The Cavaliers have problems, but there's no reason to panic in Cleveland
Things are getting passive aggressive in Cleveland.
And that's understandable — the Cavs have won just two of their last eight games, and suffered an embarrassing overtime loss at home to the Sacramento Kings Wednesday.
LeBron James isn't happy about it, and he's making that clear to everyone. The King wants his team to make a move — the Cavs need a backup point guard in the worst way — but so far, nothing has materialized.
It would be one thing if LeBron, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love were lollygagging out there, but that's not the case.
Right now the Cavs are not a good team, and there are two big reasons for that.
And neither is permanent.
The Cavs might be in a slump, but there's absolutely no reason to think that they're not the best team in the Eastern Conference and the prohibitive favorite to reach the NBA Finals.
Here's why Cleveland is in a rut, and why we won't remember much of this period in June:
Reason 1: The Kyle Korver trade
One of the simplest explanations for the Cavs' recent slide is the acquisition of Kyle Korver.
The former Atlanta Hawk might be one of the best shooters on the planet, but there's a reason the Hawks gave him up for next-to-nothing: He can't play defense. Not a lick of it.
(Seriously, what was this? I understand doubling DeMarcus Cousins, but this is beyond the pale.)
http://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/824659436119560192
Teams are fully aware of it and when Korver is on the court, they're attacking him like a little brother in a driveway game. Frankly, it's merciless.
That's not to say that Korver was a bad acquisition — he just doesn't fit the short-term needs of the Cavs.
He does fit the long-term needs, though: Korver is a spot up shooter who the Cavs will use with their second unit going forward. In that scenario, where it's highly unlikely that he'll look so out-of-his-depth defensively, he'll likely be lethal.
But as a quasi-replacement for J.R. Smith, he's a disaster. Here's the thing people rarely mention regarding Smith: he's a good defender.
Meanwhile, Korver hasn't found his groove inside the Cavs' offense. He has a minus-12.3 net rating in his Cavs' career and Cleveland is clearly a better team with him off the court — the Cavs' net rating is 13 points higher with him on the bench.
The Cavs can't play DeAndre Liggins for major minutes — he's a solid defender, but he can be left alone on the offensive end, which doesn't exactly help spacing with three star players who are at their best near the hoop. (There's a reason Liggins is 28 years old and has played less than 1,000 minutes in the league.)
Frankly, LeBron appears so hellbent to lift up players who aren't good enough to provide anything but sporadic contributions that it's hurting his own game. He's forcing things.
But these are just growing pains — Smith will come back, Korver's role will become more defined, and Liggins will be better for the experience.
That's not the only problem for the Cavs though.
Reason 2: Cleveland desperately needs a backup point guard
And they're going to get one. For LeBron, one cannot come soon enough. Clearly.
Right now, the Cavs' rotations are out of whack because of the addition of Korver but more so because of the lack of a second-unit quarterback, and it's the latter that's clearly frustrating for regular-season LeBron, because more often than not, he picks up the slack in those situations.
Yes, "regular-season LeBron", who plays about 35 minutes per game and is calculated about his drives to the basket, as he knows every burst to the hoop is one less he'll have for the rest of his career. It's been said that the genius of professional athletes is their ability to control the expenditure of their energy, and LeBron is the perfect example of that. James knows that he's going to play 100 games a season — he's going to need plenty in the tank for June, when postseason LeBron arrives and drops shoulders on fools on his way to the rack.
If you're wondering why LeBron is so pissed, it's because at age 32, more than 1000 games into his NBA career, he's leading the NBA in minutes at 37.6 per game.
He was supposed to be cutting down on regular-season minutes, not playing more.
But what's he going to do? Refuse to play when his team needs him?
(He has to be the coach, and the GM, and the mayor, and play nearly 38 minutes a game ...)
James takes on a lot of point guard responsibilities with this Cavs team — minutes that Matthew Dellavadova would play last year. Kay Felder isn't getting the job done in that role — frankly, it's comical that anyone thought he could.
Not having a viable backup point guard means that the Cavs cannot stagger Irving and James like they did last regular season, which gave Cleveland sustained offense even when one of them was off the court.
The Cavs will get a backup point guard — Jarrett Jack, who is something close to a perfect option, is a free agent and former LeBron teammates Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers are also available to be signed in the near future. Perhaps the Bulls buy out Rajon Rondo — he might be a viable target for Cleveland as well.
Find someone who can run the offense when Irving is on the bench — someone who can restore order to the Cavs' rotations — and some big problems go away, including LeBron's moodiness.