Cavs can’t afford foul trouble in these upcoming games

It’s getting to be a near-broken record already in saying that NBA teams are dealing with COVID-19-related issues and reportedly the omicron variant being the main culprit of late, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have been hit hard by COVID-19. The Cavaliers have eight players currently in the league’s health and safety protocols, with reserve big Ed Davis entering them on Tuesday as well, per a team press release.

With Cleveland being so thin on available players, and with the league reportedly enacting new rules involving replacement players/hardship exception signings based on teams having two, three or four-plus players test positive for COVID-19, the Cavs had to make a few temporary, minor moves.

Cleveland recently signed Luke Kornet and Justin Anderson via 10-day hardship exception deals, per general manager Koby Altman, and both will receive some meaningful minutes, and on Wednesday, it was announced Cleveland signed Tre Scott of the Cleveland Charge (the Cavs G League affiliate) to the same deal. That’s with Kornet seemingly set for some considerable time, with Jarrett Allen and Davis in protocols.

It’s tough to really expect much from Kornet and Anderson, who were most recently playing with the Boston Celtics G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, and the Indiana Pacers G League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, though. Both of those players played sparingly with a few NBA teams in previous seasons, and in Scott’s case, he was on the Cavaliers Summer League team this past summer.

Nonetheless, the Cavs will need at least two to help a bit in upcoming games, one would imagine.

While we’ll need to see if Cleveland has any other games possibly postponed, like last Sunday’s one was at the Atlanta Hawks originally scheduled for then, for the group in general, however, it’s evident that for them to stay afloat/potentially keep up their winning ways, they’ll need to stay out of foul trouble. That’s from a quasi-depth perspective and for the club to have more energy in games as they progress.

In upcoming games, the Cavs really can’t afford much notable foul trouble; that might be wishful thinking, unfortunately.

Hopefully this COVID issue is not something that lingers too long into January, but in these upcoming games to come over in the mean time, Cleveland can’t afford to have crucial players in foul trouble.

As KJG contributors have often expressed, the Cavs have been able to be on-point typically defensively, have effective rim protection and shot altering from Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, and at the same time, not foul much. The Cavaliers have averaged the second-lowest fouls per contest this season, while being third in defensive rating, and second in both opponent three-point shooting percentage and opponent make triples per game.

It’s not as if Cleveland hasn’t conceded point production; they’ve just forced opponents into deeper looks in the paint, that have been really difficult looks to convert a fair amount of the time. Can the Cavs do that in this next two or so weeks, with I’d assume a variety of hardship exception/at times a few 10-day players playing simultaneously in spurts?

Cleveland will need to have great attention to detail on closeouts to contain penetration after man and ball movement, of which they have had for the most part. Even still, that’ll be more difficult in these couple/few weeks of six-seven or so contests, with them potentially without Allen and still for some or all of it without Mobley and Okoro.

We’ll need to see how Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has the minutes shake out here at the Boston Celtics and versus the Toronto Raptors, provided those games play out. And it appears they will for now, with the league altering its hardship exception rules, given the omicron variant outbreak NBA commissioner Adam Silver touched on in a recent interview, as KJG’s Josh Cornelissen hit on.

In the event the Cavaliers don’t have any other postponements in upcoming games though, as we’ve touched on, Cleveland can’t afford much notable foul trouble. Could we see some zone looks here and there to help against penetration and limit potential fouls for Darius Garland/Ricky Rubio and perhaps Kevin Love or Lauri Markkanen?

Now, the Cavs don’t have Mobley or Allen, in that regard, so that I’m not sure on, and Cleveland doesn’t want to just concede a bunch of open catch-and-shoot threes. It’ll be some of a change-up look at times perhaps the Cavaliers utilize here and there, anyhow.

In these next two, and during Cleveland’s road games at the New Orleans Pelicans and Washington Wizards next week, and versus the Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers at home then, the Cavs have to find ways to stay disciplined, and still contest soundly.

Of course, Josh Richardson (Boston), Scottie Barnes (Toronto) and Trae Young (Atlanta) currently being in COVID-19 protocols could help that possibility for the Cavs, who have won six straight games.