Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 Reasons LeBron and Company Should Panic
Coach David Blatt Is Struggling
By all accounts, coach Blatt is a wonderful basketball coach — he wouldn’t have gotten this job if he wasn’t. But, there’s no questioning the fact that he and his team are struggling in just about every facet of the game. His team is 25th in the league in scoring defense, allowing 102.7 points per game. Opponents are shooting 47.7 percent against the Cavs and those who have watched will tell you that too many of those looks are wide open.
This team should be an elite offensive squad, even if the defense is shoddy. The reality is that they’re No. 13 in the league in scoring (101.8 per game) and 11th in offensive rating (108.2). They’ve got the talent to be a terrific offensive team, but they don’t have the schemes in place to make it happen. It’s almost as if they’re just not prepared well — and who would be at fault there? Here, you can see LeBron’s frustration as a teammate doesn’t do what they’re expected to do.
The truth is, just like it’s early in the season for the team, it’s early in the season for the coaching staff. We keep going back to that 2010-11 Heat team that started 9-8. They were struggling on both ends of the court as well. Then, something finally clicked and they won 12 in a row and 21 of 22. After shooting 46.2 percent from the field and allowing 94.5 points in the first 17 games, they shot 48.6 percent and allowed just 90.5 points per game in the next 22.
Is this Cavs team as talented defensively as that Heat team? No. Can they compete on an offensive level and bring their defensive game up to an average level? That remains to be seen. Coach Erik Spoelstra turned out to be one helluva coach who used great schemes to put his players in the best position to succeed — coach Blatt hasn’t shown the ability to do that yet.
So is it time to panic? In a word — yes.