Bernucca: Cavs Are More Than Fragile. They’re Flawed

Over the weekend, LeBron James called his slumping, underachieving Cleveland Cavaliers “a fragile team.”

James is partially right. As a group, the Cavaliers aren’t dealing very well with the lofty expectations put upon them by pundits like me. Right now, they look like a typical front-running team that lacks mental toughness and gives in at the first sign of trouble.

That was evident Saturday, when the Cavaliers sprinted to a 26-8 lead in the first eight minutes – and were overwhelmed thereafter by the Toronto Raptors, who cruised to a 110-93 victory that ended with James spending the last six minutes on the bench.

“We’re a very fragile team right now,” James said after Cleveland’s fourth straight loss. “We were a fragile team from the beginning. Any little adversity hits us, we just shell up.”

But the Cavs are more than a fragile team. They also are a flawed team. They are missing individual and team components that every contender must have to be taken seriously.

When James decided to return to Cleveland and GM David Griffin landed Kevin Love in a blockbuster trade, there were oohs and aahs everywhere about what the Cavs had assembled. For some time, the formula for success has been putting together a trio of stars, and the Cavs had arguably the best one in recent memory in James, Love and Kyrie Irving, all entrenched in their primes.

The cupboard wasn’t bare behind them, either. Anderson Varejao, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson all appeared to have well-fitting roles, and experienced veterans Shawn Marion, Mike Miller and James Jones were added.

But less than a month into the season, first-year coach David Blatt already is down to just eight players he can trust – and one of them is Joe Harris, an overmatched rookie whose nightly presence simply illustrates how much the roster really is missing.

The Cavs don’t have a trustworthy backup point guard. They don’t have a 3-and-D guy. They don’t have an athletic freak. They don’t have an enforcer in their frontcourt. And perhaps most glaring of all, they don’t have a rim protector.

Yes, James can be your backup point guard. He also plays good defense and knocks down threes. And he is still unstoppable with a head of steam. But isn’t it asking a bit much for him to be all of those things?

In the first week of the season, Cleveland inexplicably swapped out six-year veteran A.J. Price for rookie Will Cherry. Price is averaging 11.4 points and helping keep Indiana afloat. Cherry doesn’t play. And if you don’t believe Price was the solution, Leandro Barbosa, Aaron Brooks, Jannero Pargo and Ronnie Price all signed minimum deals this summer.

In Miller and Jones, the Cavs have a pair of 3-and-no-D guys, both of whom are aging quickly and hardly play. Wouldn’t Rasual Butler, Garrett Temple, John Salmons or Richard Jefferson – all on minimum deals – have been better choices?

Athletic freaks admittedly are hard to come by. But as far as enforcers and rim protectors go, Jeff Adrien, Jason Smith, Ekpe Udoh, Elton Brand, Ivan Johnson and Kenyon Martin all were readily available. Heck, some of them still are.

The roster issues are evident when you look at Cleveland’s bench use and production. The Cavs are tied for last in the league in bench minutes at 14.9 per game. They are last in scoring at 21.7 points, 26th in rebounding at 11.7 boards and last in efficiency difference at minus-18.6.

Blatt has been experimenting lately with different looks from his reserves. But when you don’t trust nearly half of your roster, there’s a limited number of permutations at your disposal.

“We wanted to get some guys in there and give them minutes to see what they could do and generate some energy and see if the bench can provide a little more of a contribution,” the coach said after a recent loss. “It didn’t work particularly well but it’s something we need to take a look at.”

“We have to keep giving them confidence,” Irving said before beginning to whistle in the dark. “I have confidence in them just to come in. It’ll get rolling, it’ll get going. We have guys that are talented on our bench and we just have to stay with them. I’m staying with them. I know the coaching staff is going to continue to believe in them and try to keep feeding them energy when they come off the bench. They just have to be ready to play and ready to make a difference.”

