Somebody else posted the article already but I wanted to highlight these points and stats that they shared:
> Entering their rematch with Golden State, the team is now third in rim frequency (after finishing 12th last year) and 29th in midrange frequency (13th last year), per Cleaning The Glass.
> Based purely on the location of their shots, no team in the NBA has generated better looks than the Cavaliers. Mitchell is averaging a career-high 30.7 points on a career-high 63.2% true shooting, not because he’s been on a heater from deep but because he’s never gotten to the rim this often or shot a higher percentage there.
> “We don’t want to be a stagnant offense,” Bickerstaff said. “So now it’s teaching the game of basketball where it’s about the reads. We have to teach our guys, who have been pretty used to playing stationary basketball, how to play with that movement and that motion and the advantages that they can create and then where the reads come behind that.”
> From the beginning of training camp, the coaching staff has emphasized “playing faster, moving the ball, sharing the ball and playing at a higher pace,” Strus said. Bickerstaff doesn’t want a bunch of careless, one-pass possessions, but he also doesn’t want the Cavs casually walking the ball up, as they did far too often last season.
> Cleveland has the second-best transition offense in the NBA, according to Cleaning The Glass, and it’s eighth in transition frequency (fifth after defensive rebounds).
> It’s hard to imagine Strus, Niang and Garland shooting a combined 28.6% from long range for much longer.
Article: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/dont-be-fooled-by-the-cavaliers-slow-shorthanded-start/
Niang’s 0-4 from three last night was less than ideal, but even with that – Strus, Niang, and Garland shot a combined 41.7% from long range in the game.
The offense is different. There is more movement and spacing. Six players in double figures is pretty fun to see. Go Cavs!
2 comments
Good stuff, the spacing is doing wonders for the whole team.
I’m sticking with JB Bickerstaff. This team is motivated by him and is one of the best conditioned teams in the league. He’s been with this team for parts of five seasons now and the team has improved during every step. He’s got players like Lauri Markannen, Caris LeVert, even Andre Drummond to become defensive focused when they were never known for it.
A lot of people complain about the “ISO/only PnR offense” but frankly I don’t think these people are watching off-ball. Watch the baselines screens Niang is setting for shooters relocating to the other corner. Watch the big-to-big passing at the elbow to the dunker spot by Mobley and Allen. Watch the quick relocation by Strus coming off curls before he even receives the ball. When Mobley gets the ball at the high post elbow, watch what everyone else is doing but him. That’s off the top of my head, there’s much more too.
Edit: Not to mention when they do Iso/PnR, we have an elite iso player in Donovan Mitchell, one of the best pick and roll duos in the league since the ‘21 season with DG and JA, and the league leading dunker last season in Mobley.
They’re learning to play together with the new pieces (Strus and Niang). I think it’ll be this way for the first quarter of the season or so. Not time to hit the panic button just yet.