Cleveland Cavaliers: The NBA’s Engima
By Joshua Howe
Have the Cleveland Cavaliers finally reached peripeteia? After blowing out the Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards, the question has once again arisen and along with it, the subsequent enquiry: why can’t they play like this all the time?
The Cavs have averaged 115.7 points, 26.1 assists, 43.1 rebounds, 8.6 steals on 48.9 percent shooting from the field and 39.4 percent shooting from three-point territory in wins this season.
By contrast, they’ve averaged just 90.0 points, 17.7 assists, 38.7 rebounds, 6.9 steals on 41.5 percent shooting from the floor and 33.1 percent shooting from deep in losses.
The teams that Cleveland has defeated? Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, Boston, Atlanta, Orlando and now Washington.
They teams that LeBron James and company have lost to? New York, Portland, Utah, Denver, San Antonio, Washington and Toronto.
This team has yet to land a real signature win, unless the one against the Bulls counts. But it was the second game of the season, and it just didn’t feel like anything yet. Now that we’re nearing the end of November, people are starting to keep track of which teams beat which in key matchups and when certain important games are on the calendar.
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
It’s difficult to be able to judge where exactly Cleveland stands with things, considering they’ve lost to strong opponents and weak ones, while also defeating some teams they were expected to defeat and even one that many thought would best them early on.
These Cavaliers are the NBA’s enigma.
How can one possibly know what to make of them other than the fact that they have played woeful defense, struggled somewhat in relative terms on offense and have a rather dispiriting record of 7-7 in the league’s lesser conference?
The simple answer is: one cannot.
This means, of course, that we must judge them with a grain of salt until we are headlong into the season. I’ve said in previous articles that it might take the Cavs until Christmas to get it going and kick things into a higher gear. I think that now, it may end up being even as late as February before that elusive cohesion finally settles and transforms this team into the terror everyone is afraid of.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the defense of the Cavaliers is what has hindered this team the most in the infant stages of the season.
Opponents are penetrating the defense at will, blowing by defenders and exposing the weak interior-defending big men (especially Kevin Love). Dion Waiters has been a problem, appearing as if he could care less about giving a dang on that end, while even LeBron has seemed to slip a little in the roller coaster that his been play over the past 13 games.
It has been noted (and is undeniably true) that the Cavaliers need something more on the defensive side of things. An extra cog. The coal in the engine of a sputtering locomotive.
One provisional solution may be to allow the undrafted youngster Alex Kirk to try his hand in a few games and see what happens.
A few days ago, the Cavs did recall Alex Kirk from his stint in the D-League, where he put up 23.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. He also shot 48.3 percent from the field, 83.3 percent from the foul line and played 39.3 minutes a night over three games (of which he started all).
Kirk can sink free throws when hacked, has good defensive timing and tries hard. He is still young at 23 years of age, but if he ever wants to make a legitimate impact in the league, there’s no opportunity like the one presented to him now.
Besides, if you’re Blatt, giving Kirk a shot can’t be any worse than playing Brendan Haywood those minutes.
While the front office tries to figure out what course of action they’re willing to take, whether it be a trade or otherwise, the Cavs simply have to do with what they’ve got for now. A nice surprise, at least, has been the refreshing defensive play of Kyrie Irving.
He’s still a very bad pick and roll defender, but when he’s had his man one-on-one he’s been hounding him relentlessly, doing his best to create a turnover. Kyrie’s young legs are showing and both his heart and head really seem to be into trying to make this team work. Maybe that talk he had with LeBron really did spark something in him.
So what’re we left with?
A Kyrie that plays hard on ‘D’, no signature wins, poor overall defense, the hopefulness of Alex Kirk, the head-scratching play of James, and a need for another defender. Oh, and how can we forget that no one really has any idea how the LeBron-Blatt relationship is even working out?
At some point, there will be that peripeteia. But that moment is still just a golden glaze on the horizon. For now, these Cavaliers will remain mysterious, confusing, frustrating and entertaining.
They’ll remain the NBA’s captivating enigma.