DEFENSIVE STRUGGLES

Cleveland Cavaliers defensive struggles continues...

LeBron addresing Cavaliers with defensive plays (2016)

Ty Lue (Head Coach):

“I think guys are embarrassed and they should be embarrassed..”

Although the picture above is 2 years ago, the Cavaliers still play with bad defense like 2 years ago, but not as bad as today.

This year’s Cleveland Cavaliers—coming off their third similar loss to a team with drastically inferior talent—have legitimate excuses. Lebron missed most of training camp which has visibly affected his conditioning, along with the team’s offensive chemistry. There are four new roster pieces playing significant minutes, two of which have missed time with injury.

Both of those excuses have predictably affected Cleveland’s offense, which has fallen to 14th in the league at 104.3 points per 100 possessions (down from 3rd and 110.9 last year). This is acceptable given the circumstances.

Lebron James is the leader of this team. He must be implicated. This is a man who was All-Defense six consecutive times. He has a history of getting any collection of talent to defend at a high level.

Lebron with Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden? Top ten defense. Lebron with an old Shaq and Mo Williams? Top ten Defense. The Heatles? Top ten. Yes, even with J.R. Smith and Kyrie Irving, Lebron had the Cavaliers playing top ten defense in 2016.

Any group of NBA-level athletes can form a collectively effective defense, given that they develop good habits and put in a sufficient level of effort on a nightly basis.

Adding Dwyane Wade and Jae Crowder doesn’t automatically vault you to success. Just look at Minnesota, who sits dead last in the NBA defensively. On paper, they should be elite.

The effort must be developed and sustained throughout the regular season in order to form the habits that will carry you through the playoffs. Simply upping the effort—or flipping the switch—is not sufficient when the habits are poor.

Watch the poor defense here:

Cleveland Cavaliers vs Minnesota Timberwolves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5QhLZRv4aM