The Cleveland Cavaliers (22-20) seem to finally be turning things around, having won three straight — two over the Clippers and Bulls — after a brutal stretch of 10 losses in 12 games. But they aren’t forgetting what got them in that hole.
The Cavs are 1-8 this season without LeBron James, and injuries to both he and Kevin Love have exposed Cleveland’s roster for lacking depth. They addressed that need up front (Timofey Mozgov) and at the wing spots (J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert), but what happens if Kyrie Irving goes down for a few games?
Second-year man Matthew Dellavedova is the closest thing to a backup point guard that Cleveland has, but he’s A) more of a shooting guard and B) not particularly good, considering his PER of 6.97.
According to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, Cavs officials are aware of the need and working to correct it.
Knowing they are a Kyrie Irving injury from more trouble, the Cavs are working to acquire a veteran point guard.
Fortunately for Cleveland, the point guard market is much more saturated than the limited market for bigs, which forced them to give up two first-round picks to acquire Mozgov. Veterans Jordan Farmar and Nate Robinson were each waived recently and on the open market, available for virtually no cost.
Pricier options are also there. Ramon Sessions, who was a near-star at one point in Cleveland, is reportedly available via trade from Sacramento. Mo Williams also spent time with the Cavs in recent years and seems an awkward fit as a 32-year-old veteran on an awful team in Minnesota (7-33).
Any deal could take time to develop. After all, the Cavs are finally healthy at the moment and don’t appear to have a pressing need, especially with a relatively-weak schedule (Utah and Charlotte at home) over the rest of this week. With wins highly probable regardless, they could use that time to further evaluate Dellavedova and any other internal candidates.
But if there’s one thing to be learned from their recent struggles, it’s that not even a weak Eastern Conference schedule can spare them, should a star go down. Depth is a real issue, and with a month to go until the 2014-15 trade deadline, general manager David Griffin appears set on rectifying it.
MCHALE POINTS HOWARD TOWARD MORE PICK-AND-ROLL
Much has been made of Dwight Howard returning to elite form defensively this season in Houston, but his offense has trended the wrong direction of late.
After scoring 19.1 points/game in November, Howard’s scoring tailed off to 17.3 in December (albeit while shooting an impressive 62.5% on FGs) and has dipped further in January to 15.1 on just 54.2% from the field. To his credit, Howard is actually shooting over 60% from the free-throw line this month, but his attempts have fallen from 9.0/game in November to 7.3 in December and 5.7 in January.
Head coach Kevin McHale seems to have his finger on the pulse of the problem, which comes down to excessive post usage. Though he averages 9.2 post-up attempts per game, Howard isn’t in the top 30 in points per possession on post-ups and is actually at the very bottom of players who have attempted at least 200 of those plays. Additionally, his turnover rate of 16.8% on post-up plays is significantly higher than any of the league’s other leading big men, such as Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge.
In comments before Monday’s 110-98 win by the Rockets (29-13) over the Pacers, McHale called on Howard to “set harder screens” and “roll to the bucket harder”, making clear that Howard’s involvement in Houston’s pick-and-roll game — often with MVP candidate James Harden — should be a priority.
For at least one night, Howard was up to the challenge. Though he only scored 14 points, Howard did it on 4-of-6 shooting — eschewing many of his usual post-up opportunities to focus on perimeter screens. Two of his field goals came on dunks after rolling to the basket, while his active work as a screener was crucial in allowing Harden to score a season-best 45 points, including 7-of-12 from behind the arc.
“He did a great job tonight,” McHale said of Howard, who also grabbed 17 rebounds. “He just dominated the defensive glass against a very good offensive rebounding team
“We got a lot of that [pick-and-roll action] early on,” McHale told Sheridan Hoops. “There were times throughout the game when our turnovers kind of caught up with us and we didn’t take care of the ball enough. But I thought there was a lot of good stuff tonight, and stuff to build on.”
