Diagnosing Cleveland Cavaliers' Remaining Roster Flaws
With the imminent season debut of All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin, the Cleveland Cavaliers are slowly fielding a complete, healthy roster.
Only now can we begin to get an accurate read of where the team stands heading into the final three quarters of the season.
This is a critical time for roster evaluation, as Dec. 15 marked the first day where free agents who signed this past summer can be dealt, while the Feb. 18 trade deadline is but two short months away.
While Irving will give the backcourt a boost, are the Cavaliers really set at the guard positions? What other spots on the roster need upgrades?
(Lack Of) Rim Protection
Timofey Mozgov became the Cavaliers' lone shot-blocking threat last year, but even he has struggled to turn away opponents in the paint this season.
In fact, the entire center position has been the weak link overall, led by Mozgov's disappointing start.
To be fair, offseason knee surgery kept the 7'1" Russian off the court and out of rhythm until just recently. His averages of 7.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.7 blocks are well below last season's line of 10.6, 6.9 and 1.2, respectively.
While back-to-back strong performances have shed a glimmer of light on the situation, it's clear that Cleveland still lacks a reliable interior defender. Neither Tristan Thompson, Kevin Love nor Anderson Varejao is a shot-blocking threat.
To put things in perspective, LeBron James and Mozgov are tied for the team lead with 14 total blocks. Hassan Whiteside of the Miami Heat has 93.
This lack of rim protection is hurting Cleveland severely when it comes to opponents' success in the paint. The Cavs are allowing teams to convert 59.8 percent of the time from within six feet, a 2.2 percent increase from what opponents would normally shoot. This kind of poor performance has the Cavaliers ranked 24th in the league, according to NBA.com.
The solution?
For now, let Mozgov continue to work his way back into the kind of shape in which he dominated last season. In his most recent game, an 89-77 win against the Boston Celtics on Dec. 15, he collected a season-high 10 rebounds to go with his three blocks.
Mozgov was arguably the Cavs' best player outside of the Big Three during the end of last year and should be given a chance to regain his form.
Consistent Shooting Guard Play
OK, so maybe we shouldn't have expected J.R. Smith to be the model of consistency, but so far he's led the Cavaliers down a dangerous path.
Along with Richard Jefferson and Jared Cunningham, the Cavs' shooting guard position has bottomed out among the league's worst. They rank 29th in points (13.4), 28th in rebounding (4.0) and 26th in assists (2.5), according to hoopsstats.com.
We've seen splashes of Matthew Dellavedova at the 2. Iman Shumpert, recently healed from September's wrist surgery, played just two games before suffering a groin injury on Dec. 15. Joe Harris is also available but has spent most of his time with the D-League's Canton Charge.
Smith played extremely well for the Cavaliers in this spot last season, but much of that had to do with his playing next to Kyrie Irving. With no Irving to help draw attention, Smith is averaging just 11.2 points on 37.3 percent shooting from the field in his 31.8 minutes. Cleveland is better on both sides of the ball when Smith sits this season.
While the Cavs can get by for now by rotating different guys, they'll need to establish a solid starter and role come playoff time.
This could mean sticking with Smith, giving him a chance to regain his success when sandwiched between Irving and James. It could also mean making the switch to Shumpert, a superior defender whom coach David Blatt rode as his starter in the final three rounds of the playoffs.
Getting Irving back will also force Dellavedova to split his time between both guard positions instead of predominantly running point. He's been fantastic for the Cavaliers thus far and needs to eat up as many minutes as Blatt can provide.
For now, the safe money falls on Shumpert as the starter, with Smith and Delly getting a healthy dose of playing time behind him. All of this hinges on Shumpert's ability to stay on the court, however, something he's failed to do so far this season.
(In)Ability to Go Small
Today's NBA is shifting toward a smaller and faster style of play.
Gone are the days of monster centers posting up and slowing the pace down. Teams now prefer to get up and down the floor, shoot threes and space the court.
Unfortunately, the Cavaliers are caught in the middle.
While their starting lineup includes significant size with Mozgov, Love and James in the frontcourt, it's often the smaller and more mobile Thompson who finishes games in order to provide a better matchup.
A prime example of this came last June.
When the Golden State Warriors benched Andrew Bogut, their starting center and defensive anchor, in the Finals, Cleveland couldn't match their speed and spacing.
Of the Cavaliers five-man units playing 20 minutes or more together, all are outscoring opponents, some by as many as 50.9 points per 100 possessions when utilizing a "traditional" power forward-center combo. This is defined as either Love and Thompson at the 4 with Thompson or Mozgov at the 5.
When Cleveland goes small, they run into trouble.
Using James or James Jones at power forward greatly reduces the team's average point differential, and for good reason.
Especially with Irving out, the strength of the Cavaliers lies in their deep and talented frontcourt. James and Love are perhaps the best forward combination in the league, and Thompson has enjoyed a career year following a huge contract extension.
If Cleveland is forced to go small, it will almost always have to use James at power forward, where he spent much of his time with the Heat. From there, the Cavs have a tough decision to make. Benching Love is a tough pill to swallow, but he's been terrible when asked to guard opposing centers. Thompson provides the defense needed but hurts Cleveland's spacing and overall offensive flow.
For now, the Cavs are much better when they can play James, Love and Thompson together (plus-28.1 per 100 possessions in 232-plus minutes). Breaking this combination up is doing opponents a huge favor, even if it means matching their speed.
So if the Cavs can't figure out a way to successfully go small, they must force other teams to match their (bigger and slower) style of play.
Greg Swartz is the Cleveland Cavaliers Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @CavsGregBR. Stats via Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise sourced and are current as of Dec. 15.
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