The Browns-Palin Paradox
October 8, 2008Arizona Fall League: Surprise!
October 8, 2008The Cavaliers lost their first exhibition game of the season last night at the Q, and the story of the night from Brian Windhorst was the up-tempo style the Cavaliers unveiled.
Quick story- It’s fall 1993. I’m working at a sports themed restaurant near the old Richfield Coliseum. Mike Fratello is in his first year as head coach, inheriting a team that went 54-28 and had a trio of all-stars in Mark Price, Larry Nance and Brad Daugherty. One of my regulars was Jay Guidinger. You probably don’t remember Jay, but he was a back-up center for the Cavs, and one of the nicest basketball players I’ve ever met.
The first two games of that season Mike Fratello tried to force the Cavaliers into becoming an up-tempo team. Mark Price and Terrell Brandon were given the green light to run with newly acquired SG Gerald Wilkins. The result? Consecutive losses. Jay came to the restaurant after the Knicks game, and I asked him point blank- Why was Fratello trying to push the tempo with older players (Nance, Daugherty, Williams) against younger more athletic teams? Jay laughed and nearly sprayed beverage out his nose.
What’s my point? I would love to see Mo Williams, LeBron James, Daniel Gibson and Delonte West push the ball off turnovers or long rebounds. I question however, whether the Cavs can be an uptempo team when they will have to drag Wallace and Ilgauskas along behind them. Andy Varejao looked like he had cement shoes on last season, hopefully that was just temporary because of his injury. Even Wally Szczerbiak doesn’t seem like the kind of player that you want running the floor for 30 minutes a game. What do you think Cavs fans? Is this a team that can run?
15 Comments
I think they can run with the small lineup, as you point out. In a perfect world, it would be great if the Cavs were at least proficient enough in both the run-and-gun and grind-it-out styles to play with anyone in the league depending on what opposing teams’ defensive weaknesses are.
But, you can’t run that offense without the right personnel. Unless they find a big man that can run like an Amare Stoudmire in Phoenix (and, let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of guys like that around) it wouldn’t be a good idea to try this as a matter of course over the long haul. But, if they’re losing in the fourth and think that upping the tempo on offense with smaller guys might get them back into the game? Sure, give it a go.
Is it just me or is it awesome clicking on a BW link and having it go to the Plain Dealer…
With that said, I think like DP mentioned, it’s great with the right people. If they try to run LBJ at the four, it’s primed to run. But with Z in there, it’s a lot more difficult to execute. Thankfully, Z can hit jumpers, so there is less need to run the full court…
Do you need all five guys running to execute a successful fast break? If you can send three of the five guys down court, you should be able to execute a fast break offense.
On a side note, I would love to see Z trailing on a play and have him cut down the lane to throw it down.
I wouldn’t worry about this too much though. The Cavs were up at the half, and Lebron didn’t play after the first quarter.
I don’t think Brown has any delusions that he can run with Z or Ben… this game was probably glorified practice, trying to see if they could pull it off. I doubt we’ll see consistent running. More likely they’ll just switch to it for a change of pace.
Interesting development though.
I agree with DP, they have to be able to play both styles in order to be more successful. I don’t think the Cavs need to be a team that runs up and down the court, but they should be able to every now and then to capitalize on their opponents mistakes and create easy baskets. Lebron in the open court is the most dangerous weapon in the game, so we definitely need to create more opportunities where we can use that
with three PG/SGs available, its a possibility. My only concern is Bron-Bron running for 47.9 of 48 minutes. The kid is basically a machine, but even machines break.
so, i’ll say no – this Cavs team doesn’t have the depth at the F positions nor the quick big man like Stoudamire – which is needed to run that Sun’s style quick-tempo offense.
Mike Brown tried something.
“Mike Brown tried something.”
Indeed. Great point Tim. That should have been the headline today…
Sure they can run. The Suns have no problem running with Shaq on the floor. Having a slow center isn’t unique to the Cavaliers. The fact is, when you’re running on a breakout, the center doesn’t really matter, other than the few times when he’s trailing and nobody picks him up and you can hit him for an easy basket as he cuts to the hoop.
