Video: Kyrie Irving Stars in New ESPN NBA/RV Commercial
January 25, 2012Report: Tony Grossi Out as Browns Beat Reporter
January 25, 2012
With the third-highest turnover total in the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves playing without a safety net. The cough-ups, many of which are unforced, have been the focal point of several Byron Scott post-game recaps as his team has now been embarrassed twice and let two winnable games fall through their fingertips within a seven-day span.
Twenty-two more turnovers against the Miami Heat proved to be the difference-maker down near Biscayne Bay as these are possessions where the team failed to even muster a shot attempt. But with the effort, tenacity and hard-nosed defense in relative tact, Scott is starting to accept the costly mistakes as something upon which this team can improve. Work ethic and the ever-popular basketball IQ cannot be taught; thinking before one acts, however, can certainly be instilled be it by repetition or some additional running post-practice.
“I think, right now, it’s a matter of a young team that is still not extremely comfortable with one another and not knowing where everyone should exactly be at all times,” said Scott. Some of the turnovers are because we’re not at the right place on the floor. Those are things we can definitely take care of.”
Be they wayward alley-oops or rushed passes, player control fouls or mere mental lapses, this yound Cavaliers team has certainly had their fair share of ball-handing issues. As Tom Reed put everso eloquently, “Some of their passes looked as if they were launched from the Scream Team’s T-shirt shooting, air-compression guns.” Omri Casspi tossed a pass that Tristan Thompson could not have snagged out of the air had he had the fortune of a mini-tramp set up on the first hash mark.
Potentially the product of the team’s leader in usage rate being 19 years of age coupled with all-around excitement and a relative lack of joint control over pace, the Wine and Gold will find themselves in this pridcament often in what is their first season together as well as one which was preceded by little to actual training camp. In time, it is expected that these issues subside and we get back to a litany of box scores with turnover totals that are trumped by assist figures. During what was Russel Westbrook’s rookie season in 2008-09, the Oklahoma City Thunder led the entire NBA in turnovers; the Derrick Rose-led Bulls were not far behind with the eighth-highest total. In 2010-11, the same two teams managed to finish 16th and 14th, respectively.
As Byron Scott attempts to run the floor and have his pace-of-play be among the league’s highest, there will be considerable room for error and subsequent turnover totals that will often find the head coach’s face planted firmly in his own hands. However, as this team begins to gel together, improving communication and realizing exactly where each member should be on the floor during a given play, the slop will slowly dissipate and the possessions will subsequently result in higher levels of execution and an ever-increasing point total within a given contest.
11 Comments
This is exactly what most fans want no? To be competitve, make games interesting, but still lose to get a higher draft pick which should mean a better player. Correctable mistakes are the best way to do this, right?
the pace of play certainly had a hand in some of the TOs, but some of those passes were simply rushed when they did not need to be rushed. also, there were some poor body placement trying to get some of the passes out there (in particular the Gibson-Irving 3pter….and the pass to Gee in the corner –> both of those worked but forced the receiving end to completely adjust to the pass)
it was nice to see the Cavs set the tone on pace though (able to get out running to force the Heat to keep up while also being able to get back on defense to stop fast-breaks – it sure hurt offensive rebounding, but I’ll take it)
Nice aspect of the turnovers they did have: They stopped the Heat from turning them into points quite often. The Cavs’ ability to get back on D, particularly against a team that runs hard off turnovers, was pretty solid.
not much talk about the number of offensive fouls which are directly related to ute and inexperience. Kyrie trying to clear room on drives with an obviously extended forearm, and Samardo doing his bull in china shop lunge every time he’s in the paint, regardless of where the defender is positioned. These are guys just starting to adjust to the speed and positioning of NBA defenders. Maybe part of the problem is that they’re practicing against bad or old NBA defenders. Andy’s the only guy who can give his practice match-up a taste of NBA defense, and at thios stage Ryan Hollins isn’t going to improve from that.
