Improving the Cavs’ Offense (or, Buckets and Problems)
2022-05-22The 2021-22 Cavs ranked 20th out of 30 NBA teams in offensive rating this past season. The question at the desk of Koby Altman for this offseason is how to improve the offense, much like how the defense took a massive leap in improvement from 2020-21 to 2021-22. Let’s dive in and see how it can improve…
1. What’s the problem?
According to the trusty calculator, there are two obvious problems with the 2021-22 Cavs’ offense: pick and roll playmaking and spot up shooting. According to nba.com’s playtype data, the Cavs rank tied for 8th worst in pick and roll ballhandler efficiency at 0.85 points per possession. The Cavs rank 26th in the NBA in spot up shooting efficiency at 0.97 points per possession. These two plays comprised almost 40% of the Cavs’ offense, so it’s no wonder why the Cavs are a below average NBA offense.
2. Pick and Roll report card
Here’s how the Cavs performed individually this past season:
As one can see, the Cavs had very few competent pick and roll players. The only two Cavs guards above the 50th percentile in pick and roll efficiency were Darius Garland and Brandon Goodwin. Collin Sexton’s pick and roll performance was horrendous this past season in the little that he played, however he’s been an above 50th percentile pick and roll player over the course of his Cavs’ tenure. Much the same can be said for Caris LeVert, who’s also been historically an above average pick and roll player during his career. In fact, he was in the top quartile of NBA players with the Indiana Pacers before the trade. So, there is the possibility of internal solutions for next season but don’t be surprised if there’s additional competition on the way via free agency or the draft.
2. What about the spot up shooting?
The Windler and Goodwin Agendas stay undefeated as Coach J.B. Bickerstaff appears allergic to giving minutes to guys who can make a jump shot. With Windler possibly on the last year of his rookie contract and Goodwin an unrestricted free agent and off Koby’s radar, NBA Champion Kevin Love might be the only Cav who can reliably make a jump shot next season. It’s impossible to complain about Evan Mobley’s shots given the need to develop his jumper, but giving 3,000 minutes to Isaac Okoro and Lamar Stevens seems a bit excessive. In a similar vein to his pick and roll play, Young Bull’s horrible jump shooting early in the season was an aberration given his statistical production historically, it would be reasonable to assume that regresses to his mean. Lauri Markkanen and Caris LeVert are perfectly average jump shooters historically and would hopefully improve with more team chemistry. One thing’s for sure, finding some competent jump shooters is a really easy way to increase the offense’s efficiency next season.
3. Free Agent Solutions?
It’ll be interesting to see if Brandon Goodwin makes a return to the Cavs. He offers pick and roll playmaking and spot up shooting, but as CtB’s intrepid writer/reporter Adam Cathcart relayed earlier in the off-season, his name was never even whispered in Koby Altman’s hour long end of season press conference. Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor has mentioned some names that the Cavs could be interested in such as Raul Neto and Delon Wright, however both of those players’ teams have Bird rights to those players.
Two names that seem to be reasonable fits that could offer some playmaking and shooting are Malik Monk of the Los Angeles Lakers and Jevon Carter of the Milwaukee Bucks. Both players are unrestricted free agents with non-Bird rights that made minimum salaries this past season, so they shouldn’t break the bank. Monk had a renaissance of sorts with the Lakers after a tumultuous tenure with the Charlotte Hornets. Carter also experienced a mid-season renaissance with the Milwaukee Bucks after being unceremoniously dumped by the Brooklyn Nets. Both of these guys appear to be options that could be explored in the off-season.
4. Draft Solutions?
There has been a trio of names linked to the Cleveland Cavaliers over the course of the NBA Combine that just took place in Chicago this past week: Jeremy Sochan, Dyson Daniels, and Johnny Davis. Davis and Daniels offer the best opportunity to improve pick and roll playmaking and shooting among the trio. Sochan profiles very similarly to Isaac Okoro, which means he’s a defensive stalwart with raw offense. Fedor did report that there’s at least one front office person who likes the tantalizing Tari Eason out of LSU. Eason’s upside as an athletic wing shooter/scorer makes him an obligatory prospect for the Cavs to consider.
