Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein was right-on in basically referencing the Cavs’ lack of length in regards to contesting shooters, and did essentially say that they need to have outstanding effort to make up for that. To me, though, the effort has been there for the most part, but the lack of length is what sticks out with conceding open three-pointers often.
Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers know at this point that the team is going to have its ups and downs, and that’s what comes with a club that’s going to be playing a bunch of young players big minutes.
The offense has not gotten enough consistent ball and man movement in the last two games, which were both losses to the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat, who are also much better teams currently.
The perimeter pressure put on Cleveland’s young backcourt of rookie Darius Garland and second-year guard Collin Sexton had plenty to do with the Cavs not getting the movement they want, along with those two teams getting after Cleveland’s other pieces as well, mostly.
I’d prefer to hit on more on the defensive side here, though.
Moreover, in today’s NBA, three-point looks, and defending those looks, plays a crucial role in the outcome of games, a significant amount of the time.
The Cavaliers did concede a bunch of open three-pointers in those matchups against the Heat and Sixers on the defensive end, too, and for a good number of instances throughout games during this 2019-20 season overall.
When asked about defending the three-point line after the Miami loss on Thursday, where Cleveland gave up 12 triples, which is not a massive amount, but did so on a 40.0% clip, as noted by ESPN, Cavaliers head coach John Beilein had this to say in response.
"We just gotta have more dog in us..we're almost there."@JohnBeilein on defensive schematics and getting after opposing shooters.#BeTheFight pic.twitter.com/FWUsWzdBEf
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) November 15, 2019
Beilein is right for hitting on Cleveland’s lack of length, and I get him emphasizing effort, but to me, the former is the primary issue.
With the Cavaliers’ lack of length right now, and with them often having to help on slashers or double down with perimeter pieces, it’s led to kick-outs or skip feeds, and with a young team, Cleveland’s given up more open triples than they would’ve liked.
You could see some of that against the Heat, who got three triples from Kendrick Nunn, who also had other quality looks, and had 23 points and was a tough matchup all night for Cleveland. Miami wings Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro had open looks a considerable amount of the time as well.
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To me, though, with reserve 5 Ante Zizic still not back yet from plantar fasciitis reportedly in his left foot, and fellow reserve 5 John Henson likely out for a few more weeks due to a hamstring strain, it’s hurt the Cavs’ ability to really have legitimate rim protection and/or a true interior presence to deter cutters/drivers throughout games.
Tristan Thompson has provided solid rim protection this year with 1.4 blocks per game, but as a team, the Cavs are currently last in blocks per game, as indicated by NBA.com.
Furthermore, Thompson is only 6-foot-9, and other players in Cleveland’s rotation right now aren’t really shot blockers.
Considering that, I’ve been fine with the Cleveland Cavaliers often doubling down and/or stunting to slashers. When you have light rim protection, coupled with a smaller starting backcourt of Garland and Sexton, help needs to come.
That’s especially the case with two true centers not in the rotation to give some back line help. Anyway, Cleveland conceding open triples too frequently I don’t believe is due to a lack of effort or being content just going under on and/or off-ball screens.
According to NBA.com, only four NBA teams have contested less three-pointers per game than the Cavs. Also, only the Sixers have contested less overall shots per game this year, factoring in two’s and three’s.
Young players are going to make mistakes, though, and at times, Garland, Sexton, wing Cedi Osman and rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr. have had troubles staying attached in pick-and-roll coverage, which has led to too much separation and the contests have been too late.
Porter, though he does have a 6-foot-9 wingspan, is playing the 3 a bunch at this point, and in some matchups, he’s been guarding ball-handlers and/or shooters with bigger wingspans, and that’s just one example. The Cavs are a small club right now, and contesting shooters is going to be a problem that’s tough to fix, but perhaps with more experience, the rotations to shooters can be more crisp to make up for a lack of length for the most part.
Reserve bench scorer Jordan Clarkson, though his on-ball defense has been pretty solid, has given up some fairly open triples, too, but again, that will happen from time to time.
Along with that, when rotating back from off-ball defense after ball-swings, there’s been some late closeouts, and that’s definitely played a role in Cleveland conceding too many open looks from deep, too. Again, though, this is a young Cavs team for the most part.
Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, to protect against hard rolls, have sometimes conceded pick-and-roll triples or pull-up two’s near the foul line, or pick-and-pops, too. With Cleveland being a smaller team, it’s understandable, though, even with it not necessarily being an ideal scenario with them dropping.
So I agree with Beilein in that the Cavs do not have “great length,” but to me, the effort has been there in trying to get to shooters, and with more experience, I believe Cleveland can clean that up, and hopefully “make people miss,” more as Beilein touched on.