Cavs reportedly having longer shootarounds when possible is logical move

The Cleveland Cavaliers are reportedly having longer shootarounds than normal when that’s been available, and that’s a logical move by head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff.

Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers are well aware that Cleveland is mostly a young team.

The Cavs are still at the beginning of a full-rebuild, and they are going to have a bunch of losses in the 2019-20 season.

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They’ve been blown out in recent games, and have been losers in four straight, and are amid a really rough stretch in terms of the schedule.

Cleveland plays at the Miami Heat on Wednesday, and they’ll be without regular starting 5 Tristan Thompson, reportedly due to rest.

He’s such a crucial piece, and in this one, Larry Nance Jr., who is hopefully in better shape in regards to his thumb, will be manning the starting 5 role in place of Thompson, according to a report from Cavs.com’s Joe Gabriele.

I’d think Kevin Love is fine for the Heat game, too, in relation to his reported back stiffness, which kept him out in Cleveland’s last game, a 123-105 loss to the New York Knicks.

Anyhow, the Cleveland Cavaliers are otherwise playing so many young players big minutes this season. Factoring in that, it’s a logical move by head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff to reportedly have longer shootarounds when it’s possible, according to a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

As Fedor noted, that’s been in relation to again, Cleveland having mostly a young team, highlighted by their starting backcourt of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, and coupled with that, a lack of practice time.

Here’s more on that from Beilein, who has quite an adjustment now as compared to his last coaching stint, at Michigan, when he had much longer practice/film sessions; this quote was transcribed by Fedor.

"“I think the big difference is you can’t have (those long practices) in order to develop our team,” Beilein said following shootaround Wednesday at American Airlines Arena. “Our shootarounds are going to be a little longer going forward. Our practices, our film sessions will be a little longer because we have to find ways to develop because we have 19-year-old kids and you can’t just say, ‘Hey, they should know that.’ You have to continue to rep it through film and practice.”"

The Cavs’ young Sexton-Garland backcourt is going to take a while to really get into a consistent rhythm in set possessions. Along with that, young wing Cedi Osman, big Ante Zizic and rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr. are still going to have their fair share of growing pains on both ends, too.

Moreover, the Cleveland Cavaliers are in for a really tough stretch of games, starting with the 9-3 Heat on Wednesday, so Beilein and the coaching staff having longer shootarounds when possible, which is seemingly not always the time as Fedor noted, is a logical move.

According to Fedor, the Cavs have not practiced on their current road trip, due to travel and games, and do not, at least currently, have a scheduled practice until “early December,” so again, longer shootarounds are a sensible move.

Cleveland has been at their best in the 2019-20 season when they are moving the ball on a consistent basis, and having productive man movement throughout possessions. In the month of November, that has not happened enough, as in that stretch, Cleveland has averaged the lowest amount of assists per game in the NBA, as demonstrated by NBA.com.

Applying ball pressure on the defensive end is a huge key for the Cavs to have success, too, for the record.

With Cleveland going through a rough patch, and having little to really even no practice time in stretches, longer than normal shootarounds makes sense.

Hopefully, Garland and Sexton, along with others, can apply what Beilein and the coaching staff are emphasizing in those longer shootarounds going forward to consistently be competitive.

We’ll see if that sort of thing pays off on Wednesday, and if the Cavs can move to 5-9 with a W over Miami.