I was wrong; I thought the Cleveland Cavaliers would start better this season. They have started 0-4, though, and somebody has to take some accountability for this ineptitude.
It’s easy to take credit for successes life. The Cleveland Cavaliers had a four-year ride that was as memorable as it gets in LeBron James‘ “Return” to The Land, and that resulted in four NBA Finals’ appearances. It’s different now, though, as you all know. If you’re reading this, yell at Kevin Love and head coach Tyronn Lue for me.
I’m serious. The Cavaliers aren’t the same team post-Bron, but they have real players (to quote Cleveland Browns general manager John Dorsey), on this squad. Love is a pretty good player in his own right as a five-time All-Star in the Association, and has career averages of 18.3 and 11.3 rebounds per game.
He, the other veterans such as Tristan Thompson, Channing Frye and Kyle Korver, along with Lue, must ensure the Cavs are better than this. Love and Lue especially were a part of a championship team in 2016, and they need to start getting this team on the right path.
0-4 isn’t good, and getting blown out at home to the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets (who are better, but still not a contender), is pretty awful. Cleveland has solid pieces in George Hill, Rodney Hood, Cedi Osman, Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson, and they should be better than this.
The Athletic’s Joe Vardon put the cherry on top for how atrocious this start has been (and Brooklyn would go up by 20 multiple times the rest of the game from that point).
Trailing 68-50 with, let's see here, 6:10 left in the third, Cavs are about to go down 20 for the fourth consecutive game. They've only played four
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) October 25, 2018
The I guess (not really but I’m trying for a silver lining here) good news is that the NBA is a long, long, long season. Cleveland plays the Detroit Pistons tonight, which will be anything but easy. Blake Griffin just dropped a career-high 50 points against Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers in a Tuesday night victory, and Thompson and Nance need to do all they can to hold that monster in check.
Luckily, for the Cavs, there was some improvement defensively in the game against the Nets, other than a third quarter avalanche.
Lue acknowledged that post-game yesterday, but also noted how Cleveland be can’t be susceptible to big runs, given their margin for error being so small, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
"“We’ve got to be able to sustain it,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “I thought we did a good job in the first half of being physical, fighting over screens and even competing when we weren’t making shots. And that third quarter we wasn’t making shots. That let our defense down and we can’t do that. The margin for error for us is too small right now to give in to that.”"
Now, obviously the Cavaliers haven’t exactly figured out that conceding a ton of wide-open three-pointers and not making plays at the rim defensively is a bad combo. Cleveland is giving up the second-most made threes per game, and the second-highest three-point percentage, per NBA.com, and the Nets going 14-for-34 fits that trend.
Cleveland has enough players for them to not be an absolute dumpster fire, but I have to say, the in-game mistakes and miscommunications seem to resemble a Hue Jackson-coached team. I like the idea of Cleveland pushing the pace, but the lineup combinations (particularly Collin Sexton with Jordan Clarkson) haven’t been good, and my God why won’t Hood shoot three’s after ball swings?
I have no clue, and it’s hurting the Cavs.
Lue and the organization say they want to compete for a playoff spot, and now Love and Lue reportedly want the veterans to play, but where is defensive stopper David Nwaba?
Somebody page him. Mr. Nwaba! Mr. Nwaba! Where are you, sir?
I have no idea, and given that Nwaba is a tremendous athlete that is an unselfish player, and could bring added toughness to this Cleveland Cavaliers, I don’t see how he’s registered a TOTAL of six minutes played in four games. That’s unacceptable.
He’s only 25 years-old, and a lineup of Clarkson-him-Korver-Osman/Love-Nance in spurts could bring a much-needed spark for this Cleveland team. This was nice from Nwaba, and Cleveland could really use more of it.
https://twitter.com/cavs/status/1055456585454178309
The Cavs seem to be too content playing guys like Sam Dekker big minutes, and Thompson going one-for-10 shooting is ridiculous.
Lue needs this team to start showing things on the floor. If not, the trade rumors for a number of players are going to be more overt than ever before.
I have to say, I didn’t see this coming, but if the Cavs can come together against Detroit tonight, maybe that can change things. I don’t see it, though. It’s going to be the 4-5 Griffin and Andre Drummond pick-and-roll lob fest if Love and Lue don’t get these guys on the same page.