Three Complete Overreactions To Cleveland’s First Game

By: Jason Timpf

Quick Author Introduction: I grew up in Tucson, Arizona and I am 26 years old. I played basketball in college at the NAIA level, and now play professionally in India. Whenever I decide to finally hang up the shoes, I hope to transition into covering the NBA full time. You can follow me on twitter @jason_timpf.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are tied for first place in the East, and the Golden State Warriors are tied for last place in the West. How sweet it is!

Lebron is still incredible, as we all probably figured he would be. I just didn’t think he would be great right away. I expected him to play sloppy—like he did against Chicago a week ago (3 assists, 8 turnovers)—because he had been away from game speed for so long. He hadn’t even been participating in practice. I remember once hearing Steph Curry say in an interview that he would quicken his release so much in practice that it made him feel uncomfortable, so that he would feel comfortable in game situations. The game just has a speed to it that's tough to replicate. It’s incredibly difficult to go from not playing basketball for a long stretch to succeeding against high level competition in a game setting, and yet Lebron was far and away the best player on the floor Tuesday night. So, kudos to him.

Tuesday was just one game. There are 82, and Cleveland’s only rival in the East was just severely crippled, so we should probably relax and see how things play out. However, I don’t plan on letting this opportunity to be completely irrational go to waste, so here are three overreactions to what we saw from the Wine and Gold last night:

1: Derrick Rose is a terrible fit with the starting lineup and needs to be used in smaller doses.

A couple of nice driving finishes through the human turnstile Kyrie, and a huge momentum-swinging three pointer at the end of the third quarter. I’m sure some of you were fans of Rose’s inaugural outing. I was not.

First of all, he serves absolutely no purpose on the court during possessions where he does not have the ball. He wasn’t particularly active as an off-ball cutter, he wasn’t effective as a spot up shooter and he wasn’t exactly locking down Kyrie on the other end. When he did have the ball, it felt like his playmaking was disrupting the team’s rhythm. When he drove to the basket, it felt reckless and forced. His basketball I.Q. seems below that of the Cavs’ other decision makers. He was the only starter with a negative +/- and by far the worst +/- on the team.

The play that defined the game for Rose: Just under two minutes left, Cavs trailing by 3 and desperately needing a good shot, Rose gets the ball with 11 seconds left on the shot clock. He inexplicably decides to isolate against Marcus Smart—the only Celtic on the floor worth his salt defensively—and gets a heavily contested, eight foot, fading floater to his left that he predictably misses, (fortunately Love bailed him out with an offensive rebound and a couple of free throws). The shot made no sense. Derrick shot just 39.7% from that range (5-10 feet) last year, there was plenty of time left on the shot clock and Marcus Smart was probably the only defender Cleveland didn’t want to attack in that situation.

But Derrick Rose is still on the roster, and he is a weapon that has value. The question becomes, how should Cleveland use him? Well, lets talk about Dwyane Wade first.

2: Dwyane Wade should start at point guard.

I can’t say enough about how well Wade played on Tuesday night. Maybe my expectations were just low, but I thought he looked like a championship cog. He shot just three for 10 from the field, but was terrific in every other facet of the game. He defended extremely well (with exception of the few token possessions every game where he misses a shot and just neglects to run back on defense), he had a good feel of where to be on the floor when Lebron had the ball, and he made winning plays down the stretch, (the block of Horford and the alley oop pass to Lebron). The move of Kevin Love to the center position should have left Cleveland without a rim protector, but its clear that Wade and James can fill that void.

The playmaking, defensive versatility and overall basketball I.Q. of Wade makes him the ideal fit for point guard in a position-less scheme. As Brad Stevens eloquently stated this summer, "It may be as simple as three positions now, where you're either a ball-handler, a wing or a big." For some reason, as a basketball community, we’ve figured out that we don’t need centers just because basketball has traditionally used them, yet for the most part we’ve failed to come to the same conclusion with point guards. Milwaukee has figured this out. Malcolm Brogdon is not a point. He’s a shooting guard, but because the Bucks have playmakers at other positions they are better served by the size, length and spot-up shooting of Brogdon.

