The Celebration Critics and Shotcharts

Make sure you check out Robert Attenweiler’s Point Four-Ward piece from today.

Less than a day ago, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love faced criticism for their celebration after the Cavs victory against the Pelicans. In their celebration, the two buddies did an elaborate handshake and broke down the doors of decent households all over America by appearing to mime the activity of smoking a marijuana cigarette. However, this was not what they were doing. Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group has the official Cavs released statement on the perceived illegal activity.

“To clarify, they are quickly sharpening the end of an imaginary mustache at the end of their exchange with each other. It has nothing to do with smoking a joint as some blogs (and even some mainstream folks now) are suggesting/reporting.”

It’s worse than I thought. The young ones are working with the hipsters to spread a fashion agenda. I will not be part of this hipster attempt to become the hegemony of NBA fans. I was just about to cut myself a 2-game win streak mustache but will no longer be doing so.

So, it’s official. The Cavs have made it. Every single move will now be criticized.

Fans will probably see more elaborate celebrations from Love And Kyrie; the locker room bond between all of the team is very tight. Vardon pulled this quote from Irving:

“This is one of the closest teams I’ve been on, if not the closest team,” Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving said [after being asked about any encouragement he received during half-time of the Pelican’s game].

While people are nitpicking essentially unimportant non-sport stuff about the Wine & Gold, other people have pointed out and rightfully stated there are issues on the basketball floor. These men are few and far between, but they are smart men. Zach Lowe has broken down both the Cavs offense and defense over at Grantland. The part about defense stood out.

The Cavs have toggled between several different styles on defense, but they’ve mostly been very aggressive — a slower, ground-bound version of the LeBron-era Heat, trapping and leaping out hard on pick-and-rolls. That’s taxing on the big men doing the trapping, but it also makes newish demands of both Irving and Waiters. They have to leave their man, crash into the paint, and dart back out. They can’t be late inside, and their recoveries outside have to be on point — no gambling in passing lanes, no lazy footwork, no shaky balance.

Shockingly, two guys who have played zero minutes of meaningful defense in their NBA careers have struggled.

I’m predicting by game 25 the Cavs are playing a zone up Chicago style defense. Hold me to it. Lowe also touches on how the Cavs offense is sputtering because the young backcourt doesn’t understand how to play smoothly yet after two years of being all about isolation play.

There’s talk about Love wanting to head to the West Coast already, but Craig Lyndall at Waiting For Next Year is saying don’t worry. The media is crazy, and Kevin is just like any of us as far as decisions go.

It’s a game-by-game, week-by-week proposition in all likelihood. The more you get to know about professional athletes and the things they think and things they do, the more you realize they’re more like the rest of us than we’re usually willing to admit. Our jobs aren’t on as big a stage with statistics to measure how our lives are impacting our performance, but we all get affected by relationships with girlfriends, wives, children, parents, etc. Sometimes if a pipe explodes in our kitchen or the furnace goes out it causes us to lose sleep for a night and then our work performance stinks for a few days. Sure, it’s helpful that Kevin Love can afford lots of expensive things including house repairs, but we all get unsettled by different things, even when we can afford them.

I know I’m getting pretty off the path and in the weeds now, but it’s instructive to remember. The Cavaliers have played six games. The Cavaliers and Kevin Love have a lot of experiences to put in the memory banks over the next six or seven months that will shape the decisions that Kevin Love will make this summer.

If you like reading ESPN writers pretending that they are working in the front office of the Cavaliers, I have you covered. ESPN Insider’s “Front Office” series focused on the Cavs yesterday. Their general consensus was that the team needs to make sure they are all on the same page as far keeping dirt inside the organization and remaining positive. Chad Ford stole the column with this perfectly reasonable statement:

I’m just wondering why we’re all so worked up? We’ve just started a brand new season, many of the players are young, have never been in a winning situation before, LeBron’s trying to get in, he’s got a new coach. I look at it like this: A conflict can be negative or it can be positive. I think this is a blessing for the Cavs. Look, we’ve got some issues to work out here. I think if they start 4-0, 5-0, 6-0, you can immediately be playing bad basketball and say to yourself, “Hey, we’re winning, and at the end of the day we’re 6-0, who’s going to complain?” But the way they started, I think it forces you, like Coach Karl said, to look at the defense and look what’s happening there. I think what Coach Thorpe said is correct — you’ve got to look at how players are playing with each other. Are they trusting each other?

The blogger in me wants to rage against this type of calm logic, but that statement really is something every NBA fan should be constantly reminded of when talking about the Cavs.

Dion Waiters may be back Friday to play the Celtics. While he sat out against the Pelicans, Joe Harris received more minutes. I’m hoping that the Neon man’s return doesn’t push Harris back to the end of the bench. Harris played defense and looked much better than Mike Miller during his 20 minutes of play (he was + 18 for the game while Miller was -12). Miller should be the man rotating down the seats on the side of the court trying to make them warm and comfy for the starters, instead of missing threes and looking crippled as he saunters around the court.

 Strictly Cavs Comparison

While looking at some NBA stats today, I ventured to the Cavs page. Look at these two shot charts:

Cavs Shots 2013-2014 Season

Cavs Shots 2014-2015 Season

The Cavs offense is really dribbling the right direction as far as shot selection goes. The team is now taking 3.1% more of their shots from the corner, and this has to be a result of the drive and kick action they have shown in spurts. This percentage has been lifted up the past two games because shooters from the strong side have jetted across the court looking for a backdoor pass or to get to the other corner as soon as the pick and roll was initiated.

Thankfully, the midrange shots are down this season, which I’m sure in part has to do with Dion’s reduced offensive role but also because of the general offensive scheme creating more good shots with time on the shot clock.

Finally, shots around/below the foul line are up. This isn’t exactly the greatest shot considering the paint is often packed, and this area isn’t one where the backboard has the ability to be particularly helpful. However, these shots are up because this is the zone where Love and LeBron James like to post up and where The Wild thing can make his almost unblockable hook shot. All of those acivites are solid basketball things for the Cavs, so this uptick in foul line area shots isn’t too alarming.

In the coming weeks, I expect to see middle area three point attempts dwindle, as guys become more comfortable moving without the ball and get to the corners more easily. Also, Mikey will surely start to get more of his shots from the short three if he plans on making an impact and staying on the floor.