First Quarter Progress Reports

I’ve been in education for the last fourteen plus years. It’s been incredibly rewarding, and I wouldn’t change my career path for any other job in the world. As we all know, one of the essential parts of education is making sure both students and their parents are aware of their progress throughout the year, often in the form of progress reports or report cards. With the 13-7 Cavaliers at roughly their first quarter of the season, now seemed like as good a time as any to assess the progress of each player thus far.*

Jared Cunningham

Cunningham is a hard worker with tremendous energy. He has already doubled his career high in minutes for a season, and beat the odds simply by making the team. He also seems to be a solid teammate who wants to work well with others. Cunningham needs to work on playing under control, especially at the offensive end. He is a poor finisher around the rim, and is shooting just 30% on two-point shots, a number that must improve if he is going to be with the team when all contracts become guaranteed. Grade: An I for incomplete. If Cunningham doesn’t learn how to be efficient on offense, he won’t finish the season in Cleveland.

Matthew Dellavedova

Dellavedova obviously worked hard over the summer and is undoubtedly the most improved player on the Cavaliers’ roster thus far. His 4.27 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the NBA, and his 7.8 assists per 36 minutes 13.4 PER are easily career highs. While Dellavedova is still limited on offense, he is easily the Cavaliers’ best defensive point guard. Before the season began it was difficult to imagine Dellavedova getting minutes when Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert return. Now, it’s impossible to imagine him not playing. Grade: An A for Aussie toughness. Crocodile Dundee has nothing on Delly.

Joe Harris

It’s hard to assess Harris’ progress right now. Having played just fifteen minutes over five games for the Cavaliers this season, Harris is undoubtedly the team’s fifteenth man right now. He’s putting up great counting stats for the Canton Charge, averaging 22.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. However Harris is only shooting 42.6% and 34.8% from deep with the Charge, disappointing numbers for someone who is supposed to be a floor spacer. Harris needs to shoot at least close to 40% from deep if he is going to have a future with the Cavaliers. He also needs to improve his defense to at least passable levels, a challenge given his lack of length and athleticism. Grade: D for the man who spends more time in the D-League than the NBA.

Kyrie Irving

It’s pretty common for fans to lament the loss of a critical player to injury. Bulls fans long for Mike Dunleavy. Hornets fans yearn for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. But when the missing player is a perennial All-Star who is coming off his first All-NBA season, the loss is enormous. It’s impossible to give a progress report to a player who hasn’t played, but it’s been reported that Irving could be back soon. He’s over a month past his original estimated recover time and the sooner he’s back on the court, the better. Grade: An incomplete, but hoping for A+ work soon.

LeBron James

LeBron continues to be one of the truly elite players in the league, and sets a tremendous standard for his teammates to follow. His combination of skill, athletic ability, and basketball I.Q. are still unparalleled in the NBA. There are still things he needs to work on though. While it has improved lately, his 69.3% mark from the free throw line is still a career low, as is his 28.8% mark from three. Part of these shooting struggles may be due to his back issues, and if he needs to LeBron must be willing to give himself a break. He also needs to remember to give his teammates that same break. Grade: An E, for always exceeding any realistic expectations the fans and his team could have.

Richard Jefferson

Jefferson has been a solid addition to the team. He’s a tremendous veteran presence and has shot well from both inside and outside the arc. He’s been a huge upgrade over Shawn Marion and Mike Miller, and has regularly played in crunch time. Like James, Jefferson is shooting a career low from the free throw line—60%—and has also lost a step on defense. When the Cavaliers are fully healthy, there is a decent chance that Jefferson loses his regular spot in the rotation, but he does create important depth on the wing. Grade: Jefferson is the first kind of O.G., an oldie but goodie.

