The Point Four-ward: Making Things Difficult

Four points I’m thinking about the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) You can say that the Cavs “struggle with success.” You can chalk it up to fatigue and call them “bed bug bitten” (though not if you’re like me and a thorough case of New York City-bred entomophobia causes you to shudder at the mere thought of… of that kind of bug). Or you can side with ESPN’s Tim Legler who, following the Cavs 96-88 loss to the Detroit Pistons Monday at The Q, broke down what he saw as the biggest self-erected barrier between the boys in wine and gold and the city’s ever-elusive championship: the tendency for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to just dribble, dribble, dribble.

Regardless of which symptoms you choose to focus on, the disease remains real. Whenever it looks like this Cavs team has finally figured out which key goes in the ignition, they turn it only to find themselves stuck behind the wheel of a 1976 Ford Pinto.

Legler is not the first to draw attention to the problems that James’ and Irving’s over-dribbling are causing this offense. CtB’s own Ben Werth, Nate Smith and Tom Pestak discussed it in a recent podcast. But, one day after the Cavs’ offense looked crisp and balanced (and that they were actually running plays!) with James and Matthew Dellavedova manning the point, all that dried up against the Pistons with Irving’s return.

If you just look at the box score, you’d think that Irving and Kevin Love were the only players who showed up. The Cavs’ point guard scored 30 points on 11-21 shooting from the floor, including 3-7 from three, with five assists and just two turnovers. But, watching the game was a different story. Irving failed the eye test as he continuously passed up the easy play and dribbled into a more difficult one.

2.) Years ago, 82games.com ran an article on dribble/shot splits in which they factored the number of dribbles players take before a shot into efficiency league-wide. While the stats they’re using have some dust on them, they still carry some clear lessons as to what continues to ail this Cavs team.

From 82games.com:

George Karl is one of a number of coaches who preach that once you get the ball you need to do something right away otherwise you’re just allowing the defense to reset…and he’s right! In the NBA the players are so fast and so good, that any momentary advantage the offense creates can easily be nullified if the defense gets any time to react.

… The numbers though show that the worst efficiency comes with the most dribbles, so over-dribbling can be a real problem: on 6+ dribbles the league as a whole shoots a woeful .398 FG% and averages a meek 81.5 points per 100 possessions. What you’re really looking for is a guy with a great handle who also makes smart decisions, ideally being able to pass and shoot with the best.

Perhaps, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Cavs have two of the bigger over-dribblers in the league. Both James and Irving come so close to the ideal player described above. James (usually) makes smart decisions and can pass with the best. He just can’t shoot anymore. Irving, meanwhile, can pass and shoot with the best. It’s his decision making that is often questionable. So, both players can get stuck dribbling, waiting for the defense to allow them to do what they do best.

But, as James recently said of Irving after a torrid stretch of mid-range shooting, he is a player who belies advanced stats. He takes the highest percentage of his shots (38.9%) after seven or more dribbles, per nba.com, and converts those at a 51.4% clip. Only 23% of his shots are taken between 0-1 dribbles and he’s only hitting 40.4% of those shots and just 30% on catch-and-shoot jumpers.

Compare that to another scoring points guard, Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, who shoots… well, the way he’s supposed to. 46.9% of his shots — basically half of the many, many shots he takes (and usually makes) — are between 0-1 dribbles and he hits 52.7% of those shots.

So, when most statistical measures say Irving should be worse, he’s actually more efficient. When he should be more, he’s less.

And you wonder why it’s been so difficult for the Cavs to figure out how to run a pass-happy offense when Irving’s on the floor…

3.) Like most Cavs fans — including many of the writers on the site — the news that the Cavs had traded Anderson Varejao in a salary dump that later allowed them to acquire Channing Frye made me feel pretty icky.

It’s not that I disagreed that, from a purely on-court performance aspect, the Cavs were made better by the dealing their longest tenured player. I think they probably were, if only marginally so.

And it’s not that I think the trade disrespected Andy’s loyalty and service to the team. Varejao must have known that, following his recent contract extension that was, in turn, followed by a career-altering injury, that this day would come. He was well compensated for his time in Cleveland.

With the escalating salary cap making soon-to-be-expiring deals like Varejao’s less valuable to other teams and with the Cavs feeling every movement of the second hand on their ticking championship clock like a tremor, the team was left with only one deal to make. They dealt one of their most popular players and gave up assets to convince another team to take that player on. On Sunday, the cheers produced by the Cavs big time win in Oklahoma City just barely masked the collective groan when news broke that Varejao had decided to sign with the Golden State Warriors, making what would already be a tense Finals rematch, should it happen, just a little more… well, icky.

4.) The trade did allow for some reflection on the fine career Varejao made for himself in Cleveland. By the time he left, he was robbed of much of the quickness, athleticism and the ability to keep his motor going at full bore that he initially used to carve out a place for himself in this league. To compensate, he’d become a reliable shooter from the elbows, as well as a much better passer. He’d also become a much smarter player.

For much of Varejao’s tenure with the Cavs, he was, for me, inextricably linked to one play in the closing seconds of Game 3 of the 2007 NBA Finals. This play was later immortalized by Scott Henkle in the 2014 edition of Cleveland Jackson’s CavsZine and it went exactly like this:

That’s right. In a whirl of hair and indecision, Andy decided to take a potential game-tying shot. Clearly, not the best basketball decision.

But late(r)-career Varejao completely washed away that missed shot as my defining image of him. He was one of the few players who seemed to fundamentally understand how to play with LeBron James. Just imagine if Timofey Mozgov were able to be the kind of pick-and-roll partner for James that Varejao was… if Timo could anticipate (let alone catch and finish) a James pass rocketing through traffic that the Brazilian big man had made the bread of his offense, until his elbow jumper developed enough to be the butter.

Anderson Varejao may have come to the Cavs as a high-motor guy, but he left as one hell of a basketball player. Thanks, Andy.