The Wood Shop: Nance, Nance, Revolution

The Cavs are facing some turmoil. On Sunday morning, the front office canned Tyronn Lue. The rumored reason revolved around Lue preferring to play veteran guys like Kyle Korver over younger players with unknown upside. This team is only going to get more difficult to watch as interim Coach Larry Drew plays the young guys.

I’m watching this team no matter the record, so I’d prefer not to fall into a basketball based depression. One of the ways I’m going to do that is by taking a look at what guys on our team are doing well.

Larry Nance has been a breath of air for this team’s offense. He’s having a career year playing 22 minutes a night averaging 4.3 assists, 1.5 steals, 7 boards, and 9.8 points . His assists are the most promising part of his game.

Larry has some of the better court vision in the league for a guy of his size. Among forwards his per 36 assist number of seven is seventh in the league. If he was considered among centers (where he appears to play most of his minutes), he’d be fourth, right behind Nikola Jokic. That’s a good guy to be next to.

To start to appreciate Nance’s vision, let’s look at him surveying and slaying from the elbows and block.

In the play below Nance receives the ball at the elbow from J.R. Smith. Kyle Korver is situated at the baseline when Nance gets the ball. He quickly curls around Nance towards the hoop and Nance feeds him. It’s like a running back toss almost. Nance calmly waits for Korver to curve back so the play will be successful without him (Korver) needing to dribble. Imagine if Korver were a dunker. The rim would have been rocked.

The next play Nance does the same exact thing, except this time he fakes a hand off to Collin Sexton first, as he waits for Korver to come around with his man on his back to grab the ball and fly in for a layup.

A lot of the success of these style tosses for Nance revolves around Korver’s 3-point shooting gravity. Korver’s defender trails him trying to keep him or run him from the 3-ball. They probably see it as win that Korver is cutting to the rim. The easy two points say different. And, if the defense were to drive Korver away, Nance is open for a lob. It isn’t too surprising that Korver and Nance have the highest two man offensive rating on the team outside of Kevin Love and George Hill (I only included the pairings that have played more than 50 total minutes when determining that fact). I’ll spare you the actual offensive rating because it’s still not even league average.

The next set of plays shows Nance’s ability to execute a simple dribble hand off (dho). In the play below, Nance dribbles towards Jordan Clarkson and let’s him grab the ball. It’s nothing special. The special part is Larry’s determination to pick Clarkson’s defender off. After he hands Jordan the ball, he steps up and makes sure Jordan’s defender can’t contest his 3-pointer.

Nance shows his determination again in the next play. His initial contact with Clarkson’s defender while handing off the ball doesn’t create any space. No worries though. He just resets the screen, so Clarkson can fire away unabated. Notice how Nance widens his legs to take up extra space. It’s beautiful.

Nance isn’t just a tossing hand off wonder though. He’s really figuring out how to pass out of the pick and roll when he catches the ball in the paint. In this play Sexton uses a Nance screen. Nance rolls right away to the hoop and catches the ball. He’s deep under the hoop. Instead of trying to force a shot, he notices Sam Dekker‘s defender is helping out and finds a cutting Dekker. By not deciding he has to score on the roll, he increases the chance for points to come out of the action.

In the next clip, Nance tries to free Korver with an off-ball screen. Instead of just standing around after the screen, he rolls straight to the rim. Since Korver’s man is defending him so tight, he pitches the ball to Nance on his way to the rack. Noticing three defenders in his way, Nance pitches the ball to the weak side where there is no one nearby to contest a wide open 3-pointer. Screening with purpose is what sucked in the helpers. That’s a good habit to develop.

Nance can even free lance when he needs to. In the next play, he isn’t involved in any pick and roll, but rather than stand around he heads to the paint. J.R. Smith is having some trouble keeping his dribble and Nance is open to bail him out. Larry reacts to the fact that three Pistons are kicking it in the paint and smartly kicks out to his buddy Kyle. Kyle is in great position for a 3-ball because he ran to the paint and then back out to beyond the arc. That simple push towards the paint baited the defender to help on the deep diving expedition led by Larry instead of staying on Kyle.

Right now, Nance is showing he’s an intelligent player. The reads he’s making are dependent on allowing plays to develop. He’s not shooting when he’s near the hoop because he’s near the hoop. He’s figuring out the best way to get the team buckets. This ability is going to help him further develop as a finisher around the rim. Teams will quit packing the paint when they figure out he can pass out and that will help his field goal percentage rise. He’s hitting 55.2% of his shots right now. I’m thinking he hits 65% of his shots by the time the season ends.

Sexton’s Finish

I have to comment on some other Cavs stuff because it’s weighing on my mind. Collin Sexton has had trouble beating his man off the dribble. The play below gave me some hope when I viewed it live. Sexton dusts Ish Smith in it for a layup. That’s impressive considering Ish is one of the fastest players in the association.

However, it’s not as impressive after a few watches. Sexton takes off from outside the paint, which is kind of cool looking, I can admit that at least; but, that’s not smart basketball. Collin takes off like that because he’s worried about having his shot blocked. A more veteran player would have half-stepped a dribble and put Ish on his or her back and then finished. That’s an easier shot to make. It requires zero athleticism and allows for the possibility of a foul. Guys like Kyle Lowry and Chris Paul make a living off hanging guys on their back when they are playing around the paint.

Tristan’s Screens

Let’s take a look at what Tristan Thompson is doing wrong on the offensive end. In the first play below, George Hill uses a TT screen to get to the rim. He snakes TT. Snaking is when the ball handler in a pick and roll goes in front of the roll man’s path. Kyrie Irving used to do this all the time when he played in Cleveland. It’s not usually a big deal, but I’d venture to say this happens to TT more than most big men. He forces them to do it with his picks.

The reasoning is simple. Tristan hangs onto his screens for far too long. Look how Nance sets screens compared to Tristan. Nance is touch and go. He makes contact and dives. TT sorta stutter steps after screening. The play below shows the stutter step again.

I’m not sure why he’s doing that. It could be a fear of having to finish at the rack, which would make sense. It could also be that he’s just getting a little lazy. Whatever the reason, it is going to cause issues. If he isn’t rolling hard teams will eventually stop trying to cover him when he’s screening. He already has trouble garnering any respect on offense. Once his roll means nothing, the Cavs will literally be playing four on five. It won’t just be the joke we always make on the blog.

* All stats are accurate as off Monday morning