Is David Blatt Making Huge Mistake with Cleveland Cavaliers' Rotation?
The Cleveland Cavaliers have begun the 2014-15 campaign just 5-7 overall, prompting questions about head coach David Blatt's adjustment to the NBA game.
Blatt, a Boston-area native, has spent the past 30 years overseas as a player and coach. This is his first experience working in the NBA at any level.
Among his biggest struggles to date has been the establishment of a reliable, consistent rotation.
This was a point of emphasis for Blatt in the preseason, especially limiting minutes for LeBron James, who's set to turn 30 in December. The Cavaliers, after all, supposedly boasted one of the deepest benches in the league following the signings of Mike Miller, Shawn Marion and James Jones.
It appeared Blatt wouldn't have any trouble relying on his bench, and would feel free to use them early and often as needed.
Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case.
Just 12 games into the season, it's clear Blatt needs to make some major rotation changes, and fast.
Starters' Minutes
With three of the best players in the NBA, it's natural that Blatt should want a good run out of James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
So far, he's gotten a bit carried away.
James, Irving and Love share the court for 28.1 minutes a game, the highest amount of any three players in the league, per NBA.com/Stats. Unfortunately for Cleveland, this group has yet to truly complement each other. The Cavaliers' Big Three has an average plus/minus rating of minus-0.2, a startling mark that ranks 151st out of all three-player rotations.
As we've seen in the past, playing all three stars at once isn't necessarily the best option.
Erik Spoelstra figured this out over four years of coaching James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade with the Miami Heat. With so many ball-dominant players in the same unit, the offense could get stagnant at times.
Instead, he used his trio of stars together less and less. In 2010-11, their first year together, James, Bosh and Wade shared the court for 26.6 minutes a night. By the fourth year, and with two championships to show, this time had dropped to 21.5 minutes.
Blatt should take note of this.
The other Cleveland starters, Anderson Varejao and Marion, have also been heavily featured. Marion took over for Dion Waiters just three games into the season.
Overall, the Cavaliers starting five has been pretty overworked.
The average starter is playing 33.5 minutes per game, tops in the league, according to HoopsStats.com. For comparison, the reigning-champion San Antonio Spurs utilize their own starters an average of just 28.6 minutes.
James has taken notice of this and doesn't seem particularly happy, as he told Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
"I think we have to give our guys on the bench more of an opportunity. I looked at a stat and myself, Kyrie (Irving) and Kevin (Love) are three of the top five guys in the league in minutes per game and that has to come down.
"
Love has since been granted a break in minutes, although his star teammates' workloads continue to rank among the league's highest.
James (38.6) and Irving (38.4) are ranked third and fourth in the league, respectively, while Love comes in at 11th with 36.1 minutes a night.
For Blatt, this is exactly how he didn't want to handle James heading into the season.
"I don't have a number but I am cognizant of the fact and we are conscious of the fact that, certainly early on 39 minutes a game is a lot," Blatt told Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group in the preseason. "We gotta keep our wits about us in terms of thinking long term with LeBron."
So, 39 minutes is too much but 38.6 a night is cool, right?
Obviously, an NBA coach won't pull their star player from a close game after they've hit their minutes limit, but that doesn't mean Blatt can't take more preventative measures.
James has often played the entire first quarter and/or eclipsed 20 minutes by halftime. During the playoffs this would be understandable. In November? Not so much.
After reaching 40 minutes in seven of the Cavs' first nine games, James even went on record saying he wanted a reduction in playing time, per McMenamin:
"For me, I don't want to do that all year. Obviously right now it's difficult because we're trying to find a groove, we're trying to find a rhythm and we're trying to implement something that you don't want to shortcut it, but at the same time you want to be smart about it. So, I don't mind giving a few of my minutes up just to help the team, to help my minutes go down. I think it would be for the best.
"
While James' presence no doubt lifts the team, the Cavs surprisingly haven't suffered without him, either.
According to 82games.com, the Cavaliers are scoring more points per 100 possessions (116.3 to 112.6) with James on the bench.
This doesn't mean Blatt should slash James' playing time in a desperate attempt to better the Cavs offense, but rather that they have plenty of other quality options to go to. James shouldn't be logging close to 40 minutes a night, and Cleveland doesn't need him to either.
It's worth noting that Blatt is used to playing a Euroleague and Israeli League schedule, which contains just one to two games a week. But in the NBA, with as many as four games in a five-day stretch, Blatt can't burn his players out and enjoy three or four days in between contests to recover.