Two of the best surefire jump shooters could be available at 14 in the forms of Malaki Branham and Ochai Agbaji. Yours truly has been driving the Branham agenda and there’s no reason to abandon it at this point. He’s exactly the type of jump shooter the Cavs need. Agbaji had a fantastic week of testing at the combine, where he showed that he’s an elite NBA athlete with a silky smooth jumper.
Finding a pick and roll player will be much harder for the Cavs since players who can play create and shoot typically are long gone before 14. The best pick and roll player in this draft class could be Kennedy Chandler of Tennessee. The six foot guard is a bulldog on defense and maestro on offense who led his team to a lot winning this past season. He is projected to go later in the first round so the opportunity should be there to snag him if they wish. Another name to look out for? Tyty Washington out of Kentucky. He also offers playmaking out of the pick and roll along with some defense and shooting.
5. The Bottom Line
The bottom line for the Cavs is that they need to find buckets and problems. They need to find guys who can run a pick and roll and hit a jumper. It sounds simple enough, but in actuality it is very hard to execute such a plan. Sound off below Commentariat, who are the buckets and problems you’d like to acquire?
Warriors right back in the finals after like 2-3 years of ‘hiccups’…Cavs need to carbon copy their development plan. Yes having Steph/Klay/Dray helps but Wiggins revived his career, some guy named Jordan Poole is making huge jumps; another guy named Kevin Looney is more than serviceable big man. They built a system where everyone accomplishes something in addition to having stars.
Not saying Cavs have players like Steph/Klay/Dray but DG/Mobeley and Allen and possibly others could get close to that with right coaching development.
FIFTEEN POINT RUN BY THE MAVS
Sucks there was no Luka magic, can’t stand GSW!
Yeah. I like Luka.
Soon we might face the dilemma of who we hate more between the GSW and Celts. At least LA and NY will not be there.
Wiggins with the worst eurostep I think I’ve ever seen. 😂
Going to say it. Hate the eurostep. Should go back to one step.
https://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/9963/traveling-violation-nba-on-rule-change
You would still get lax rules on allowing two steps. But you might not get as blatant travels. Catch take a step and then travel. Not catch and then take two steps after the gather or three.
agree.
I recall when they first started allowing multiple steps. may or may not have been part of a league policy of “all calls favor Jordan”.
at the time, all the younger guys in any gym expected to be able to do the new multiple step shots. all the old guys (like me) were too slow anyway, plus had spent our entire life learning to play with “one and a half steps”, and shouted out “traveling” when the kids did the new stuff.
it was a huge culture clash leading to a lot of heated arguments.
Mavs still able to score….not enough stops to blast back in here.
What I would give for a Dubs collapse here though.
me too!
Great piece, Chris! I am certainly of the opinion that the Cavs need more shooting. In fact half the p/r action problems are due to bad spacing due to bad shooters. The Cavs certainly played a lot of them. Count me in the “Lamar Stevens needs to be a non shooting power forward, or he needs to go” group.
Thanks Nate! For sure, great call in fact you’ve been on the “find shooting” train from the jump.
Yeah, coming around to Lamar being a small ball big as opposed to wing.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH !!!——I HOPE AND PRAY THAT SOMEDAY ——SOON —- WE CAN ALL LIVE IN A MORE SAFER—PEACEFUL COUNTRY // WORLD !!!!!!!!!!!
THE MRS NOMAD READ MY POSTS —-HAS BEEN HYSTERICALLY LAUGHING FOR THE LAST HOUR ——SOMETIMES I DON’T UNDERSTAND HER SENSE OF HUMOR :-)………..” MORE BEER PLEASE ” !!!
IN REPLY TO THE ‘LATEST// GREATEST ” BUCKAROO POST ——THEY DO SELL ” MAGNUM ” SIZE ROLLING ROCK BOTTLES :-)
that’s like the size of a bowling pin, right ? maybe you need to contact guiness book of world records NOMAD bro.. must be why the mrs NOMAD always has that special spring in her step
y’all need to get back to Cobra 40’s.
are there a LOT more blowouts — going each way — in this year’s playoffs than usual?
