Let’s try to make sense of the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers
Everyone said the Cleveland Cavaliers needed to do something, anything to make it back to the Finals and matchup better with the Golden State Warriors this year. Turns out, the Cavs might have misheard that, because they essentially did everything.
Here’s the carnage:
Cleveland’s addition by addition:
For the first time since LeBron rejoined the team, Cleveland pivoted towards adding younger, more athletic guys. George Hill, the one exception there, has been a good defender in the recent past and can definitely get back there out of Sacramento.
Additionally, he’s a year removed from putting up career-best numbers across the board in Utah. Even this season, which has been considered an off-year, Hill is leading the league in three-point percentage at 45.7. A point guard adept at playing off ball who can switch on defense and hit threes is a perfect fit next to James, much more than Isaiah Thomas was.
In Hood, the Cavs add a young wing who can shoot — if it’s the right week — and defend. Hood’s about to be a restricted free agent, and in a market mostly devoid of teams with cap space, Cleveland can probably keep him for cheap. Hood finally gives Cleveland a supporting wing who’s not a glaring minus on either end of the floor, an asset that’s extremely useful entering the postseason.
Nance gives Cleveland a cheap big who can defend like hell, catch lobs and attack the offensive glass. He’s not all that different from what Tristan Thompson was on Cleveland’s 2016 title team.
Subtraction by addition:
Look, it’s harsh to say adding Clarkson will hurt Cleveland. In a vacuum, Clarkson is not a bad player. He can score and handle the ball in a pinch. But Cleveland traded expiring contracts and a first round pick for Clarkson and Nance. Even if Clarkson was on a reasonable contract, that’d be a head-scratcher. Clarkson isn’t on a reasonable contract.
He is owed $12.5 million in 2018–19 and $13.5 million the following season, muddling up Cleveland’s books whether LeBron leaves or not. Taking him on is essentially doing the Lakers a favor and giving up a first round pick to do so is baffling. The opportunity cost there, in a market where no one was giving up first round picks, is massive. Pairing two expiring salaries with a first round pick could have gotten Cleveland someone better, but the Cavs must have coveted Nance.
Addition by subtraction:
It’s painful to say getting rid of Isaiah Thomas, number five in MVP voting just last season, is helpful on its own. But Thomas in his current state was not helping the Cavs.
Surely, he’ll improve as his hip heals more. But his unwillingness to play differently despite his depleted state hurt the Cavs. From questioning Kevin Love’s willingness to play to consistently deflecting blame and not moving on defense, Thomas’s locker-room presence was no better.
Thomas might be the worst defender in the league and his lack of size and effort make him an easy target for opposing teams, especially when they have time to gameplan in the postseason.
Final verdict:
Up until the end of December, no one was concerned about Cleveland. The team’s net rating was at 2.6, just a tiny bit lower than last year. No one expected they’d have to blow it up so soon. The team’s record was 24–12.
Then, threes stopped falling. Since the new year began and Thomas returned from injury, the Cavs have made fewer than 33 percent of their shots from beyond the arc, second-worst in the league in that span. Only the lowly Phoenix Suns have been worse. Before that, Cleveland made 38.1 percent of its threes, fifth-best in the NBA.
That’s it. That’s the difference in why Cleveland went from contending for a title to contending for a new ESPY for Biggest Joke. That difference, on what’s consistently been nearly 33 three-point attempts per game, amounts to five fewer points per game. That’s what took a normal bad month and made it disastrous. It’s what took LeBron from MVP contender to seemingly cursed All-Star captain. And it’s what made Cleveland dive headfirst into the trade market.
Of course, just starting to make threes again would have been easier said than done, and the Cavs had fewer good shooters than they did in the past. After a solid start, this is what happened to the Cavs’ primary shooters.
Here’s Cleveland’s new rotation, just about devoid of all the guys on that list who stopped hitting shots, other than LeBron who, it seems safe to say, is a good bet to put it together:
These trades make Cleveland better right now. The Cavs are deep, they’re less old — admittedly still old — and they’re ultra-switchable. Hood has long arms, Hill can switch from 1–3, Nance can switch onto guards in a pinch. Hood and Hill are great shooters even at high volumes.
That new starting lineup, which could swap Hood in for Smith, has the right amount of shooting to keep Tristan Thompson on the floor without leaving the floor too tightly packed. That should be a boon for the defense as much as swapping Thomas out for Hill is.
Today’s trades make Cleveland a contender again. The Cavaliers are favorites to make the finals again. And while they’ll still be huge underdogs there, these trades give them much better matchups and make their defense much harder to exploit once there.
