Augmented Reality Coaching Center: New Wrinkles
2014-11-03
Mrs. Whatsit – Mrs. Who – Mrs. Which, by far the oldest “Big 3”
The season is finally underway. The Cavalier faithful finally (FINALLY) got to see their beloved team in action. Preseason seemed hardly characteristic of the main 82 unless David Blatt really is planning on giving Joe Harris as much burn as Kyrie. Hopefully the opening night celebration for the prodigal son wasn’t characteristic either. LeBron aggregating three more turnovers than field goals is a rare occurrence for him (although it’s extremely common when you filter by Octobers coming immediately after Decisions). David Blatt inserting just eight players better be a rare occurrence or injuries are going to strike like a thief in the night.
So with all these caveats making it difficult to take stock in the overall state of the new look Cavaliers, I decided to task a handful of our Cavs: The Blog interns to churn through game footage in our state of the art Augmented Reality Coaching Center (ARC2). The ARC2 slices and processes using a massively parallelized datacenter. We actually have content in 4D, so the interns can feel the heat from the scoreboard flamethrowers, sense the thud of a dead spot on the sideline, or take a whiff when LeBron rips one at half court.
So instead of trying to microanalyze two games worth of basketball, well below the sample size threshold of most valuable analyses, I asked our interns to uncover any new wrinkles previously unseen during the 4-year-long basketball recession.
Wrinkle One: Full Court Press
We saw some full court press in preseason and it has carried over into the first two games. In general, Blatt seems to appreciate backcourt pressure, whether it is coordinated or simply Matthew Dellavedova hounding a guard into some ball-protecting spin moves (or, the normal Damon Jones point guard experience). In this video here, a coordinated trap after Delly forces J.R. Smith to spin away from pressure allows Dion Waiters to strike before Smith can dump it off.
Wrinkle Two: Kyrie’s Commitment
A running joke around here (really between Nate and I) is that Kyrie Irving plays flypaper defense. In that, any screen hits him like flypaper hits a blind strafing fly. Smack, stick, sulk. Here’s Cavs: The Blog director of European scouting, Ben Werth, in one of his internal memos about Kyrie after digesting FIBA ball this summer.
There has been much talk about Kyrie’s increased defensive effort for Team USA, but it is still jarring to see it in action. He moves laterally with both better technique and about 200% more effort. Irving still has a tendency to overplay the PnR and get himself in a troubling trail position. The difference is that he actually fights to get back into the play for USA. Irving has quick hands, defensively. When he uses his feet, he can take advantage of that talent.
Great scouting report, Ben. Don’t worry, I redacted all your potentially offensive comments from the memo. Like this one: “He’s a good guy overall, but he’s not perfect. He’s got a little bit of Australian in him, in that he’s egalitarian and wears KangaROOS.“ In the clip below you can see Kyrie anticipating the screen from Joakim “Pebbles” Noah. He slides around it without going under (something that burned Delly a few possessions later) and is able to stay in front of Hinrich’s foray to the rim. And there are those quick hands Ben referenced. Too often last season Kyrie was completely taken out of plays on the PnR. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
Wrinkle Three: Touchdown Pass
Last year the Cavs were bogged down with tactics like “don’t get the inbounds pass stolen”. This year they’re putting teams on notice with the Love to LeBron full court weapons delivery system.
And of course, Love can do this off a rebound as well.
The vast majority of NBA players would need to wind up and telegraph a baseball pass to get a ball that far up court. (I’d need to punt it). Love takes the ball out of the hoop, steps back without taking his eye off his receiver and snaps a chest pass to the opposite foul line. This skill is going to come in handy with LeBron “allegedly could play tight end in the NFL” James. Even when Love isn’t hooking up with streaking teammates this skill will earn interest. Opposing teams are going to be terrified of giving up such easy buckets. The wing player that tries to follow his own shot will be woefully out of position. Crashing the offensive glass assumes a high amount of risk.
