Cleveland Cavaliers’ Larry Drew deserves credit for offensive uptick

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense is looking a bit more modern lately.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have lost 11 straight games, which is not something to be proud of. They are dealing with injury after injury to important players in their rotation, though, and yet, in their last handful of games, the offense has come along a bit. A good amount of the credit for that should go to head coach Larry Drew, who has been put in a really tough situation.

It seems as though Drew is preaching good habits, as the Cavs, and particularly, Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson and recent 10-day acquisition, Cameron Payne, have been getting the ball hopping for Cleveland. Too much of Cleveland’s offense this season has come from the Cavs dribbling the air out of the ball, and in recent games, that hasn’t happened as often.

Although the New Orleans Pelicans did eventually beat the Cavs last night, Cleveland’s offense was very good overall, as they scored 124 points and shot 47.7 percent from the field, per ESPN.

The key for that, as was previously noted, was the primary playmakers getting good looks for themselves, and more importantly, making plays for others. Cleveland had 27 assists against New Orleans, which would place them second in the NBA if that were the case for the whole season, per NBA.com.

On the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have the second-lowest assist average in the league, with them having only 20.2 per game.

Some of that is due to Cleveland not having an abundance of reliable catch-and-shoot threats, but getting those looks on a consistent basis and stressing pull-up three-pointers when they’re there, as opposed to taking off-balance contested drives and tough mid-range pull-ups is a sign that the team is moving in the right direction.

Once again, a considerable amount of credit for that positive step should go to Drew for sending the right message in relation to basketball in 2019.

Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor highlighted that in a recent piece.

"“Over the last five games, the Cavs rank sixth in made triples, averaging 12.6 per game. They are a respectable 12th in 3-point frequency, according to the stat-driven website Cleaning the Glass. During that same stretch, the Cavs are hitting an impressive 43.8 percent, which is good for the second-best mark in the league.”"

Clarkson, the Cavs’ best scorer minus-Kevin Love, touched on how he and the Cavs have been preaching more analytics-driven basketball focused on making plays for others from three lately and less shots in inefficient areas (which Cleveland has been prone to taking too often this year), per Fedor.

"“That’s my big thing right now. I’m either taking the 3 or trying to get all the way to the rim and make a play for my teammate when I draw guys.”"

That mindset is essential for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are trying to build the right habits when it comes to moving the ball and taking the most efficient shots on the floor, which is often the reason teams win or lose games now.

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Especially with Cleveland’s lackluster defense on the other end thanks to ill-fitting personnel, and reported injuries to a key defender like David Nwaba and others, the Cavs might as well start practicing the best ways to operate offensively so they are in a better situation in the near future.

Drew highlighted (again, per Fedor) how when “guys are getting feet set, we’ve [the Cavs] had some chances.”

Against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night in a game where Cleveland was at one point down by 26 points and looked dead in the water, the ball started moving better, as Drew always stresses is key, and Cleveland got back into the game.

Cleveland shot 44.8 percent from three and made 13 (per ESPN) and that was impressive with how Indiana can lock teams down with their physical ball pressure and good timing with their help.

Dellavedova’s unselfishness seems to be setting a positive trend for the Cavs and especially Sexton, who made a heck of a play here on this feed to Tristan Thompson. Earlier in the season, I would’ve definitely thought Sexton would be looking to shoot this at the rim, which would be a difficult shot.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsOH/status/1082822053160378370

It’s unclear as to what playmakers will be on the Cavs roster post-trade deadline, with solid players such as Rodney Hood and Alec Burks‘ contracts expiring after this season, making them reportedly having a “decent chance” of being moved (per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst).

That being said, young players in Sexton, Larry Nance Jr., and probably Cedi Osman (who has flashed as a scorer and playmaker with 11.6 points and 2.3 assists per game this year) should be able to keep the ball-movement approach pressing forward in the coming years.

Those three players could be cornerstone pieces for the Cavs, and potentially with more talent around them via the draft, could be the main catalysts for Drew’s offense. With how Cleveland has been preaching more efficient and more open looks lately, the offensive uptick might not just be fluky.