Yes.
These games have descended into 3PT shooting contests. Teams are taking half of their shots (or sometimes more). 3PT shooting has a lot of volitility & variance. If that one stat tips decidedly in one team’s favor, it is game over.
If I go 20/50, that’s 60 pts. If you brick it up for 10/50, That’s 30. It is almost impossible to make that up in other areas.
Further, there are a lot guys who have limited skillsets offensively. That can shoot spot up 3s and that is it. Cannot post-up, mid-range, or playmake. There is no plan B.
That’s why there aren’t as many adjustments to counteract the blowouts. It is not because coaches are dumb, it because they don’t have options. The teams are built to generate & shoot 3s.
Good points all. Here is a suggested fix:
I have long been in favor of making the court bigger. The players are too big and fast for the size of the court.
This could be done over, say, 10 years. For a long time 96′ was the goal, not the standard.
I suggest, at a minimum, making the court 2′ wider and 2′ longer, with the three point line back 1′. Maybe make it 4′ or 6′ feet longer. Maybe another foot or so behind the baskets too, which would open up a lot of new offense.
Yep, exactly. And it has all swung too far toward the three, and only the three. I don’t have some genius answer, but the NBA has to find a way to disincentivize the three somewhat, and incentivize the two point shot. I’m not against the three point shot at all, but it should not be the only right answer in virtually any and every situation, either.
it is only going to become more extreme over time if the NBA continues on their current path.
One two point foul shot for any foul before the last two minutes. Then it’s one per shot and three free throws on a free. Would prevent some of the flailing and teams would be more aggressive closing out threes.
I’m on board with testing that change to see how it works. I think enlarging the court, as Raoul suggested above, also sounds interesting, although that obviously would require infrastructure work in NBA arenas.
I was listening to the latest Chase Down pod this morning, and they had Krysten Peek on to talk draft prospects. When Branham was brought up as a potential Cavs pick, she kind of laughed, and said he won’t be there when the Cavs pick. She may well be right, but I’m pretty tired of this kind of chatter. You hear it about loads of guys – “he’s rising, he’ll be gone’. Sorry, but 20+ guys aren’t going to be going in the top ten picks. You wanna know why? Because it’s literally impossible. Some of these guys are going… Read more »
lol that’s the vicious cycle of the basketball junkie. Jones’n for more news, news gets churned out until its meaningless. I’m ready to just start simulating next season in 2K so I can watch more Cavs.
That’s why I stick to the consensus board, if people don’t put their name on it who cares?
In all honesty tho she’s probably right Branham should go higher than 14.
Speaking of which a lot of movement yesterday, Dyson Daniels legitimately out of reach I’d think at this point:
Yeah, sounds like Daniels will go well before the Cavs can even think about him. They will have a shot at somebody potentially helpful though, despite 25 players supposedly being drafted before 14…
Yup, at this point, they need to have the courage to reach IMO for guys like Laravia, Jalen Williams, or Christian Braun if they want a two way wing.
I’m intrigued by Williams, apparently looked really good in scrimmages. Probably still late first round due to his age, but hope Cavs take a close look.
He’s getting massive buzz, wouldn’t be surprised if he has a Josh Primo-like rise into the lottery.
Have you watched how the actual draft matched the CBB in the past? Just wondering.
Has the CBB been around long enough to rank the draft with GumDropBear and Gainnis? That would be fun to review.
probably not, it’s a newer thing AFAIK but i know it was analyzed in the football realm and turned out pretty well in terms of accuracy and predicting reaches.
last year’s board was pretty damn accurate:
DID A’CLF” BUCKAROO !!!——-WILL KEEP AN EYE ON THE LAKE ERIE TIDE—I DON’T WANT TO GET CAUGHT “WITH MY SHORTS DOWN// OFF—–EXPOSED —-WILL POSITION MY ROLLING ROCK BOTTLE IN THE APPROPRIATE PLACE !!! :-)
NOMAD bro.. you sure the RR bottle is big enough to hide the family jewels ?
good time for cavs to be competitive in the east.. as buffett has noted, “you don’t know who is swimming naked until the tide goes out”.. well, the tide has gone out and PHI, BKN and MIA are looking like they have a real problem with shrinkage (think vienna sausages in a tin).. BOS appears to be the heavy weight.. and they are beatable.. if they can find someone who can shoot 3s next year might be enjoyable..
good observations.
good Buffett observation. BTW, Buffett wrote a book, “Where is Joe Merchant”, which is very entertaining. I will quote the last line (in a postscript updating what happened to the characters): “and Jimmy Buffett finally finished his d*mn book”.
