5 New Year's Resolutions for the Cleveland Cavaliers
While the sky may not be falling in Cleveland as some would like to believe, the Cavaliers should be relieved to enter a fresh new year.
Losers of three of their last four games, the Cavs stand at 18-13 and fifth place in the Eastern Conference. While it may not be the record many envisioned when LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving joined forces this summer, it's not too shabby either.
While the talent is there, many issues still exist for the Cavaliers, especially with a recent season-ending injury to starting center Anderson Varejao. Therefore, the Cavs need to make some changes—or resolutions, if you will—entering 2015.
No. 5: Make Kevin Love a Star Again
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The Cavs desperately need Love to take on a bigger role, and fast.
This is a guy who James made a personal phone call to just hours after committing to come home, one whose overall skill set should be producing much more than it currently is.
Now, it was fair to assume Love wouldn't keep producing the 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists that he did with the Minnesota Timberwolves a season ago. That being said, it's safe to say that Cleveland was expecting a little more than the 16.7 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists on 42.7 percent shooting that he's currently contributing.
Last season, Love was fourth in the entire NBA in scoring. This year, he's tied for 40th.
That's quite a drop for someone of Love's offensive caliber, even given the quality of his teammates.
Of those top 40 scorers, only four are converting a lower percentage of their shots. The Cavaliers have made it a point at times to try to get Love touches early, only to abandon him for large stretches of the game.
Named the seventh-best NBA player heading into the 2014-15 season by ESPN, Love hasn't even played like a top-five power forward thus far.
In a Dec. 26 win over the Orlando Magic, Love was even benched for the entire fourth quarter.
"Kevin Love sacrificed in the fourth quarter. He didn't play and was helping, cheering, slapping hands every time we came to the sidelines," James said of Love's engagement to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
For someone who's expected to command a max contract extension this offseason, "cheering" and "slapping hands" aren't exactly the qualities teams pay big money for.
The Cavaliers need to get Love back on his star track and rediscover his dominant offensive form.
No. 4: Acquire a Big Man
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Cleveland was probably a little thin up front even before Varejao ruptured his Achilles tendon. Now, they're nearing supermodel-skinny levels.
Love and Tristan Thompson make for a fine starting duo, but who comes next? Brendan Haywood is 35, Lou Amundson is purely a hustle player and Shawn Marion has played more guard than power forward this season.
Coach David Blatt's early coping method has been to ride Thompson as much as he can and hope for the best. In his first three games since taking over the starting center job, Thompson is averaging 39.7 minutes a night.
The Cavaliers need to do something, anything, to add some size to their rotation. Plenty of quality names exist on the trade market, and free agents like Emeka Okafor and Jermaine O'Neal could become options as well.
It's terrifying to think what one more injury would do to the Cavs front line.
General manager David Griffin needs to make a move to help counter Varejao's injury, even it if means sacrificing an existing backcourt player or draft pick.
No. 3: Support the Head Coach
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It's difficult to tell just how well Blatt is connecting with his players this season, especially since none of them seem willing to endorse him.
Blatt, who's never coached in the Association at any level, now finds himself leading a locker room with five former NBA Finals champions. While he possesses a beautiful basketball mind, one has to wonder about the level of respect the Cavaliers have for their rookie head coach, especially some of the veterans.
"James was asked after practice Monday if he felt Blatt was the right coach for the team, and he said: 'Yeah, he's our coach, I mean, what other coach do we have?'
When James was given a chance to more fully endorse Blatt -- a reporter mentioned what such an endorsement would look like around the league and to his own teammates -- and James said: 'Listen man, I don't pay no bills around here. I play.'
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Huh?
James had the chance to muster up something like, "Why yes, I believe coach Blatt is doing an excellent job and we're all behind him," and this whole issue might go away. Instead, it appears he purposely remained vague and noncommittal about his boss' ability.
It's quite a shame, actually. Blatt is typically very friendly and charming with the media. He often goes out of his way to compliment James, Irving and others who put up strong individual performances, even when the team struggles.
While the Cavaliers offense has been solid (110.5 offensive rating, No. 4 in NBA), they often shy away from Blatt's Princeton-based principles. Defensively, the Cavs regularly look disinterested and lackadaisical.
Blatt may not be a great NBA head coach right now, but he has the capability of becoming one. As Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group put it, the players certainly could do a better job of helping him as well:
"The dreadful body language, the disengagement, the attitudes, the lollygagging on defense must cease. Leaders need to lead and players need to play. Regardless of who is roaming the sidelines, players have an obligation to give it their all from start to finish.
Those are all things out of Blatt's control. Those are also things that get coaches canned. Blatt doesn't deserve that. This isn't what he signed up for.
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James, Irving and other team leaders need to step up and buy into what Blatt is preaching.
If they do it, others will surely follow.
No. 2: Show Better Defensive Effort
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It's no secret the Cavaliers have struggled to defend this season. While allowing 99.7 points a game (14th in league) doesn't seem so bad, this number doesn't reveal the true problem.
Outside of James, the team lacks an elite defender. Marion, Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova can get the job done in spurts, but often have to overcompensate for the deficiencies of others.
While personnel is a problem, the true issue lies in the lack of interest and effort demonstrated on the defensive side of the ball.
James occasionally fails to get back after poor offensive possessions, Love rarely leaves the ground while defending the paint and the team overall has struggled with communication and contesting shots.
The Cavaliers' defensive rating is a staggering 107.8, 23rd overall. Cleveland doesn't have a single five-man unit ranked in the top 60 in field-goal percentage allowed, per NBA.com.
Opponents are making a whopping 51 percent of their two-pointers this season, the fourth-worst mark in the league. At 56.9 percent, no team is allowing a greater percentage of makes at the rim than Cleveland, per NBA.com.
It doesn't help that the Cavs are thin up front and lack a true shot-blocker. This can be quickly fixed with a trade, however.
The effort in which the Cavaliers defend, unfortunately, can not.
No. 1: Continue to Develop Chemistry
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More than an improved Love, another big man, support for Blatt or better defensive effort, the Cavaliers need time.
Talent is important, but so is chemistry. Cleveland, just two months in, needs more time to jell.
Take a peek back at the 2008-09 Cavaliers roster and a couple things stand out. First is the fact that the team went an NBA-best 66-16. The second is the amazingly average starting five that accumulated those wins. Alongside James were Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace, Delonte West and Mo Williams. Compare those names to Love, Irving, Thompson and Mike Miller today.
On paper, was that 2008-09 team better? No way.
They were, however, comfortable with each other. Four of those five starters ended the 2007-08 season together. They won a playoff series and forced seven games in another with the eventual champion Boston Celtics.
This was a group that danced on the sidelines when one would score a basket and snap imaginary pictures before games (in the glorious time before selfies). They laughed, had fun and, above all else, won.
The 2014-15 Cavaliers simply need more time to come together and reach this level of cohesion. With 10 new players on the roster, it's going to take a while to do.
Cleveland has the talent, but they still need to develop the chemistry in order to truly become an elite team.
Greg Swartz has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers for Bleacher Report since 2010.
All stats provided by Basketball-Reference unless otherwise noted.
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