McHale also made a noticeable tweak in his rotation to further push Howard toward more pick-and-roll usage. Since his return from a knee injury in mid-December, the Rockets often used Howard in 6-to-8 minute bursts, removing him near the midpoints of the first and third quarters (for Josh Smith) and re-inserting Howard near the beginning of the second and fourth quarters. One reason was Howard’s conditioning after a long layoff, but another was to allow Howard to serve as the offense’s focal point in the minutes Harden rests on the bench.
On Monday, however, McHale changed it up. Instead of inserting Smith for Howard midway through the first and third quarters, McHale had Smith replace Donatas Motiejunas at power forward. Then, at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters, the Rockets had Motiejunas sub back in for Howard to anchor the Harden-less bench unit. With Motiejunas a superior player to Howard from the standpoint of creating his own offense in the post, the change seemed to work well.
“For us, everything comes down to consistency,” said McHale. “We’ve been very inconsistent the past month. We’ve got to get consistent with our effort, and consistent with making the simple plays, letting the ball and letting body movement create opportunities for everybody out there.”
The Rockets will find a stiffer test on Wednesday, when they travel to Golden State for a nationally-televised rematch with the top-seeded Warriors (33-6). The Rockets are 0-3 against them this season.
OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE NBA
The Trail Blazers are breathing a sigh of relief after X-rays of LaMarcus Aldridge’s left hand came back negative.
Aldridge appeared to jam his thumb when his hand slammed against the knee of DeMarcus Cousins during Monday night’s game in Portland. He was ruled out of the rest of the game almost immediately, prompting many to be concerned about the potential for a more serious injury.
It would’ve been a cripping blow for Portland, whose front line is already thin due to Robin Lopez’s own hand injury. Lopez, usually the team’s starting center alongside Aldridge, has already missed over a month after fracturing his hand back on December 15.
After undergoing further evaluation on Tuesday, the Blazers announced that Aldridge is ruled out for Wednesday’s game in Phoenix, citing a thumb injury. But with X-rays negative, it appears they dodged the worst-case scenario of an extended absence. In the interim, Aldridge will see a hand specialist.
Even without Aldridge, the Blazers (31-11) used more late-game magic from Damian Lillard to outscore the Kings by 12 in the fourth quarter and rally to a 98-94 win on Monday night. They remain the No. 2 seed in a loaded Western Conference, just ahead of Memphis and Houston.
Former NBA All-Star Baron Davis is launching a new crowdfunding campaign to complete his documentary on the Drew League, entitled The Drew: No Excuse, Just Produce.
Directed and produced by Davis, the documentary film focuses on the most elite summer basketball league in the world — The Drew League.
Based in Los Angeles, The Drew has become the career launch pad for many prominent current and former NBA players, including Davis himself.
“I often feel people sugarcoat basketball and the way we grew up in South Central, but I want to give the real perspective,” said Davis. “My life in The Drew began in eighth grade, and it changed my life. It’s had the same impact on other players. The Drew is a close-knit community that has grown to become an invitation-only league. This is not just a sports documentary, it’s a story about family, community, perseverance and the life lessons we’ve learned through basketball.”
Davis, who last played in the NBA for the Knicks in 2012, has been working on the documentary with his team for more than two years. The film takes viewers behind the scenes with exclusive interviews with The Drew League founders, legends, as well as professional basketball players of all levels that call it their summer home. More information is available at the documentary’s website.
Ben DuBose is a veteran sports reporter who has followed the Houston Rockets and the NBA since Hakeem Olajuwon was Akeem Olajuwon. He writes for both SheridanHoops and ClutchFans, an independent Rockets blog. You can follow him on Twitter.
Jorge Gutierrez is available as a PG. He was strangely traded to Sixers for Morris.
Gutz gives 100% on defense and is a pass first PG who has become a good ball handler.
The Sixers cut Gutz (one of their 15 players they have so far cut).