14-1 with 6 min left in q1 ? baseball game ? now 18-1.. i like MIA and the undrafteds, but never thought they were a premier team.. this is just pathetic
Cavs have a bad history of developing 3&D wings they draft (Danny Green, Joe Harris), so they should draft someone who they see as contributing right away in the Herb Jones mold (I like Eason and Agbaji).
That said, this is obvious, but the Cavs biggest need imo continues to be backup PG. Assuming they improve in some way on the wing (draft, FA, internally), there’ll be diminished returns without a good backup PG.
I don’t think the FO or coach are the same as they were for Danny and Joe, so that history doesn’t mean anything.
The bottom line is —can JB build an offensive system that utilizes the talent of the team, or will he only trust defense and ‘playing hard’ and exhaust his guys by January again? I think personnel to a certain degree is irrelevant if that question can’t be solved by management.
I’ve written before that the JB needs to prove he can take the Cavs to the next level of being a contender. I don’t think he’s capable of it and I don’t want the Cavs to wait to long when its too late.
I don’t think the offensive system is a problem, the Cavs were very good in transition, hitting the roll man, in isolation, hitting cuts.
Where the Cavs sucked was perimeter players making plays off of PnR and DHOs along with their jump shooting. It’s personnel/talent problem not a scheme problem.
My beef with JB is freezing out Windler for no good reason.
agree on 1 and 2. JB may or may not be able run a high scoring offence, but there is no way to know until they have some decent jump shooters.
undecided on 3. Windler certainly looks good running around, other than that he is not taking open shots and making them. I have no clue if he was not supposed to be taking those shots, lacks confidence, doesn’t make them, or what. If I was in his shoes, I would have been chucking away.
There’s no justifiable reason for not sparing some extra minutes to your first round pick in a development season. Lamar Stevens got double the minutes and there’s no evidence he’s that much better a player than Windler.
your last sentence proved my point haha – even though Im not sure Windler is long term answer, but it appears JB doesn’t understand his personnel outside of the ‘main guys’ and every contender and thus champion always has solid role players (2-3) that are developed for specific roles.
At the end of the day the Windler issue in the big picture is a marginal mistake. Playing Windler vs. not playing Windler is probably only a 1 win mistake at most over the course of the season.
It doesn’t prove that the offesnive system is bad or not working.
This is where the cavs have historically shot themselves in the foot outside of a couple years with Lebron (and even then they rode reputable vets instead of a burgeoning young group…the worst of which was trusting old ass Antawn Jamison to change something.). Windler not getting time for multiple games at a time was weird and may have cost them 1 game. Windler not getting ANY consistent time throughout the entire year outside of his G league time could have meant dozens of consequences. He got injured early in the year. Often. That sucked. But JB’s doghouse is a… Read more »
we get some comments that Windler was a stupid draft choice, and a lot of comments that Windler didn’t play enough. I think the key question is “will Windler ever learn to shoot, or get comfortable shooting a lot”. some players get better at shooting after a couple years. but a lot more don’t — we don’t think about them much because they are not in the NBA long. in Windler’s case, what is the likelihood that his shooting will improve enough that he can be a rotation guy? I don’t watch a lot of games, so I might have… Read more »
lol didn’t know I had so many thoughts on this season til now. system might be fine…but ignoring developing young players is suicide to try to luck out on one title. Tell me the warriors would lose 1 game this season if they ignored developing Poole…or actually the closer comparison to Windler is Moody. They wouldn’t care about 1 loss…they would care about Moody being confident come playoff time. I hate pointing to the spurs. I think Pop is awesome but not infallible. His way is not the only way. Same with Phil Jackson. But I do think you can… Read more »
watch out.. they’re back…and better than version 1.. resistance is futile..
