LeBron is Back & Thoughts on the Buckeyes

Honestly, this post is just an excuse to post the above picture of LeBron surrounded by much shorter humans (including Damon Jones, and a man on the left with a glorious mullet). While I’m at it, I’ll share the news that despite being a “game time decision,” tonight, most expect Mr. James to play in Phoenix. I’d be shocked if the King gallivanted around the country with his entourage after two weeks of rehab, and then didn’t play tonight.

#Cavs at Suns: LeBron James expected to return against Suns tonight. Let’s hope he can stay awake. http://t.co/ZFeRbv3SqS

— Bob Finnan (@BobCavsinsider) January 13, 2015

If the goal is to help keep the Cavs from falling below .500, it’s a worthwhile one. At 22-18, Phoenix is a beatable team, and they’ve lost two straight. Perhaps the motivation to come back, tonight, stems from a desire to avoid slaking off the rust against the Lakers on national TV on Thursday. Or maybe ‘Bron just wants to keep this road trip from becoming a total dumpster fire.

Speaking of dumpster fires, quite a few celebratory ones were lit in Columbus, last night. I don’t know if we want to draw too many conclusions on how develop a winning culture from the Buckeyes, but a few things stood out.

Depth:

Ohio State ran the table after the Virginia Tech loss because of their depth at every position, but most especially quarterback. In every realm of team sports these days, teams teams seem to be overcoming lack of “stars” with depth and the ability to adopt a “next man up” mentality. With a few notable exceptions, superhuman stars that are head and shoulders above everyone else in their field are becoming rarer and rarer. What seems to be happening is that successful teams are developing large collections of talented players willing to execute well-designed offensive and defensive systems. They’re making up the individual talent gap by maximizing their collective talent. It’s happening in the NBA, too. The “star era” may be fading.

Teams like the Spurs have shown everyone that you can beat a team like the LeBron era Heat with a superior depth and superior execution for 48 minutes. You may not do it by outscoring the other team with your bench, but if you can wear out the other team’s stars by forcing them to play longer minutes, then you’ve a better chance to win the game. Adam Silver recently threw around the idea of playing 44 minute games in the NBA. The league’s deeper teams that are all atop the NBA standings should be diametrically opposed to that idea: Golden State, Atlanta, Portland… Even teams like Milwaukee, who seem to be punching above their weight, should be opposed to it too. If you look at this data from hoopsstats, you’ll see Milwaukee has one of the NBA’s best benches, along with several other winning teams, and Cleveland has the NBA’s worst.

“Eff” here, is NBA Efficiency recap = ((Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks) – ((Field goals attempts – Field goals made) + (Free throws attempts – Free throws made) + Turnovers)). “Deff” is the efficiency recap difference between Cleveland’s bench and their opponents.

The Cavs are currently suffering from the effects of trying to put together a “big three” in Cleveland at the exact moment we’re all realizing the “big three” model may be unsustainable. The elite teams in the NBA right now look like they eschewed the “big three” concept: you know, three very well payed players, and a collection of players on cheap contracts. One of the ways Ohio state was able to play good defense all year, was by maximizing their defensive line rotation, and using that to keep their players fresh and wear done opposing offensive lines. In the same way, good teams in the NBA are spreading their scoring between five or six players instead of two or three: spreading their attack between their whole starting five, or even down the bench. Golden State has six players averaging 9.9 PPG or more. In the same vein, their depth has allowed them to weather injuries to David Lee and Shaun Livingston without missing a beat. Cleveland’s lack of depth, on the other hand points to a lack of roster foresight, preparation, and poor skills coaching (everyone seems to have lost their ability to shoot).

Leadership:

It’s one of those ephemeral topics that no one can define, but everyone knows when it’s lacking. I’m as wary of anyone about all the B.S. that gets slung around regarding leadership and the “practices of successful organizations,” especially in sports. But The Buckeyes seem to love playing for Urban Meyer. He is detail oriented, everyone seems to know their role, and his team executes the game plan given to them. No one on the team is bigger than the team, and no one on the team is more powerful than the coach. Further, he seems to have an innate ability to inspire his players to improve. In this profile by ESPN’s Chris Low, defensive tackle, Michael Bennett said it best.

He’s someone you believe in because he believes in himself, believes in you, believes in his system and what he can do for you as a person… The thing he does better than anybody is getting guys to buy in no matter what’s happening anywhere else or what that player has or hasn’t done in the past.

In David Blatt, the Cavs seem to have the anti-Meyer. Part of this comes from the perception that Blatt’s not in charge. LeBron has more power and more control over this team than David Blatt, David Griffin, and even Dan Gilbert. Heck, Kevin Love’s leverage has allowed him to have more power than those guys. Right now, David doesn’t seem to believe in himself, and he is not getting guys to buy in. Additionally, his and his team’s lack of attention to detail is glaring. It may be my imagination, but the Cavs seem to lead the league in turnovers out of timeout plays. The players don’t believe in themselves either. Almost everyone on this team is shooting close to career lows.

Mike D’Antoni got a lot criticism in his career, but he always seemed to make guys perform better than they had anywhere else. Part of it was his system, but part of it was his ability to inspire confidence in his players’ offensive abilities. In watching the Lakers complete destruction this year, we’re seeing what a great job D’Antoni did last year of maximizing his team’s talent. For whatever reason, David hasn’t connected at this level with his players.

Maybe it’s lack of NBA knowledge. Maybe Blatt’s in over his head. Maybe it’s LeBron. Maybe it’s Kyrie, but no one on the floor seems to be embracing David’s leadership. The Cavs aren’t going to win until it happens. Hopefully, LeBron will take some leadership notes from the Buckeyes championship and get his team to rally behind coach Blatt. If he doesn’t, it’s time for the Cavs to find another coach — one the players respect.

Expectations:

Clearly, the Buckeyes thrived in an underdog role. They were favored to beat neither ‘Bama nor Oregon. Teams are thriving in an underdog role against Cleveland. Cleveland seems to get a Buckeye level inspirational performance from their opponent on a nightly basis. There’s only one way to beat this trend. The Cavs must lose so many games that they all but eliminate themselves from the playoffs, and everyone counts them out. Just when it seems like things can’t get any darker, they’ll turn it around, make a run for the eighth seed, and barnstorm their way through the playoffs…

Eh, that might not be a good plan. How about they just start playing harder?