While it doesn’t seem that the Cleveland Cavaliers are likely to push pace a ton in the 2019-20 season, they should be more productive in secondary transition situations than they were last season.
Here at KJG, we’ve emphasized how the Cleveland Cavaliers are likely going to be having their struggles when it comes to piling up plenty of losses in the 2019-20 season, and with them being mostly focused on player development, that’s fine.
At the same time, even though Cleveland will probably be playing a bunch of young pieces big minutes, as the season progresses, in particular, the Cavs should be more multifaceted than they were at most instances in the 2018-19 season, where Cleveland was just 25th in offensive rating, 29th in effective field goal shooting out of 30 teams (both per NBA.com), and only placed in the 35th percentile in transition (per Synergy Sports).
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A key part of how the Cavaliers should be more multiple offensively is the way I believe they’ll be more productive (by and large) in secondary transition, with Cleveland having more floor spacers and considerably more players that should be able to create scoring chances for themselves on a pretty regular basis as compared to last season, when Cleveland didn’t have nearly as much of either consistently.
While I don’t see the Cleveland Cavaliers (who played at the league’s second-slowest pace last year, per NBA.com) playing really fast next season with the way they’ll likely struggle to string together stops for long stretches, when opportunities do come, if the Cavs have urgency, they’ll have a good amount of players that could be quality secondary transition and/or trailing three-point shooting threats when defenses aren’t completely set yet early in possessions.
The Cavs’ three 2019 draft picks of Darius Garland, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr. all factor into that sort of thing directly, and with them all feasibly being notable contributors next season with the team being in a rebuilding scenario, even more so.
Garland, who projects to be starting alongside Collin Sexton (according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor), is very quick (assuming he’s healthy now from his reported meniscus tear that halted his season at Vanderbilt), and is a tremendously polished shooter off the bounce from the perimeter and in the mid-range area.
That element, paired with the ever-speedy Sexton (16.7 points per game last year), a very capable three-level scorer, should put constant pressure on defenses after Cleveland defensive rebounds and with Garland’s shooting range (47.8% from three-point range in his short stint in college, per Sports Reference), the Cleveland Cavaliers should be able to get plenty of chances in 4-on-3 or 5-on-4 situations.
Adding in Jordan Clarkson (Cleveland’s scoring leader last season among qualified players with 16.8 points per game, per NBA.com), who does a good job of forcing switches onto bigs in secondary break situations, along with Cedi Osman, who has nice passing feel on the wing and is a very capable slasher, along with the uber-athletic Porter, who is well-versed in the pull-up game and can have finish at the rim with authority, and that’s plenty of tough players to matchup with when defenses aren’t totally set, and especially after a quick potential ball-swing to get an early-clock mismatch.
Plus, when Kevin Love, Windler, Porter (if defending at the other end near the rim) or occasionally, Larry Nance Jr. (a much-improved 33.7% shooter from three-point range last year, per NBA.com), are coming up the rear as a trailer, the Cleveland Cavaliers should have a viable threat on the perimeter looking to shoot off-the-catch when defenses aren’t completely set, too.
Love is a career 37.0% shooter from three-point range (per Basketball Reference), and as a trailer, when accounting for his presence as a good passing and post-up big as well, even with Love’s track record, the Cavs should have a few chances each game in secondary transition with him in, too, and that sort of thing was missed for the majority of 2018-19, as Love only appeared in 22 contests mostly due to reported toe surgery.
Windler, meanwhile, shot 40.6% from deep in his four-year career at Belmont (per Sports Reference), and his range appears to be similar to Garland’s, so that, along with Porter (41.2% in his one year at USC from three-point land), should make for outstanding trailers, too, when the opportunities come.
Let’s not dismiss that Windler, who is a good cutter and passer along with his shooting, also placed in the 85th percentile as a pull-up shooter in the halfcourt last season (per Synergy Sports and h/t NBA.com), which makes hard closeouts to him all the more costly, and I’d think that’d be magnified even more when defenses are not completely set and Windler can initially get sharp feeds from the likes of Matthew Dellavedova, Osman or Garland on time at the shooting pocket.
Moreover, the Cleveland Cavaliers should be better in these secondary break scenarios next season because of their young pieces (let’s not dismiss Nance’s trailing rolling ability and passing prowess), Love seemingly being healthier, and also players being more willing to shoot early-clock three-point looks against defenses that aren’t completely set in their matchups yet.
Too often players such as Rodney Hood and Alec Burks (who were both traded last season near the deadline) were prone to passing up good secondary transition looks from deep, or were settling for mid-range looks instead of taking mismatches all the way to the rim when the chances were there early on in possessions, and I’d think the Cavaliers won’t be plagued by those sorts of things as much next year.
Sexton showed less tendency to do that both off-the-bounce and off-the-catch later in his rookie season, too, and considering he shot 40.2% from three-point land last year, with more spacing for him for long stretches in 2019-20, I’d expect him to fire away more and more in the beginning of possessions when it’s advisable, too.
Furthermore, I’d expect the Cavaliers to place better offensively than they did in 2018-19, and having more players that can consistently take advantage of secondary break/trailing situations should play into that.