Speaking of correctable mistakes, I hope coach Scott works on some of his poor decisions as this season goes on. For one, Irving should be on the court during crunch time – even if it means playing more minutes than the “book” allots. That is is how a young player gets experience – battling against the good teams ! We didn’t see Cole sitting on Miami’s bench i n the 4th quarter. Also, it’s apparent that Samuels is a much better player and presence on the court than Erden, so here’s hoping the game rotations improve. And one more… Maybe getting a technical called on him once in awhile like other motivating coaches do will help Scott fire up his team. We could have three more victories so far this with just a few coaching moves that were neglected.
i’m not happy with Irving on the bench when we are struggling either, but I keep reminding myself that this isn’t Byron’s first rodeo with a young star PG. Figure he knows what he’s doing by now with it.
I agree about trusting Byron, and its not like Dajuan Wagner is out there running the show at the end of games. Sessions is a very good back up. I also think there are three other things going on in this situation.
1. Highlighting Sessions for a possible trade
2. Keeping Kyrie on the bench allows him to learn by watching, rather than getting tossed in.
3. Mostly cynical and I don’t have anything other than a feel to go on but I think the above two things give a plausible reason not to have the best player (chance at winning) on the floor, and thus increase the chance at losing.
I’m pretty sure that NBA coaches and GM’s more than any other sport go through what fans do when balancing winning versus draft position. Everyone knows they need one more slam dunk draft pick to be a real contender, but losing creates bad habits and if the team senses you’re tanking the coach may never get them back. In the big picture you have to weigh the benefits of getting an 8th seed and losing in 4 and hoping not to draft another Luke Jackson versus having the luxury of choosing between Gilchrist-Kidd, Thomas Robinison (please), or any of the others.
I agree about trusting Byron, and its not like Dajuan Wagner is out there running the show at the end of games. Sessions is a very good back up. I also think there are three other things going on in this situation.
1. Highlighting Sessions for a possible trade
2. Keeping Kyrie on the bench allows him to learn by watching, rather than getting tossed in.
3. Mostly cynical and I don’t have anything other than a feel to go on but I think the above two things give a plausible reason not to have the best player (chance at winning) on the floor, and thus increase the chance at losing.
I’m pretty sure that NBA coaches and GM’s more than any other sport go through what fans do when balancing winning versus draft position. Everyone knows they need one more slam dunk draft pick to be a real contender, but losing creates bad habits and if the team senses you’re tanking the coach may never get them back. In the big picture you have to weigh the benefits of getting an 8th seed and losing in 4 and hoping not to draft another Luke Jackson versus having the luxury of choosing between Gilchrist-Kidd, Thomas Robinison (please), or any of the others.
I totally trust Scott, despite my desire to see Irving play as much as possible. It’s a long season, and an even longer career. We need to think long term, and taking our time with Irving is probably the best way to go.
I totally trust Scott, despite my desire to see Irving play as much as possible. It’s a long season, and an even longer career. We need to think long term, and taking our time with Irving is probably the best way to go.
This question WFNY asks, is one we should be asking all the time with all of our Cleveland teams. Re: Cavaliers, much of the up and down has to do with match-ups as well. Hollins is garbage for most of the time, but when he sees the Heat and Knicks, he becomes Kareem Abdul himself. Then there’s Harangody. A nice enough guy it would seem, but he’s too small for PF and too slow for SF. Christian Eyenga is JJ Hickson in a smaller body/ good athleticism but can’t remember what he’s suppose to do while playing. A Gee will make at least a good SF backup as he continues to grow, but it seems he takes a few games off now and then… either that or he forgets to crash the lane. Erden, I’d like to see him play more minutes just to see if he’s a capable back-up. Just when he stated to get his legs moving, he’s benched or injured (seems to have disappeared) But those players the club is building toward are TT and Kyrie.
TT seems like he gets it, but much work and time is needed. He can score much better than most of us were led to believe and his D is pretty good for a rookie. Kyrie’s lack of D is puzzling, his TO nerve racking, but I think those 2 areas have potential to be cleaned up. With B Scott, that most likely will happen. If not, Kyrie’s not the guy we thought he was. If so, we’ve got a contender coming to the north shore sooner than what most thought as well.