James Jones

Jones is as respected as any player in the Cavaliers’ locker room, and seems to be seen as the elder statesmen of the team. Besides his leadership and impact on the team’s focus and professionalism, Jones remains an excellent floor spacer. He’s currently shooting 39.5% from deep, and it’s always a bit of a shock when does miss from there. Unfortunately, while Jones attempts to play smart defense, he has neither the strength to guard big men, nor the speed to handle perimeter players. Jones is also a poor rebounder—just 3.7 per 36 minutes—and has no business ever dribbling the ball, and even less shooting off the dribble. In a perfect world for the Cavaliers, Jones provides some depth at the forward positions, but isn’t a regular member of the rotation. Either way, David Blatt needs to have a quick hook with Jones as he’s a huge negative when his shot is not falling. Grade: C for the Champ, who is also pretty average on the court.

Sasha Kaun

As this is being written, Kaun has played just ten minutes across four games, and has yet to attempt a field goal. He does have a block and a couple of rebounds to his name, but at this point it’s impossible to assess what kind of player Kaun really is. Kaun is the Cavaliers fifth big—more like seventh if you count LeBron James and James Jones—and it will likely take multiple injuries for him to see the court in anything other than blowouts. His job is simply to stay ready. Grade: Kaun receives a P for patience. He likely didn’t come to the NBA to ride the bench.

Kevin Love

This season Love has been much closer to the player Cavalier fans expected to see when he was acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the summer of 2014. He currently ranks 11th in the NBA in Real Plus-Minus while averaging 19.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game while also averaging 2.3 assists and shooting 39.7% from three. While he has been an excellent to LeBron James on offense, Love’s defense continues to leaves a lot to be desired. He’ll never be a good rim protector, but that shouldn’t stop him from putting a hand in his man’s face when he is shooting. He has shown the ability to stay with his man on defense, so some potential for improvement is there. Grade: An O for outstanding offense. Love’s certainly not earning a D.

Timofey Mozgov

Mozgov has had the poorest start relative to expectations of Cavalier that is currently healthy and playing. Mozgov is currently shooting a career-worst 44.6% from the field, and his 8.1 rebounds per 36 minutes are also a career low. Three factors are seemingly holding Mozgov back this season. One is health, as he has been slow to recover from offseason knee surgery and recently missed a week with a strained shoulder. These injuries have affected his mobility, rebounding, and finishing ability.  Another reason is a simple regression to the mean. Mozgov shot 59% from the floor after he was acquired by the Cavaliers last January. Meanwhile, Timo has shot 52.6% from the field for his career. At 29 years old the odds were heavily on Mozgov having some sort of slippage from last season. The final factor simply confidence. When the discussion of Mozgov’s struggles first began to intensify, he was actually just a hair below his career average at 51% shooting from the floor. The more he seemed to push himself, the more he has struggled on both ends of the floor. Some of this is likely due to Mozgov knowing that he isn’t fully healthy and not trusting his body, some may be due to forcing his shots a bit, and some may be due to the Cavaliers trying to get him going by giving him post touches that really aren’t his strength. Either way, Mozgov needs to rebuild his confidence, and tearing him apart isn’t the way to do that. Grade: D for disappointing. Mozgov’s play is arguably the Cavaliers’ biggest concern at this point in the season.

Iman Shumpert

Like Irving, its impossible to assess Shumpert’s progress as he has yet to play a game this season due to a wrist injury suffered on the eve of training camp. When healthy, Shumpert is the Cavaliers’ best defender—with the exception of James, who obviously has many more responsibilities—and typically guards the opposition’s best perimeter player. The Cavaliers’ hope is that Shumpert’s return will help limit the opposition’s ability to penetrate off the dribble, but that isn’t the only thing the Cavaliers need from him. Shumpert needs to try to improve his three-point shooting to at least league-average to help space the floor for James, Love, and Irving. But after an offseason where his offensive focus was elsewhere, one has to wonder if Shumpert truly understands his role on offense with the Cavaliers. Grade: An M for missing and memorable, both of which Shumpert certainly is.