Steph is probably on the decline but still amazing. Klay is not the same. But green about the same, Poole is a huge addition, and Wiggins has played great for them. EPM +1.2 reg season. Post season better as far as 3pt %.
That said they aren’t better than 1.0. Not even close. Their bench was wild before durant. And nobody in the modern era has been as talented as them with durant.
Agree with everything, except: Klay. He is playing as well as we might expect a Klay 2 years on without being injured. He’s doing just fine.
i don’t see anyone beating them in a seven game series for the next 3 to 4 years..
Not impossible, but what I know about the ageing athlete is that the end often comes sooner than you think. I give it 1-2 seasons.
Yes, I think this year may be lock for them. We have to factor in that there is no Lebron or Kawhi left to blunt them this season. All other teams with “superstars” have been dismissed.*
*This is for the Celtics, who may just be able to suffocate GSW’s natural game. I hate to say this, of course. But I also hate to see Curry’s mouthguard, unless it is being thrown in a tantrum.
the durant team was an abomination of pro sports.. those titles are illegitimate
Asterisk*********
Nice artcle, Chris.
Good zeroing in on our 2 biggest problems on offense, jump shooting and P&R.
3PT is gonna struggle with Mobley & Allen sharing the floor. Okoro makes it worse. Big Finnish is OK. Our most dangerous shooter amongst the starters is Garland, and he is your P&R handler. Thus, things get crowded in P&R b/c we cannot create space with 3PT shhoting threats outside of Love.
Thanks Jason! Yup, you lay out the situation pretty well there. Gonna need a lot better playmaking and jump shooting if Tower City’s gonna survive.
Not necessarily, look at the Heat, rolling out Bam and Jimmy as two 3pt non-shooters and still making 3s a big part of the offense due to personnel and scheme.
Cavs have an unusual (innovative?) roster construction, which requires some innovative schemes. Is JB and his staff up for the job?
Good article, Chris. Gotta say, though, that I disagree on Branham. Not that I think he stinks or anything, but I see him as a similar guy to players like Levert and (a taller) Sexton, who also needs a lot of development time at a fairly logjammed position. Cavs *desperately* need size at the wing. Unfortunately, if he’s there, I think it’s fairly likely the Cavs take him. I’m still high on Sochan, but you have at least partially persuaded me that he’s a bit too similar to Okoro right now (albeit a potentially ideal version of Okoro, with better… Read more »
I don’t think there’s any logjam at all… neither Sexton or LeVert are under contract after next season and may be replaced by this year’s draft pick.
I understand your concern about finding a wing, but I’d rather draft a prospect who actually has basketball skills. Branham shows a natural ability to play NBA offense off the dribble, with playmaking upside in the pick and roll. Having a guy like Okoro on the floor who’s nothing on offense doesn’t fly in the playoffs.
Re: Sochan, agree with you 100% he’s a better prospect than Okoro and is projected @ 12 right now on the consensus board. On paper, can’t really fault the Cavs if they choose him. I’d just rather take a guy who has more proven offensive production.
NICE JOB !!—-YOU THE MAN !!!——I WOULD GO AFTER MONK –HIS DEFENSE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOLID IF HIS SHOT CONTINUES –YOU HAVE A NICE PLAYER—-DRAFTING AT 14 —IT WILL BE A ‘CRAP SHOT ‘ DAMNED IF YOU DO —DAMNED IF YOU DON’T —WE MIGHT GET A PLAYER WHO TURNS INTO A SOLID PRO OR POSSIBLY IN 3 YRS BE GONE —-( SEE —THIS IS FOR BUCKAROO—-WINDLER//POOLE )—–IN THIS ORDER —-EASON / DANIELS/ BRANAHAM/ DAVIS/ AGBAJI—IF THEY ARE STILL THERE —IF NOT THEN “DANG GO GET DIENG ” !!
Yup good point about the lack of value at 14, according to one article, the median outcome for the 14th pick is Denzel Valentine LMFAOOOO
Odds are, this draft pick won’t be of very much help ultimately.