Blatt needs to do a better job of lessening the burden on his starters, especially if he plans to use them come playoff time.
Bench Production
In fairness to Blatt, Cleveland's bench has been pretty awful in the short time they've been on the court.
Here's how the Cavaliers reserves stack up this season, via HoopsStats.com:
| Cavs' Bench | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | FG% | 3P% |
| Stat | 14.9 | 21.7 | 11.7 | 4.2 | 40.5 | 30.4 |
| NBA Rank | 30 | 30 | 26 | 30 | 27 | 23 |
For those keeping track at home, yes, that's a ranking of dead last in three major categories and a bottom-third mark for all six.
Lately, the Cavaliers bench has been a three-man show of Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Joe Harris, with Miller getting an occasional appearance.
Blatt addressed his reserves' lack of playing time, even after the first game.
"It wasn't by design; it was flow of the game," Blatt told Dave McMenamin of ESPN after Marion and Miller played a combined 13 minutes in an opening-night loss to the New York Knicks. "That's on me. Those guys need to play more."
Harris, a second-round rookie out of Virginia, has somehow overtaken Miller and Jones in the rotation. While he's been solid, one has to wonder about the fit. Miller and Jones are proven sharpshooters who've won championships with James and the Miami Heat. They've hit big shots in big games time and time again, shouldn't they be playing over a rookie?
In a Nov. 19 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Harris played 27 minutes off the bench. He recorded just five points, no rebounds and one assist. As for Miller and Jones? A pair of DNP-CDs.
Miller is averaging 11.7 minutes a game for the season, or about half the run he received with the Memphis Grizzlies last season. During that time, he shot 45.9 percent from deep while playing a key role off the bench. With such infrequent playing time in Cleveland, Miller has been unable to establish a consistent shot.
Jones' demotion has been even more puzzling. He agreed to a veteran's minimum deal with the Cavaliers this offseason, and he was supposed to be used extensively to spread the floor and open up driving lanes for players like James and Irving.
So far, he's seen game action just twice, both in blowout affairs. Now 12 games into the season, Jones has yet to play a meaningful minute for Cleveland.
This is especially surprising considering that James is a huge fan of Jones. He publicly called for Jones to get more playing time last year in Miami and is once again praising his talent during team practices.
Blatt has to get his veteran shooters involved in the game, even at Harris' expense. Nothing against the rookie from Virginia, but this is a team built to win now. Jones' contract is up after this season. Miller holds a player option for next year and would likely opt for free agency should his current situation continue. Harris will have his time, but now shouldn't be it.
The same quality and depth in the reserve corps that was praised this preseason hasn't gone anywhere, it's just waiting for an opportunity.
If Blatt wants to get more out of his bench, he has no one to blame but himself.
Ideal Rotation
Blatt is an incredibly bright coach and human being. He should continue to experiment until he finds a combination that works.
For now, here are a few things he should keep in mind when assembling his rotation:
- Less minutes for James, Love and Irving.
- Should always have at least two of three stars together on court.
- More run for vets like Miller and Jones.
- Limit playing time of rookies Harris and Will Cherry.
- Move Marion back to reserve for versatility. Replace with shooter in starting five.
- Keep Waiters on bench as team's sixth man.
OK, so that seems like a good start.
This way, Blatt's stars aren't worn down come spring, young guys can focus on learning instead of performing and veterans can do what they've always done.
Here's what such changes would look like in a new rotation with minutes included:
| Cavs' Ideal Rotation | Point Guard | Shooting Guard | Small Forward | Power Forward | Center |
| Starter | Kyrie Irving (34-36) | Mike Miller (18-20) | LeBron James (34-36) | Kevin Love (34-36) | Anderson Varejao (20-25) |
| Reserve | Matthew Dellavedova (10-15) | Dion Waiters (20-25) | Shawn Marion (15-20) | Tristan Thompson (25-30) | Brendan Haywood (0-5) |
| Reserve | Will Cherry | Joe Harris (0-5) | James Jones (5-10) | Lou Amundson | Alex Kirk |
With this lineup, Blatt would be going nine or 10 deep off the bench, rather than the eight a game he's primarily stuck with. Utilizing more players wouldn't necessarily hurt his Princeton-based offense, which requires ball movement. If anything, it would help to keep players fresh and active while on the court.
It's still very early, but that doesn't mean changes shouldn't be made.
Blatt needs to tweak his rotation to get the Cavaliers back on track.
Greg Swartz has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers for Bleacher Report since 2010.
All stats provided by Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
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