle point of emphasis, in the case with Cleveland needing to have more deflections.

The Cavs didn’t have great on-ball defense last season on a general scale, which was due to a number of shortcomings. That being said, deflections often come from help coming at the right time either on a primary ball-handler’s drive or on plays where a weak or strong side defender jumps the passing lane properly.

Cleveland should be better at that this season with Osman, Nwaba, Sexton, J.R. Smith and Nance (who has 2.0 steals per 36 minutes for his career) leading the way with their timing and athleticism. This sort of stuff from Smith is the kind of effort that will be huge for a team fighting for a playoff birth, and there’s no reason the Cavs can’t have more of it.

The Cavs need to force more turnovers. Only five teams (and just one playoff team) had less deflections last season and only two squads had less loose balls recovered per game, per NBA.com. Getting those matter.

Hustle is quantifiable on the offensive end, too.

Screen assists will come in handy

The Cavaliers have very good screening potential with Tristan Thompson (who we’ve praised here often at KJG for that), Nance (especially with dribble handoffs), Love and Zizic. With a variety of pick-and-roll threats with varying skill sets in that play type to choose from, quality screens will be catalysts for the majority of possessions in halfcourt offense.

Those unselfish plays put pressure on both on and off-ball defense, and the more they see screens, the less they’re reacting and the more they’re thinking. Those half-second slow reactions can often be the difference between a cutter (such as Hood or Nwaba) getting an open layup or three-point shot and a turnover with more stagnant offensive flow.

Cleveland placed 12th in screen assists per game last year, which is a good spot. If they keep making a concerted effort at working early in the shot clock to get favorable position with their screens, they’ll get the mismatches and open shots they want and will create free throw chances.