The Cleveland Cavaliers’ assist totals should rise post-All-Star break

The Cleveland Cavaliers should be much healthier post-All-Star break, which should generate better looks offensively.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been crushed by injuries all season long, as we have continually harped on throughout 2018-19. Looking toward the rest of the year, though, Cleveland should be much more competitive, considering they’ll have more options to go to with their rotation getting on the healthier side.

With that being the case, the Cavaliers’ assist numbers should increase compared to the rest of the season. Cleveland is currently second-last in the NBA in assists per game (per NBA.com), so saying they’ll get better in that area probably doesn’t mean much, but once again, the injuries had a lot to do with that.

Kevin Love, who has only appeared in six games this season due to reported toe surgery, should be able to handle a much larger workload after the All-Star break. The last game he played in against the New York Knicks, Love looked sharp, as he had 14 points on 59.5 percent true shooting in just 15.7 minutes (per NBA.com).

His inside-out scoring presence on the floor should (by default) help players such as Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and Jordan Clarkson, as we’ve consistently emphasized. Love’s perimeter shooting, as a roller in particular, is something Cleveland has really missed, and should increase Sexton and Osman’s efficiency as pick-and-roll passers considerably.

For his career, Love has shot 36.9 percent from three-point range on 4.4 attempts per game, per Basketball Reference.

The spacing he’ll create should enable more drives into the interior of the opposing defense, which should open up backdoor layups to players such as David Nwaba, Clarkson, Nik Stauskas and more rolling lobs to Larry Nance Jr., Tristan Thompson and Marquese Chriss, when they share the floor with Love.

Matthew Dellavedova‘s lob passes are often a thing of beauty, and with Love and a diving presence out there with Delly, there should be a fair amount of plays similar to this one to Chriss.

Love has terrific passing instincts, too. He’s a good secondary playmaker out of the post, near the top of the key and as an outlet passer, too, which should open up more offensive options for Cleveland via man movement for the last part of the season.

An earlier game against the Minnesota Timberwolves gave a glimpse as to what Love could do when healthier as an all-around offensive option, and the Cavs should get a few of these games here and there from Love, which could lead to some wins.

With Love occupying more defensive attention than other Cavaliers’ pieces, that should allow Osman, Clarkson, Stauskas, Nance, Chriss and Sexton to get cleaner looks both off screens and from spot-ups. Cleveland’s catch-and-shoot production should increase as a result of Love on the floor, and with Thompson’s screen-setting likely returning to the lineup.

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He’s missed significant time this season with foot soreness, and after the All-Star break, I would think he should be able to play considerable minutes.

Thompson only trails Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz in screen assists per game this season (per NBA.com), and that skill set being re-inserted into the lineup for the Cleveland Cavaliers is invaluable.

Along with the off-ball screens from TT, Nance and Stauskas (between him and others on the perimeter, such as Nwaba), look for Cleveland primary playmakers such as Sexton, Clarkson and Osman to drive to pass more, with more options in the rotation.

Clarkson and Sexton have done a much better job in the last few weeks of driving baseline after hard closeouts and finding shooters above the break or in the opposite corner, as seen on this play.

This sort of look has been money from Osman recently, as he’s shooting 45.9 percent from three in his last 10 games, per NBA.com.

On the season, only five NBA teams have made less passes per game than the Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland is dead-last in potential assists per game, according to Second Spectrum.

Not coincidentally, Cleveland ranks last in catch-and-shoot field goal attempts, makes, and points (again, per Second Spectrum).

With more players slated to be healthy post-All-Star break, though, that trend likely won’t continue.

Among teams in the last five games, Cleveland is second in the Association in passes made per game, and that’s led to the Cavaliers canning the most catch-and-shoot threes (on a more-than-respectable 38.6 percent clip) in the NBA in that span, per Second Spectrum.

Fitting that data, the Cavs are coming off a 35-assist game against the Brooklyn Nets, which was a season-high (per Cleveland.com’s Joe Noga). Yes, the three-overtime affair helped that total, but the result was encouraging.

The Cavs’ offense may finally be able to feature more productive man and ball movement post-All-Star break, which should lead to some winning.

Plus, as HoopsHabit’s Tony Pesta recently highlighted, that potential winning should not doom Cleveland’s lottery hopes too much as they should be one of the three worst teams in the league, which would mean the Cavs still have a “14 percent chance of landing the no. 1 pick.”

To be clear, I’m not expecting the Cavaliers to suddenly be racking up the W’s, because they will likely conclude the season with the worst defensive rating in the NBA, as they currently have. The offensive flow, thanks to more passing, should be much better at minimum, however.