You thought this through, bro?
There will likely be a number of new wrinkles this season. In the coming weeks, we at the ARC2 will be working to highlight those for you, our dear readers.
Has anything stood out to you so far this season? Sound off!
Here’s something I found interesting: http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2015.html#shooting::11 Specifically, the opponent shooting section. Some Cavs notes: They are allowing the 7th lowest number of shots from 0-3 feet, and the 5th lowest number of shots from 3-10 feet. They are “allowing” the 12th highest number of shots from 10-16 feet, and the fifth highest number from 16ft-3pt range. They’re 13th in 3pt allowed, so roughly average. Of shots from 16+ feet (including 3pts), the Cavs’ opponent fg% is the highest in the league, allowing .568 on long 2’s and .442 on 3’s. For all other ranges, we are either roughly average or… Read more »
I’d like to see league averages on location shooting by month. I’ll bet that some of these shots are always higher in the first month when guys are fresh, and dip as the fatigue of the season kicks on. Nice stats, Josh.
Yeah that would be interesting to see for sure. Not sure how to compile that, though.
One thing to note: I posted this at FTS and one commenter pointed out that the Bulls and Knicks ranked first and second in midrange shots taken last year. Both of those clubs are undergoing major changes, though, with new personnel in Chicago and a new coach (and some personnel) in New York, so those ranks probably aren’t too likely to hold.
LeBron whiffing those protein farts. Deadly.
I think the signing of Cherry (although it might not seem big now might turn out big )–think this makes more sense than adding Allen —–Cherry actually out played Wigggins in summer ball—-think dion is more valuable coming off the bench ( and he will get more looks with this unit —–though we still don’t want him to BOMB AWAY )—would like to see more ball action on one side ( occupying the defense ) and screening / getting free Lebron from the other side —LOB / FLASH TO THE BLOCK / CURL CUT TO THE MIDDLE
I like the Cherry pick up as well. Big Sky defensive player of the year for two years, but he’s a confident and aggressive offensive performer as well. In short, he should be able to add value as a free agent
1) A Wrinkle In Time was one of my favorite books as a kid 2) Love the full court press and believe it’s a big reason they replaced Price with Cherry. Cherry did this a lot in Summer League 3) Not sure that the TD pass is a wrinkle since it’s always been a part of KLove’s game. Now if others start to put it into practice (LBJ, Kyrie, heck maybe even Capt. Kirk!) then it becomes a legit wrinkle 4) The wrinkle that I’d like to see more of is in-the-paint big man passing. One of my favorite plays… Read more »
1.) YES! Finally someone commented on it. 2.) Yeah thanks to mostly Delly, the Knicks and Bulls were often just getting the ball across the timeline with 17 or 16 seconds left on the shot clock. It limits teams to one play, any subsequent kick out is going to create a shot clock situation. 3.) It was but he was throwing to Corey Brewer (who did pretty well). Now he’s got LeBron. 4.) I think in general the Cavs need to work through their big men more. Both Varejao and Love are excellent passers. When you watch the Spurs their… Read more »
I like the Pick and Rolls Blatt has tried to run with Irving being the screener and LeBron as the ball handler. I’m not sure it has resulted in any points yet, but the weakside of the court opens up as guys try to figure out what’s going on and sag off towards the middle to stop LeBron.
I’d really like to see an Irving/Love PnR where Kyrie goes right, Love pops to his sweet spot (left wing), and LeBron flies to the rack from the baseline (either side). The side to side action of LeBron would create some chaos for the rim protectors. Kyrie likes shooting while going right and if teams try to stop his penetration it should leave a nice launch angle for LeBron to throw down an alleyoop.
Yes, please!
I don’t want to see LeBron the Cavalier guard anymore. We saw that movie. It was exciting, but ultimately empty. With the ball handling on this squad, LeBron should use his “gravity” to free up that sweet left wing 3 from Love.