Cleveland’s starting lineup already has two elite playmakers and a post-up option. Derrick Rose is the odd man out in that lineup. Any time he’s aggressive it feels like a waste of an opportunity for Wade or James to be aggressive. As a playmaker he carries value, but his value is better served coming off of the bench. I would move Wade to the de facto point guard position, and put J.R. Smith in the starting lineup in Rose’s place. In that scenario, you have two playmakers surrounded by three knockdown shooters and an above average group of defenders.

"But what about when Isaiah comes back?"

Isaiah is entirely different from Rose as an off-ball weapon. During possessions where another playmaker is being aggressive, you either need to be able to cut effectively or catch and shoot. In 64 games last year, Derrick Rose made just 14 catch and shoot jumpers at a 32% clip (efg%). Isaiah made 121 catch and shoot jumpers at a 59% clip (efg%). You didn’t read that wrong. Isaiah Thomas is almost nine times more productive, and almost twice as efficient as a floor spacer than Derrick Rose. Integrating him into the starting lineup will not be a problem when the time comes.

It makes perfect sense to use Rose in small doses as a playmaker when Lebron is off the court, or during times when Lebron is usually passive, i.e. the middle of the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Playing him 31 minutes and giving him 14 shot attempts is basketball malpractice.

3: Jeff Green needs to play a heck of a lot more than 14 minutes.

Sticking with the theme of position-less basketball, lets characterize the Cleveland rotation (with my suggested minutes in parenthesis):

Ball Handlers	Wings	Bigs
James (36)	Smith (30)	Thompson (18)
Thomas*	Korver (20)

Kevin and Tristian combined for exactly 48 minutes, because Ty Lue finally discovered that he can’t play them both at the same time. Wade, James and Rose combined for 101 minutes, which means that two of them were on the court at any given moment. As I said earlier, I want Rose giving up 10-15 of his minutes to J.R. Smith. This leaves about 110 minutes or so for Crowder, Smith, Shumpert, Korver, and Green to split. This is not an easy decision for any coach to make. The shooting and defense of Crowder and Smith make it imperative that they are each on the court for 30 minutes or so. This leaves around 50 minutes for Korver, Green and Shumpert to split. I would play Jeff Green 30 minutes, Korver 20 minutes and I wouldn’t play Shumpert at all.

There is this narrative surrounding Shumpert that he is a great defender—and he certainly is ("He Shumped him!" is the popular Fred McLeod saying)—but he’s a completely ineffective offensive player. Even his decent three point shooting last year (36%) was offset by a lot of bad decision making. His lack of basketball I.Q. disrupts the flow of Cleveland’s offense. But last year it actually made sense to play him because of the lack of defense and athleticism on the wing. This year, however, there is a surplus.

Jeff Green has been an underachiever in his career. This is undeniable. He should have been a perennial all-star, although it’s hard to hold anything against him given the major heart surgery in the middle of his prime. But lets call him what he is: A 6’9" freak athlete who at the very least is a defensive presence and a better offensive player than Iman Shumpert.

Cleveland needs to develop a defensive identity. That much is clear to any Cavs fan over the last year. They simply don’t have a Kawhi, a Roberson or a Mbah a Moute who can truly affect a game with individual defense. But what they do have is a plethora of size and length that can be developed into a sound team concept. James, Green, and Crowder can each guard multiple positions and do a decent job of protecting the rim. Tristian Thompson is a legit rim protector who can also switch out on pick and rolls. And in the backcourt, Wade and Smith are both above average defensively when they are engaged. Jeff Green’s size and athleticism is an important cog in that kind of defensive scheme.

Shumpert shouldn’t play simply because there are "shooting guard" minutes available. Shump, in the position-less system, is a wing. And Jeff Green is simply a better wing than Shump. He needs to be on the floor.

———

Alright, I’m done overreacting. I love this Cavs team. The depth is remarkable. There is no reason, given the minutes that I have proposed, that this team can’t defend at a high level for 48 minutes, and score a lot of points on the other end. Let’s just see what Ty Lue decides to do.