The lack of a trusty bench already is putting a burden on the Big Three, all of whom are in the top 11 in minutes played. But it is also putting a burden on all of the rotation players, many of whom have never experienced winning basketball – and the attention to detail it requires.

To contend for an NBA title, a team must understand the importance of setting its defense and committing to it, getting good shots on every trip and not giving away possessions, running inbounds plays sharply, winning the battle for 50-50 balls and playing through the inevitabkle stretches when things aren’t hunky-dory.

That is what gets teams into the playoffs and through the postseason wars. It is psychological as much as physical, and the Cavs don’t have a whole lot of depth in that area, either. Among their basic eight-man rotation, James and Marion are the only ones who have played in the playoffs this decade.

Love is in his seventh season and has played in any many postseason games as I have. So has Irving, a four-year veteran who sounded ridiculous when he said “I have been through the trenches” after Friday’s loss at Washington. Thompson was 74 games under .500 through his first three seasons. And while Varejao is a trusted trooper, he hasn’t been to the playoffs since James first left in 2010.

When you play for teams with losing cultures, you develop bad habits that are hard to break. Most of them are evident on defense, where the Cavs have simply been awful.

Cleveland is a pedestrian 19th in the glitzy defensive stats of both blocks (4.3) and steals (6.8), somewhat exposing its lack of rim protection and athleticism. It also is 19th in 3-point defense (.354).

But the Cavs also are 21st in points per shot allowed (1.24), which means they have trouble defending without fouling. They are 25th in both points allowed (102.7) and defensive efficiency (1.053) and 28th in opponents’ shooting (.477), which despite all of the newfangled metrics remains directly correlative to a team’s success.

While James, Varejao and Marion are willing and able defenders, some of their teammates are seens as targets by opponents, such as Love.

“For sure, we went straight up at him,” Wizards forward Kevin Seraphin said after Friday’s game. “Coach directly called for me and Nene, and we just keep going at him.”

And when your rotation is filled with guys who have spent the majority of their careers playing from behind and looking up in the standings, a couple of baskets is all it takes to remind them of that familiar feeling.

“We just get stagnant at some points,” Love said. “When the other team scores on us, we might hang our heads and slow
down.”

“We have guys that come out no matter what and have energy,” James said. “Losing does not help it. It zaps the energy away for us.”

The Cavs continue to put up a brave front. Irving maintains “I’m sure that we’re going to fix it,” while James says “I’m very positive, more positive than I thought I would be right now.” Given the inexperience around him and the arc of the learning curve, James is better off using the pat on the back rather than the kick in the ass.

The recent slide notwithstanding, most of Cleveland’s issues are on the defensive end. The offense certainly could be better but has not been awful and should improve merely through familiarity. And there are still 70 games to work on these issues, a fact not lost on Gregg Popovich, who knows a little bit about improvement throughout the course of a season.

“They’re going to be one hell of a team,” Popovich said after his San Antonio Spurs escaped Cleveland with a win. “It’s a new system, new bodies. It doesn’t happen quickly. I’m glad we’re playing them now. They’re going to be a whole lot tougher later on in the year.”

Blatt, however, seems to have a greater sense of urgency about his team’s problems.

“I haven’t had a losing record in my career and will not have one here,” he said.

TRIVIA: Last week marked the 10th anniversary of the Malice at the Palace. Two players from thet game are still active. Who are they? Answer below.

THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: On Saturday night, the Knicks and Sixers played quite a game, according to the Worldwide Leader in Sports. (Thanks to Deadspin)

Even by these two team’s standards, this seems odd. Also, make up your mind pic.twitter.com/M018La4sRC

— Evan Sporer (@ev_sporer) November 23, 2014

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Sacramento Kings coach Mike Malone, on whether there was more satisfaction in beating the Chicago Bulls because it was on TNT:

“I don’t care if we’re on TNT or the Home Shopping Network.”