Having said that, I don’t think the Cavs are going to suddenly become one of the top 10 teams in the NBA in pace. In fact, I’d be shocked if they crack the top 50% of the league. I think they will run more than they did last year, but that’s not really saying much. I expect to see Mo Williams push it a bit more, but I don’t see it being a problem for this team.
I agree with Rock here. The Cavs will play up tempo when the situation calls for it. They will still be built around their defense. I can’t wait to see how teams try and defend Lebron now that he will be working off the ball. He is a completely different animal whne you are chasing him through screens. Mo will be running the pick and pop with Z. Gibson and Wally can camp on the 3 point line. Man I am getting pumped
I agree with The Other Tim in that its at least comforting to know that Mike Brown tried/is trying.
On a somewhat unrelated note, a few years ago me and some friends went to what was Fridays at the Powerhouse in the Flats one night because we were on the search for Mudslides (long story) and in the restaurant eating with his family was John Lucas, eating a post-game meal, and it was the quietest family dinner Id ever seen.
Forcing the Cavs into making it a habit to push the ball is a good thing. Are the Cavs going to morph into a running team? no.
But they should be used to running enough so that they can employ it in certain situations. If Wallace and Z are in foul trouble (or simply ineffective against a quick team) the Cavs should be able to have enough practice pushing the ball that it won’t be a completely foreign concept when it actually needs to be done.
Plus, Z and Wallace are old, so their minutes may be cut back anyways (saving them for the playoffs) and we could see LeBron at the 4 for 3 minute chunks at a time throughout the season.
And finally, I really don’t think Z and/or Wallace will really hinder the running attack. I mean, the Lakers had Kareem, how’d their fastbreaks work out?
Jay Guidinger (Big #54) was awesome…much better than Shawnelle Scott.
i’m just glad someone else remembers jay guidinger, aka, “the working man’s hero.”
with the pieces we currently have, i agree the cavs should try to push the ball up the floor. too many times last year, i remember the offensive just getting into the offensive set with 14, 13, or 12 seconds on the shot clock. if you ever watch the suns play, they are already running their offense with 20 or 19 seconds remaining. they account for the people with lack of speed by having plays that don’t involve those players until they are able to get up the floor.
if the cavs were to do this as well, it would give them lots more options. if they can push up the floor, there’s always a chance for lebron to operate in the key without the big uglies there to beat up on him. but if the other teams’ bigs get down there quick enough to stop the break and crowd the key, all the offense has to do is wait a couple seconds and kick the ball up top to the best 7-3 outside shooter in the league. yes, this will cut down on the cavs and Z’s offensive rebounds/tips per game. but there’s no reason Z can’t average 18 per night in that sort of role. not only does he usually knock down that shot, but now he can distribute the ball – hopefully back down low to lebron without a big body to hack him, but maybe setting up a pick and roll scenario with mo, delonte, or boobie. the big knock on Z is his lack of defense, and this type of offense would also help him get back on defense quicker as he has less court to run. when z is out, wallace and varejo aren’t a part of the offense anyway, so what’s the point of waiting for them?
that’s at least how i see it… hopefully mike brown does too…
The best running lineup the Cavs could shell out there (this requires rapid development of the kid J.J.).
PG- Mo
SG- West/Boobie (whoever has the hot hand)
SF- Sasha (dude is an aggressive slasher when he’s healthy)
PF- Bron Bron
C- J.J. (Kid’s got fresh legs to run on)
Sasha is a stretch here but i’ll never forget in 06-07 when Hughes got hurt and Sasha would come in and slash to the hoop like crazy. Granted he was only successful about half of the time (lane was usually congested). In the freedom of a running offense he would be able to slash to a clear bucket. If Sasha doesn’t work out there’s always Wally-World or if you wanna go super small, put Boobie at the 2 and West at the 3