Relocation of shooters should be key part of Cavaliers’ offense

The Cleveland Cavaliers should have more movement in their offense under head coach John Beilein and his coaching staff over due time, and relocation of shooters should be a key part of that.

The Cleveland Cavaliers did not have nearly enough movement in their offense last season, and though injuries to important players and most notably Kevin Love were undoubtedly a reason for that, it’s clear that under new head coach John Beilein and his staff, both man and ball movement needs to be a major priority in the coming years.

It was understandable that players such as Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson were prone to over-dribbling at times in 2018-19, as Cleveland was often decimated by injuries, and the Cavs’ overall spacing was mostly limited last season. This was in large part because the team’s best perimeter shooter and overall player in Love was only active in 22 games (per Basketball Reference) mostly due to reported toe surgery.

As a result, only six NBA teams shot less three-pointers per game, and Cleveland also placed in the bottom 10 in three-pointers made per contest (per NBA.com).

When Love was playing meaningful minutes (at least 15.0 minutes per game, per NBA.com), though, the offense was better, ball and productive man movement was more consistent, and the Cavs were a more-respectable 7-9 in that stretch.

Nonetheless, in the coming years, the Cleveland Cavaliers will need to feature more relocation of shooters in their offense than they had in 2018-19, as that get more pieces perimeter shots and would feature more urgency for the team on a possession-to-possession basis.

The baseline concept when it comes to relocation, really in today’s NBA, comes from a playmaker or wing a good amount of time throwing a pass to big or off guard, and then getting the ball back often after coming around an off-ball screen/screens and firing off a good look after finding daylight of the catch-and-shoot variety.

The best player in the league at this is likely Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, and of course, with him being the best shooter in the history of the NBA, that’s pretty darn difficult to defend.

Here’s some examples, per Coach Mike Shaughnessy.

Now, do the Cavs have a player that has the shooting ability of Curry? Absolutely not, but this sort of thing is something Beilein and company need to stress more in the coming years within the Cavaliers’ offense, which involved too much standing around off-ball last season.

Young players such as Sexton, Cedi Osman and 2019 draft picks Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. need to utilize this sort of thing a good amount in the near future, so they make opposing defenders keep working throughout possessions and don’t allow defenders to have breaks off the ball.

I understand shooting off of movement is not a simple thing for young players, but with Garland, Windler and Porter, in particular, already showing they have the makings of being high-level catch-and-shoot three-point threats in their stints in college (as we’ve often highlighted here at KJG), relocation after deliveries from players such as Love, Larry Nance Jr. and potentially Ante Zizic should lead to quality perimeter looks. That’d be feasibly on both the strong and weak side if those perimeter players are persistent in continuing to move with urgency off the ball.

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Windler showed some of this kind of thing at Belmont, and the career 40.6% three-point shooter (per Sports Reference) in four seasons at college should be featured in that way in his rotational minutes.

Defenses would start to cheat to that from Windler and perhaps Garland or Porter, and then bigs can get more in-rhythm open looks near the perimeter/mid-range for themselves and/or get more room for post-up opportunities when defenders overplay the relocating passes to the perimeter (when it comes to Love and Zizic).

Sticking to the narrative of not having enough productive movement last season, Cleveland was second-last in assists per game (per NBA.com), placed in the 17th percentile in off-screen scoring (per Synergy Sports), last in the NBA in catch-and-shoot points in 2018-19, and second-last in catch-and-shoot three-pointers made last season (per Second Spectrum’s NBA tracking data).

So, to reiterate, the Cleveland Cavaliers need to get players such as Garland, Windler and Porter perimeter looks via relocation. Along with that, though Sexton and Osman aren’t as polished shooters (though 40.2% from three for Sexton and 34.8% from three last season for Osman isn’t awful), with them likely having the ball in their hands at the beginning of possessions often, if they aren’t as prone to over-dribbling and matchup-hunting, they would likely benefit as shooters if they get the ball to Nance or Love initially and then keep moving. From there, they could get a cleaner look and be in better position to let it fly after likely getting off-ball screens from others after those initial passes.

If those perimeter pieces continue to do that throughout games, then back cuts for them should come on a more regular basis, and in turn, more free throw chances should come, too.

The 6-foot-7.5 and uber-ambidextrous Windler, in particular, has shown he’s a high-quality cutter after opponents overplay his three-point shooting, and actually finished in the 96th percentile in 2018-19 as a scorer around the rim in the halfcourt, per NBA.com.

You could see that counter throughout his 35-point performance in the NCAA Tournament earlier this year against Maryland, and I’m sure Beilein loves that from Windler (highlights per NCAA March Madness).

Moreover, I understand that productive off-ball ability is not going to come right away and the results won’t be there all the time for these players.

That being said, if the Cavaliers are preaching this sort of thing, it’ll become infectious, just like making the extra pass to even-more open teammates, as Matthew Dellavedova and Nance often do, is.

That’s what I’m getting at to a large degree here, and the Cavs would be rewarding good team offense and involving their bigs, such as Love, as passers, too, which can share playmaking responsibility more than putting a bigger playmaking burden on young perimeter players, who can develop that more in a gradual way.

Additionally, a way those players can develop is initiating ball-swings that bring the ball back to those bigs who get them relocation passes, by either weak side lobs after drives or from swing-swing situations to the opposite corner or above the break.

Beilein’s teams have always played the right way, and instilling relocation for shooters as a key part of his offense in the coming years is right in line with that team-oriented mindset, and it would set the right example for the team, create more spacing and likely increase the assist totals.