From Distance: Youth Be Young, Yo

four point play….

1. Perhaps in an alternate universe, Kyrie Irving would still be a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. I gotta say, I am perfectly content living in this particular reality. Irving, yet again, displayed a knack for being a total idiot as he threw most of him teammates under a bus.

In this century, people talk about various forms of intelligence. Gone are the days when the basic ability to solve equations and learn history were the standards for being considered “book smart” while having a cleverness in dealing with people made you “street smart”.

I am happier for it, as we should be aware of the many various forms of intelligence.

Good and bad for Mr. Irving. Yes, Uncle Drew is a ball-handling genius, probably the best over. Props indeed. But the longer Kyrie hangs around in the public eye, the more he makes it clear that he is a total moron when it comes to leadership, team-play, cooperation, media savvy, and (of course) geography.

I am totally with Jay Williams here. If Irving thinks this is an okay or beneficial thing to say, he is sorely mistaken. More likely, he was just too egotistically irrational to even consider the consequences. Either way, it is a good old thumbs down on the Smart-o-Meter.

The Cavs might have been able to grab another title had Irving and LeBron stayed, but in my heart of hearts, I am perfectly fine that they are gone.

2. They Cavs may not have any all-time talents on the current roster, but the youngsters are coming along. Darius Garland has consistently grown seemingly both on the floor and the scale. I don’t have any insider info, but that kid looks like he is putting on muscle like a 15-year old who just sprouted whiskers.Eat up, young fella. You are going to need to fill out even more to carry the load your talent warrants.

Ah that talent. Garland has always had a nice feel for angles and timing on his dribble drive. What he is developing are a few pet moves that prove to work against NBA defenses.

Quick Rundown:

A: Old school “Nashing It” aka, dribbling into the lane, keeping a live dribble as he comes out the other end, lengthening the overall time the defense has to remain in scramble mode post Pick and Roll.

Garland has done it from day one, but has improved in recent weeks, actively looking for the big man after he comes out the back side instead of just kicking it to the corner like most guys do.

B: Hesitation dribble after snaking the PnR.

If you have read this site for long enough, you might remember how much I hated watching Jarrett Jack unnecessarily snake the PnR before invariably firing up an elbow jumper. It was maddening.

Still, if one snakes into a drive while the big man continues to roll, you can end up with some good action. Chris Paul has made a career out of this very move after all.

Garland’s use of the hesitation dribble right about where Jack would fire a jumper is a thing of beauty. The big man doesn’t know whether he needs to get a hand up or backpedal for the drive. Darius has frequently gone to the same-foot long finish off this move. He still over-clubs it at times, but the roll man is in great position to snag an offensive rebound giving Garland a “Kobe assist”.

He has often combined all of the above. Snaked PnR, into a hesitation dribble leading to a drive and Nash before dropping off a dime from the back end.

C: Darius’s floater game has begun to flow. The young man has no problem going to what the defense allows. If they overplay the pick, he happily rejects it into a quick float or drive. He bends the defense while being properly reactionary.

It is high level stuff from the young man.

None of this would be as easy as it has become for him if his outside shot weren’t finding the net with more regularity. In January, Garland is shooting over six threes per game nailing 2.3 of them. His percentages aren’t great, only about 35% during that stretch, but his aggression has opened up the rest of his game.

Garland doesn’t need to go full-fledged Trae Young in order to be a plus offensive player in year one. Coach Beilein has handed him the keys more frequently than earlier in the season appreciating Garland’s preference to create off of action. It serves Beilein and teammates well.

3. Beilein has also given Cedi Osman more on-ball responsibility over the same stretch. Whether it was by design or accidental, Cedi is finally creating off primary and secondary action more frequently to much success. That early season static Cedi drove me crazy. Osman has more to his game than that of a typical 3 and D guy.

With the development of Garland’s game and Osman’s uptick in usage, Collin Sexton has had less of an opportunity to hijack the offense. Hooray!

Though both Collin and Cedi have averaged about as many turnovers as assists, the difference is that Osman happily makes a pass. I’m not talking extra pass, I’m talking any old pass. This season, Collin has made Jordan Clarkson’s 2018-2019 campaign look positively philanthropic.

With more catch and shoot opportunities, Collin’s three-point stroke has rebounded from a disastrous December. Combine that with Cedi’s recent hot-streak and the Cavs’ offense has begun to look professional.

4. Sadly, the young backcourt still gets back-doored on a regular basis. Any opposing team that reminds itself that Collin Sexton is a terrible defender is rewarded by countless buckets at the rim. I don’t know what to say anymore. Collin is similar to Iman Shumpert in that his man-to-man defense can occasionally be pesky while his team defense is between terrible and mediocre at best.

Let me be clear, Shumpert was Kawhi Leonard compared to Collin. Shump was bad off-ball, but Collin is atrocious, consistently making mistakes on-ball as well both in PnR defense and in basic footwork.

This season, he has done a better job of sliding laterally instead of hopping compared to his rookie year, but I can’t say that I see any other improvement at all.

Garland is equally terrible in PnR defense, rarely getting his small frame back into the play on either his man, the roller, or in rotation. On-ball, he gets overpowered on the regular and doesn’t provide much resistance on the block. I still see a better natural feel for weak-side defense than I do from Collin.

Garland will occasionally find himself in the right position, but will not have the body to contest. Collin is a fiercer presence in the paint, but gives up a ton of dunks by being confused on the perimeter.

I am sorry to repeat myself on all this, but there just isn’t much of an excuse to get back-doored so routinely. The Cavs will never have even an average defense unless Collin, Darius, and the rest of the team solve these high school level deficiencies.

The highlights from the Lakers game catches almost everything I have written about from Garland’s offensive growth to the teams’ hilariously poor defensive acumen. Look off-ball on the Lakers buckets to see how often the young guys are abjectly failing. Love and TT had their share of mistakes as well, but this game was lost by youthful confusion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYAWIQkYAOQ

At least they aren’t ripping teammates like Kyrie.