Cleveland Cavaliers: Time To Pick Up The Pace

It is obvious at this point that even if Ray Allen doesn’t decide to join the Cleveland Cavaliers, they’ll still be considered title favourites or at very least contenders. They have almost everything a team ready to win a title has: a great coach, a superstar with at least one upcoming/star sidekick and a solid supporting cast consisting of both veterans and young legs.

There are holes in this new Beast of the East, of course. The desired rim protection isn’t there and the team starts three players that are considered mediocre-to-bad defenders (thankfully, Kyrie Irving showed us some improvement in FIBA). Their starting center is injury prone and some of the older backups won’t do so well if they’re ever in a situation where they have to start for an extended amount of time.

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But these holes, mostly about their defense, can also be filled in different ways. Instead of trading for a rim protector, they could change up their style of defense and try to add another defensive wing. There are several teams who do a good job of keeping opposing players out of the paint by having strong perimeter defenders. The Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls are two good examples.

Thus, the Cavaliers’ defense might not end up being as poor as some people think, even with lousy protection on the inside.

But now we get to the fun part. The part where Cleveland will inevitably be unparalleled as an offensive force save perhaps for a couple select teams. They have a very good defensive rebounding starting five and that should allow them to get out on the break and make something happen.

Here’s an example from their first preseason game of how quick they can score off of those Kevin Love outlet wonders:

Yes, Cleveland needs to run. Run, run, run. LeBron James, although slowing down just a tad, is still in his prime and a tremendous force in the open floor. Kyrie will put any player on skates when it’s one-on-one, Waiters is sneakily athletic and both Love and Anderson Varejao are two of the league’s most mobile big men.

Not surprisingly, the thought of fancy passes, tricky dribbling and mesmerizing lobs, along with the talk of their new Big 3, has fans drawing comparisons between the Cavs and LeBron’s 2010-11 and 2011-12 Miami Heat teams.

In fact, the first year the Heatles were together, they ranked 20th in the league in terms of pacing. The 2011-12 version ranked 16th.

Besides getting out on the break and having a two-man show between James and Wade, the Heat were never able to blow away other teams with a sudden offensive explosion that was lineup-wide. Chris Bosh never learned to shoot 3s consistently until the later years, and although guys like Shane Battier could play the stretch 4, they were never as much of a threat to cover or pound on offense because they were so much smaller in size.

There were also lots of times the Heat were slowed due to rebounding. Those teams were masters of small ball, but if another team had players big enough that could grab offensive boards, Miami was often in trouble and sometimes an opposing team would get in multiple second chances before the Heat could snag the orange.

By contrast, the Cavs’ fast breaks will differ from the Heat’s in the major way that theirs will be initiated by strong defensive rebounding and outlet passes where as the Heat’s was done by utilizing their incredible speed to perfect Erik Spoelstra’s exhausting trapping defense that led to the opponent turning the ball over.

The Cleveland Cavaliers defense, whatever David Blatt decides to run, will almost certainly not be as tiring as the aggressive trapping defense LeBron used to play under. This, combined with more fresh legs than people realize (Love, Irving, Waiters are all 26 or younger) should leave the Cavs no excuse to play at a slow pace.

They should be able to tear through offensive sets and manage to get a good look almost every trip down. And with the most dangerous three-point shooting big in the NBA setting picks, there is nearly an endless amount of options at Blatt’s disposal. Pick and pops, pick and rolls and so much more. And with two great ball handlers in James and Irving (there will likely be at least one of the two on the floor at all times), there is so much offensive talent that I’m close to drooling.

LeBron, despite the relentless and prodigious monster he is when he’s out and running, has never played on a team that cracked the top 10 in pacing. Not once. Even when he was younger, his 2009-10 Cleveland club that somehow won 61 games was just 25th in the league. Can you imagine him playing at a pace that had him moving like this all the time:

Whew. Then you throw in guys like Love and Irving and it’s hard to comprehend just how impressive and quick these Cavs could and should be. The way their team is set up, it’ll almost be impossible for them not to make the top 10 this season. And once they manage to play such a high octane offense consistently, that’s when the rest of the NBA should be put on notice.