Cavs’ interior defense will likely be even worse post-trade deadline

Regardless of what happens in the time leading up to the NBA trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ interior defense is likely going to have an even rougher outlook in the last few months of this season.

I’ll be clear here in saying that the Cleveland Cavaliers have not been good defensively for the vast majority of the 2019-20 season, and when you’re a 13-36 rebuilding team playing a bunch of young pieces big minutes, that’s to be expected.

The Cavs’ starting backcourt of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton consists of 20 and 21 year olds, and both are 6-foot-1 and are inherently going to be in tough matchups a bunch of the time.

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Not just pointing fingers at those two, the Cavs are not stockpiled with plus defenders, and outside of Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr. and Alfonzo McKinnie, and I’d say John Henson, the Cavaliers are going to generally be at a loss in terms of individual matchups.

Realistically speaking, those pieces are far from lockdown guys, anyhow.

Plus, considering Cleveland’s lack of length, outside of Henson, who has a 7-foot-6 wingspan, the Cavs really don’t have any legitimate rim protection and with young pieces such as Garland, Sexton and Cedi Osman playing big minutes, Cleveland gives up so much penetration in games that leads to breakdowns.

Additionally, even when help does come, which it did much more consistently in the second half against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday from Nance and Sexton actually, it’s typically been too late this season, or the Cavs are scrambling and concede wide-open interior looks from opponents making simple reads after ball swings.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, for reference, have given up the most paint points per game in 2019-20, and again, are last in the league in blocks per game, both according to NBA.com.

Unfortunately for head coach John Beilein and the Wine and Gold, considering Tristan Thompson and John Henson both could feasibly be moved by the February 6 NBA trade deadline, with them both being on expiring contracts, the interior defense for Cleveland is likely to get even worse the last few months of the season.

Now I wouldn’t blame the Cavs for moving one and/or both of Thompson and Henson, because with the team rebuilding, and especially in Henson’s case, losing those players for nothing after the season and not accumulating realistically more draft capital I’d think from contending teams would be a waste. Plus, owner Dan Gilbert has shown numerous times that he’s more than willing to take on bad contracts for near salary matching.

Anyway, in terms of potential trade value for Thompson, while not a king’s ransom, Sports Illustrated‘s Jeremy Woo essentially believes that a “second rounder and contractual filler” is probably what Thompson, who is due to make $18.5 million this season, would warrant in a trade.

While again, that’s not ideal, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Cleveland and Thompson have not engaged in discussions regarding another contract/an extension down the road, and with the 28-year-old Thompson at this point in his career perhaps wanting to play for a contender again, of which I wouldn’t blame him, as Woo hit on, the Cavaliers should not be picky in a deal, especially with the team not much of a free agent player.

Henson, who has played well for the Cavs’ bench this season as a rolling presence, effective finisher and solid backline defender and seemingly communicator, I’d imagine could be on the move, too, as Woo also pointed out, given that Henson is again, on an expiring deal. Henson’s due to make $9.7 million this season, which is not a massive amount.

At any rate, with Cleveland clearly focused on getting young pieces, such as defenders that are often at a loss in Garland, Sexton and Osman, who still struggles in pick-and-roll coverage and has been prone to undisciplined closeouts at times, big minutes in a rebuilding situation, the mostly lack of perimeter resistance will continue to result in breakdowns on the interior.

Furthermore, though he’s not a real rim protector, Thompson is usually in the right position to help the Cavs’ young pieces, which also includes Kevin Porter Jr., who even with having some really good sequences defensively, is going to make plenty of mistakes and over-extend there, which again, is understandable.

With Thompson and/or Henson feasibly moved by the deadline, even whether or not Kevin Love, who reportedly wants to be traded, according to Fedor, is with the Cavs post-deadline, the Cavs’ defensive issues on the interior are going to probably get even worse. For the record, Love won’t be easy to move, though, and this summer could be more likely, given Love’s well-documented injury history and him being due to make $91.5 million the next three seasons following 2019-20, as Woo basically touched on.

Love does not provide much help in the paint defensively as a helper, anyway, however, and his closeouts throughout this season have been pretty ineffective.

On the plus side, Love is still an elite defensive rebounder with 9.0 of those per game, but Cleveland maybe losing Thompson in that realm could potentially put more of a burden on Cleveland’s wings and/or Nance to clear the glass, which would cause the Cavs’ to play at an even slower pace, and the Cavaliers are 27th in the league in transition scoring, per NBA.com.

Perhaps recently signed 10-day man Marques Bolden, who has averaged 1.4 blocks in 18.4 minutes per game with the Canton Charge, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ G-League affiliate team, this season, per Basketball Reference’s G-League statistics, could help provide some help if he flashes in that way in the next few games and sticks around longer as a 6-foot-10 defensive presence, but that’s unclear.

Moreover, with Cleveland’s issues with defensive communication and lack of timely help throughout the season on the inside following penetration, and recently shown against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, things are probably going to get even worse in the defensive paint post-trade deadline with turnover likely to come and Cleveland I would think being hard-pressed to find plus defenders.

To me, it’s evident that Cleveland desperately needs to add a developmental rim protector in the 2020 NBA Draft, and a young replacement for Thompson with I’d hope higher ceiling earlier on in their career would make sense.

Players such as James Wiseman, who was previously of Memphis but has since reportedly withdrawn from college and is now focusing on the draft as our own Corey Casey pointed out, USC’s Onyeka Okongwu, Washington’s Isaiah Stewart and Dayton’s Obi Toppin are names that could be nice pieces to help out the Cavs’ defense in coming years on the interior.

Hopefully Porter and McKinnie, who I believe should eventually be signed to a rest-of-season deal following the deadline, keep doing a pretty competent job as on-ball defenders on the wing, though, which could enable Cleveland to be in better position to clear the defensive glass and run some in the last few months of the year, where pieces such as KPJ himself, Osman and Sexton can really make things happen.

Either way, though, the interior defense is likely going to get even worse the rest of this season for the Wine and Gold with Thompson and Henson both maybe on the move and the team having turnover.