* Defensively, Cleveland is downright terrible. Only the San Antonio Spurs are worse defensively, but not by much. The Cavs have a defensive rating of 118.
That’s not going to work. Cleveland doesn’t have the offensive talent to give up 118 points per game. In today’s NBA, it’s almost a given that teams are going to give up more than 100. As of today, the Boston Celtics are the only team in which the opponents are averaging only 96 PPG.
That’s very tough to do in today’s NBA where the 3-pointer plays such a large role in almost every teams play.
* What does all that have to do with Lue? Where’s the emphasis on defense and defending? Defense doesn’t require talent, but effort.
Lue wanted the ball to move faster on offense, but never seemed to get the defense fixed. Grant it, Cleveland has only played in six games, I never seen any adjustments on either end of the floor.
When you aren’t a very good shooting, sorry but 17th in shooting and only 31 percent from deep don’t qualify you as a good shooting team, you must be able to rebound the ball to allow yourself extra possessions. Cleveland is 21st in the league, as they average 43 rebounds a game.
Golden State is at 45 RPG, but the Warriors are the best shooting team from the field and are in the top 10 in three-point percentage. When you shoot well consistently, you can afford to be in the middle of the pack in RPG, which the Warriors are. When you don’t shoot the ball well, you need to be higher than 21st.
* With Kevin Love out for around a month, if not longer, even if he was completely healthy, it’s time for this team to realize that they need to work towards the lottery.
The media and fans already know the Cavs aren’t expected to do anything.
The Cavs can still be competitive, fun to watch and not end up with the worst record in the NBA, let alone the East and still be in the lottery.
* The Cavs, on paper, aren’t the worst team in the NBA. Certainly, the record doesn’t indicate that, but teams like Atlanta, Brooklyn and possibly still the Knicks might have less talent, but time will tell.
Right now, is the time for the rebuild to begin. The time for trading will begin soon. It wouldn’t hurt to start finding out who or what they can get for players like Love, Smith, Korver, Hill and Thompson.
It will be harder to trade some of those players, but it can be done. Yes, even Smith and Thompson can be dealt.
The sooner they start the process, the sooner Cleveland can get back to where they want to be.
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