And Tom, you cut to the core of me. Maybe we should tesser your message to Blatt.
The Lebron ball-handler setup fails against solid defensive teams at the end of games. Need to involve the other guys. I think 100 of us have said this now, it’d be nice to see Lebron moving without the ball. Very few defenses could effectively help when Lebron cuts past his cover man and only has to contend with a man underneath instead of a standard double team up top. And his passes while flying to the rim could go inside and out. But I would have to admit Lebron would have to change his character to do this regularly.
LeBron could take a page from Dwyane Wade’s book in this regard. Wade became excellent at baseline cuts to the basket while playing with LeBron because he had to rely more on off-ball play, and with both Wade and LeBron being devastating finishers, it would make sense for LeBron to augment this skill.
‘Has anything stood out to you so far this season? Sound off!’ Yes I know it’s early, but this offense was supposed to generate open looks for spot up shooters all over the court, but I haven’t seen it. In fact it seems that the other team has gotten FAR more open looks than the Cavs, and especially when it comes to three pointers. Granted, some of this is due to our D, which we knew would be a struggle, but other than K Love, who has gotten quite a few open 3 point looks, and Lebron, who will always… Read more »
My guess is Kyrie and Dion are yet to become proficient at getting open by coming off screens and moving to the right spots without the ball. Combined with the limited minutes from Marion, Miller and Jones and that’s the team’s best 3 shoorers are not getting the chances we’d hoped.
I think you’re right – and the offense in general is very limited right now. I haven’t seen much more than two-man action (the kind two strangers can concoct during a pick-up game). Open 3s are tough to come by without rapid ball movement that swings the ball from one side of the court to the other. I’m confident that once the Cavs offense does start clicking there will be many more open 3 opportunities. However, a lot is going to need to change for that to happen. LeBron, Kyrie, and Waiters seem very comfortable holding the ball at the… Read more »
“However, a lot is going to need to change for that to happen.”
Is it not just a matter of familiarity? Understanding your teammates leads to better ball movement leads to well executed swings leads to open 3’s?
Or do you see a lot of fundamental changes in terms of the various roles each player takes on?
Both. I think Kyrie and Dion trust their own dribble more than moving without the ball. And LeBron trusts his own playmaking ability to initialize offense. So the offense right now is mostly these guys starting at the top of the key and trying to make something happen.
Assuming tightens up the handle a bit it’s not a terrible strategy, but if they can generate those defensive breakdowns and then move the ball around the perimeter they will be able to leverage their excellent 3 point shooting ability to really bury teams.
One, I think Blatt tipped his hand in pre-season on the off-ball action to free up shooters on the weak side.
Two, Dion isn’t moving well without the ball which is clogging up the offense (see point one).
Three, teams aren’t forcing the Cavs to give the ball up in isolations/post-ups yet. If LeBron, Love, and Andy keep destroying people in the post, that will open up.
I think they have had at least as many open looks as the opponents, but they aren’t taking the shots…
1) Delly does not make very many bad decisions and can play without taking shots (invaluable to this offense) 1a) Delly is a Lake Erie Monsters fan – bumming around in the lower quarter end of the Q with his new bff’s Alex Kirk and Joe Harris Saturday night 2) The Cavs must continue to refine when “x number of passes are too many”, which was much better against the Bulls 3) Blatt must continue to work in Marion and Miller, especially against the lower echelon of the NBA – remember, these last two games Blatt played guys like it… Read more »
As to point five, who cares? If his role is to beat up second teamers and tired starters, it seems like a very effective tactic and excellent execution of that tactic.
This is also why Dion should play off the bench and come in with TT. Dion could be the primary ball handler and TT would have even more ORebs on errant shots.
I think Dion should be cut loose with the second unit as well.
Tristan beat up Taj Gibson. That is nothing to sneeze at. Regardless, I agree with Nate. Win whatever battle in which you participate.
I love that he won, but how does that translate to him turning down $12+M per year for 4 years from us…