Cavs want their offense to have ‘Autobahn’ like pace

Kenny Atkinson’s system is putting the Cavaliers in a position to actually play faster.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Cleveland Cavaliers training camp practice courts is the four boxes taped near the three-point line. Two of which are in the corner. The other two are just above the break of the three-point arc on the wing. They’re there as a reminder of where the Cavaliers need to get to immediately once they get possession of the ball.

“[The goal is to] keep the middle of the court open,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “That’s why you can see those spacing markers on the floor to keep the middle open. . . . I call it the Autobahn. [We want to] go fast in those lanes.”

Atkinson’s coaching staff is embracing analytics and a different offensive philosophy. That includes putting up more threes — Atkinson said after last week’s game against the Chicago Bulls that 48 threes “is a good number.” But that also goes along with playing faster. It’s easier to do one if you’re also doing the other.

Pace has been an annual talking point for Cleveland’s coaching staff. J.B. Bickerstaff talked about playing faster last preseason but it didn’t stick as they finished the season as the sixth-slowest offense. However, Atkinson’s willingness to put action behind his words is why you should believe things will be different.

“Schematically there’s a different emphasis this year that is going to allow us to play faster,” Georges Niang said.

That different emphasis has shown through in their first two preseason games. They are third in pace this preseason as they are averaging 109.25 possessions. This mark is unsustainably high as the team with the highest pace last season, the Washington Wizards, averaged 103.07 possessions per game. But it does speak to how different the philosophy is this time around.

Atkinson has emphasized being in the proper lane offensively because that’s what opens up the floor to play at that faster pace.

“Filling the corners is super important,” Atkinson said. “It’s the eternal fight for coaches in the NBA because they want to come back and get [the ball]. . . . But you have to [get to the corner]. I call them corner assists when you get to the corner and open up driving lanes.”

This is something he’s stressed with his two All-Star guards.

“Getting to the corner,” Donovan Mitchell said when asked about something Atkinson wants to see him do more. “The gravity I have is huge.”

“Running into the corners so we can get open threes,” Darius Garland said. “Kenny’s a big three-point attempt guy.”

Getting buy-in from Mitchell and Garland — both in terms of not following their natural instincts of going back to the ball but also in playing faster — will determine whether they can carry some level of this pace over to the regular season. It’s difficult to sprint up the court on on every possession while also carrying the workload and minutes they’ve had to in the past. But it can lead to open threes if they do.

“It’s about the guys without [the ball] running,” Atkinson said. “You think about Darius, Evan [Mobley], and then Donovan, we got three [guys who can push the tempo]. So if you don’t have it, can you run with pace?”

But this is only really possible if he has the buy-in of his guards. Right now, it seems as if he does.

“It’s more about how do we get to our spots?” Mitchell said last week. “Makes and misses are going to come. We work our behinds off every day to get our reps up. But right now it’s [about] getting into the corners, getting to the wing, get into the dunker’s spot, spacing the floor, transition, running. That’s really what it’s about. And I think we’ve done a great job and we’re going to continue to get better.”

It’s preseason, but this coaching staff isn’t just paying lip service to the importance of getting out in transition and doing most of their damage there. They’re putting in the necessary steps to make sure they actually do. This is seen in how they’re educating their players and giving them the tools they need to succeed. Both are things that might not have happened under previous regimes.

“If you’re completely all-in on playing fast, then you’re going to play fast,” Niang said. “If it’s something that you haven’t really coached a lot, then it’s gonna hinder you from doing that when times get tough. . . . So if feel like the simple answer, without s****** on anybody, would be we have a different system in place to play.”