In arguably the most exciting and eventful free agency period in NBA history, the Cleveland Cavaliers made the biggest splash this past summer. After getting Kyrie Irving to commit to a long-term extension, they landed LeBron James and parlayed their prized Canadian No. 1 overall picks, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, to land the disgruntled Timberwolves’ franchise player, Kevin Love.
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A few moves in the span of a couple months have them looking like instant title contenders. It’s amazing how a team’s outlook can change from bleak to promising in what seemed like the blink of an eye. After missing the playoffs last few seasons, the Cavs seem guaranteed to finish as a top-two seed.
There’s still one missing piece that could potentially hold the Cavs back from reaching the promised land – they’re still missing a true rim protector. Cavaliers general manager David Griffin expressed concerns about rim protection. He’s absolutely right. It seems clear at this point that even LeBron as a part of a big three can’t make up for a team’s defensive shortcomings after losing to the Spurs the way they did in the Finals.
It’s good news for the Cavs that Griffin identified this potential problem very early even though he hasn’t addressed it yet with any moves.
The Heat had this same problem the Cavs have at the moment. LeBron’s superhuman performances in 2013 made up for their lack of an effective rim protector but they were simply outmatched against a much better Spurs team. While Lebron can carry a team in the regular season, the postseason is a completely different animal.
The top rim protectors in the league protect the rim at a 40-45 percent clip, with the second tier of average to mediocre rim protectors holdings opponents to about 50-55 percent at the rim, according to the player tracking data available at NBA.com. The Cavaliers don’t have anyone that can be a reliable anchor of a defense. Below is a list of the potential players on the Cavaliers who would be expected to defend the paint.
The three main frontcourt players for the Cleveland Cavaliers – Love, Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson, can rebound but aren’t very intimidating defensively. LeBron James will still be a wing player, facilitator and will be asked to do it all but anchoring the Cavs’ defense won’t be one of them.
The top rim protectors were absolutely dominant, any shot in their vicinity was heavily contested and altered with a slim chance of success. A couple of the top rim protectors include Bismack Biyombo (39 percent), Roy Hibbert (41 percent) and Robin Lopez (43 percent). Hibbert has practiced defending at the rim without fouling and explained how verticality really is an art, in an interview with Bill Simmons in the video below.
One option that the Cavs do have is to give Brendan Haywood a chance, but it seems foolish to expect much from a player turning 35 after missing all of last season.
Anchors to a defense are essential to any team looking to contend. Below is a list of the last 16 champions since the Jordan-Bulls era and their rim protectors who played starters’ minutes on their respective teams. Player tracking data isn’t available going all the way back to 1999 but it’s clear that certain players dominated defensively in the paint on championship teams. There seems to be a trend here – many names appear multiple times and were vital to their teams’ success.
The only two teams without a legitimate starting rim defender were the Heat in 2012 against a very young, inexperienced Thunder team (who had Ibaka and Perkins in the paint) and in 2013 where they were seconds away from losing to the Spurs. Chris Bosh (52.4 percent) isn’t very effective patrolling the paint and it seemed to really hurt them in the Finals this past season. The Suns could have been the exception to this rule along with the Heat but they fell short in 2007. Small ball without a rim protector doesn’t seem to be very effective at all.
The Cavaliers already tried to acquire Timofey Mozgov (46.9 percent) but that didn’t work out. For now, it looks like the Cavs will take a wait-and-see approach to their concerns. Fortunately, there’s still a lot to be seen from the Cavs’ new big three and plenty of time to make moves to bolster their roster.