Cavs: Early season Dunk Party a sign of a healthier offense

Last season the Cleveland Cavaliers did not have a lot of players ranking first in anything. They were a bad team plagued by injuries with an extremely young core. Growing pains built on physical pain in the midst of a bizarre season, and nothing much special happened for the Cavs and their players.

That is changing this season. The Cavs have been in all three of their games, including their first victory Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks. They lead the league in assists.. The “Triple Towers” lineup is one of the league’s most unusual. Center Jarrett Allen set an NBA record with an 11-for-11 opener, while Evan Mobley has had a very strong NBA debut (if not really all that historic).

The Cavs have had an exciting start to the season, including a lot of dunks. Here is why that’s a good sign.

One standout feature of the Cavs’ start to the season has been how many times they have dunked the basketball. The game’s most exciting play, the Cavs have been throwing down again and again through three games with 18 total dunks, good for sixth in the league.

This is as exciting as it gets:

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1451697677335420930

That isn’t a one-off for Allen either; it’s hard to go 11-for-11 and not dunk the ball once or twice, but he has been dominant inside in all three games. For the season he has 11 dunks, which ranks first in the entire league. It’s hard to get more fun than a dunk, but it’s also hard to get more efficient. Evan Mobley ranks tied for sixth with six of his own.

Dunks are far from just fun for fans and energy-stoking for players, but they’re also a sign of an offense’s health. Set aside the fact that dunks themselves are efficient. A team with a large number of dunks is either playing frequently in transition, the most efficient place to get shots, or they have ball-handlers who are making plays for others. Dunks, after all, are generally assisted.

That’s the true headline here; not that Allen and Mobley are awesome (although they are certainly having a strong start to the season) but that when they finish plays with a dunk, it’s often because the offense around them is singing.

Take the above example. Rubio rejects the screen when LaMelo Ball begins to fight over it too early, and drives into the defense. Mason Plumlee is forced to slide over to block his path to the rim, and an alert Jarrett Allen sprints into the open space, catching the pass and throwing it down on a hapless Plumlee.

Let’s look at another example. We don’t get the build-up here, but we can see that Collin Sexton has beaten his man off the dribble. Lauri Markkanen should be out at the corner to keep his man from helping, but thankfully both of the Hawks’ bigs step up to stop Sexton, and Mobley is in the dunker’s spot ready to, well, dunk.

Alright, one more. Back to Rivky Rubio, who has been excellent running the offense in the absence of Darius Garland these last two games. Here he has been getting to the rim multiple times already, so as he gets into the paint the Hawks’ center, Gorgiu Dieng, begins to slide over to block Rubio from attempting an extension layup. That’s all the space Rubio needs, who tosses the ball up as Dieng’s weight shifts to his lead foot, leaving him helpless to contest the alley-oop throw to Mobley, once again in the right spot for the dunk.

The Cavaliers have made 97 2-point baskets, the fourth-most in the NBA. Of those, a whopping 64.9 percent of them have been assisted. While Rubio and Sexton are still creating a fair amount of their own baskets, for the most part this team is scoring inside by moving the ball and finding the open man. Their 2-point field goal percentage of 57.4 percent is tied for third in the league; last year they were 26th.

The dunks are a ton of fun to watch, a combination of speed, athleticism and desire that just gets the blood flowing. The Cavs likely won’t lead the league in dunks this year, but what’s more important is the process leading to them. So far this team has been more willing to pass and pass intelligently, finding the opening in the defense and exploiting it.

The Cavaliers ranked 28th in offense last season, and 21st in assists per game. This year they are first in assists and a much healthier 10th in offense. Even if they don’t stay that high, an average offense will help this team win significantly more games than last year. Enjoy the dunks, and enjoy watching how the Cavs make them happen.