J.R. Smith

After a slow start to the season, Smith has started to heat up, at least from deep. Smith is solid 36.7% from three, just a hair under his career average. He is still struggling inside the arc, where he is shooting an abysmal 40%. Like many of his teammates, Smith is struggling from the line, connecting on just 50% of his free throws, by far a career-worst. Overall, Smith’s defense has been solid, but he often lets a poor night on offense drag his defense down, and his penchant for costly, thoughtless fouls is well-documented. Grade: Smith gets a *&%#. I have no idea what that is, and I have no idea what he’ll do next.

Tristan Thompson

Thompson has taken his greatest strength, rebounding, to a whole other level this season. He is currently averaging 10.3 rebounds in just 27.8 minutes per game, a terrific number. Thompson has improved his defensive rebounding tremendously this season, and is averaging 13.7 defensive rebounds per 100 possessions, over four more than his previous best. This has more than offset a slight decline in his offensive rebounding rate, which at 5.3 boards per 100 possessions ties the worst mark of his career. Thompson is also shooting a solid 54% from the field, but his poor free throw shooting—there’s a theme here people—has led to a 53.2% mark from the line, which would be a career low over a full season. He is also attempting more shots from outside of 10 feet, but is shooting under 40% on those attempts, and is getting to the line less often than any previous season of his career. He needs to eliminate his shots away from the rim and get his free throw percentage back above 60% to be the factor on the offensive end that the Cavaliers need him to be. He remains a solid, if unspectacular defender with his ability to guard perimeter players on the pick-and-roll and improving—though still below-average—rim protection Grade: Thompson gets a B. He just needs to be himself.

Anderson Varejao

It’s odd for Cleveland sports fans to see a healthy Varejao out of the regular rotation and getting the occasional DNP-CD, but it may be what’s best for the longest tenured Cavalier. Varejao has had a mix of good nights and bad this season, but overall he is an exceptional fourth (true) big man for any team. His rebounding numbers remain solid, and his midrange jumper has become so automatic it’s a wonder that teams give him so much space on that shot. While nowhere near the defender he once was, Varejao is still acceptable on that end, although his lack of rim protection makes it difficult to find regular minutes for him. Grade: L. Varejao is the player I would most love to see get a championship ring due to his longevity with the team.

Mo Williams

Williams has been everything the Cavaliers could have expected for after signing him, averaging 14.1 points and 4.4 assists per game on a career high 49.2% shooting. He remains an excellent free throw shooter, as shown by his 89.3% mark from the line this season. Unfortunately Williams is also still a poor defender, and his overall RPM of -1.04 suggests that his defense more than gives back his value on the offensive end. His recent move to the bench should help Williams, as he can likely dominate other backup point guards on offense while not giving up as much defensively. Nevertheless, it’s frustrating that Williams accepts his poor defense so easily. Being self-aware is one thing, but there’s a lot to be said for working on your weaknesses. The bigger question for Williams is what happens to his playing time when Kyrie Irving returns. It’s been widely assumed that Williams would be Irving’s primary backup, but at this point how can David Blatt justify playing him over Matthew Dellavedova? Grade: D- Or should I say minus D?

There you have the first quarter progress reports for the Cleveland Cavaliers. We’ll take a look at how things have changed in another twenty games for so, but until we do, remember this. The Cavaliers are just percentage points away from first place in the Eastern Conference despite missing their All-NBA point guard and best perimeter defender. Yes they have to fix Timofey Mozgov and learn how to play with 48 minutes of intensity, but it cannot be understated how important Irving and Shumpert are to the team. The Cavalier’s winning percentage may not jump a ton, as the schedule will become more difficult in January, but it’s reasonable to expect a much more dominant team in terms of both point differential, and effectiveness on both sides of the ball. So get ready for something special Cavalier fans.

Note, most of the statistics used here are from prior to last weekend’s back-to-back games against the New Orleans Pelicans and Miami Heat.