TANKS A LOT!: The Philadelphia 76ers are so bad, fellow players have no familiarity with their roster. In Saturday’s game, Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony had no idea how to defend Sixers forward Robert Covington, signed earlier in the week from the D-League. “The kid Covington came in at the end, I’m looking at the sideline, I’m like, ‘Is he a shooter? How should we guard him?’ They’re like, ‘Just put a hand up.’ He came out and hit four 3s in a row.”

LINE OF THE WEEK: Kevin Martin, Minnesota vs. New York, Nov. 19: 35 minutes, 14-20 FGs, 7-11 3-pointers, 2-6 FTs, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, two turnovers, 37 points in a 115-99 win. Anthony Davis (season-high 43 with 14 boards) and Lou Williams (career-high 36 off the bench) had awesome games Saturday, but neither of them played with a fractured wrist, which Martin did en route to a season high. Unfortunately, he is now out indefinitely.

LINE OF THE WEAK: Shane Larkin and Iman Shumpert, New York at Minnesota, Nov. 19: combined 57 minutes, 3-17 FGs, 1-3 3-pointers, 0-0 FTs, four rebounds, five assists, one steal, zero blocks, five turnovers, seven fouls, seven points in a 115-99 loss. Yup, same game. This was New York’s starting backcourt.

TRILLION WATCH: There were 3 trillions by Sixers rookies JaKarr Sampson at San Antonio on Monday and Drew Gordon at New York on Saturday sandwiching one by Magic forward Andrew Nicholson at Charlotte on Friday. Clippers big Epke Udoh added a 3 trillion Sunday at Memphis. But the weekly winner was Bulls rookie center Cameron Bairstow, who had a 6 trillion on national TV at Sacramento on Thursday. Honorable mention to Magic forward Mo Harkless, who ruined an 11 trillion with an offensive rebound Friday at Charlotte, and Pelicans forward Luke Babbitt, who wrecked an 8 trillion with a foul Saturday at Utah.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Dallas at Toronto, Nov. 28. One month into the season, the Mavericks and Raptors appear to be the best candidates to crash the conference finals party in May. Instead of binge shopping on Black Friday, fire up League Pass and binge watch a great slate that also includes Clippers-Rockets, Kings-Spurs and Grizzlies-Blazers.

GAME OF THE WEAK: New York at Oklahoma City, Nov. 28. If you follow our advice above, you will miss this one, which will feature the Knicks bumbling and stumbling their way through the triangle offense and the Thunder running “elbow” for Reggie Jackson about 60 times.

TWO MINUTES: The league-leading Grizzlies finally ran into a tough opponent: a stomach virus that sidelined about half the team. The nasty bug made its way through the roster and knocked out five players for Wednesday’s loss at Toronto – starters Courtney Lee and Tony Allen and reserves Kosta Koufos, Jon Leuer and Beno Udrih. All five spent part of the day at a Toronto hospital, creating a unique game day shootaround for the remaining players. “We had like six guys,” guard Mike Conley said. “We had coaches in all the plays. It was crazy.” The Grizzlies recalled Kalin Lucas and Hassan Whiteside from the D-League, with Lucas arriving during pregame introductions and Whiteside during the game. The team made surgical masks available for the flight home as enclosed airplane cabins are prime breeding grounds. While everyone except Allen had recovered enough to play in Friday’s win over Boston, the masks didn’t totally work as Quincy Pondexter was hit with the virus. … The Clippers have played back-to-back road games in Florida 15 times in their history. This week marked the first time they won both games. … Heat guard Mario Chalmers somehow is averaging 11.5 points on 42 percent shooting with 4.1 assists at home but 18.8 points on 55 percent shooting with 5.8 assists on the road. … Hornets forward Marvin Williams has started every game and played 353 minutes and still has not attempted a free throw.

Trivia Answer: Tayshaun Prince and James Jones. … Happy 76th Birthday, Oscar Robertson, whom every player should thank when he cashes a paycheck. … Before the NBA legalizes gambling, I’d like to see a few side bets between Adam Silver and Mark Cuban.

Chris Bernucca is the managing editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.