Cavs Report: Blatt, LeBron speak of team's free-flowing O

By foxsports
Published

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- From the early sounds of things, the Cavaliers will run an offense that may not be Princeton in its entirety, but at least in its principles.

Not surprising, since new coach David Blatt went and played for Princeton.

Now, to many fans, "Princeton offense" means little. All a lot of fans know is LeBron James is on the team and the Cavs therefore should be pretty good. Those fans are right. Any offense tends to look fantastic when you have the world's best player.

But technically speaking, you need to move the ball, no matter how great your stars may be. That's just a truth in basketball. No one man can do it alone. Not at this level.

And if you don't have chemistry, no three or four men can do it alone, either. Hence, the implementation of a game plan -- or more accurately, a game plan that stresses lots of passing, finding the open man, working for the best possible shot, etc. That's the Princeton, or at least Princeton-like.

"If you make hard cuts, pass the ball on time and make shots, every offense looks good," Blatt explained. "The way we want to play with this group, which is a high-IQ group, is to give them a chance to read and react, make good decisions and play off the defense."

The majority of offenses in the NBA are based off the pick-and-roll, one of the most basic sets in all of basketball. Nothing wrong with that. Simple is good.

Then again, no less than LeBron himself says the Cavs' new offense isn't so simple. Not yet.

"It's very free-flowing," James said. "It's going to be challenging, but I think when we get it, there are so many different options, and a counter to everything (an opposing) defense can do."

James added he "probably would have to go back to my high school days" at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary when it comes to playing in this type of system.

"It's very challenging mentally," he said. "We've seen a similar approach to this type of offense ... but there's a lot more options to this than I'm used to seeing."

Cavs Dribbles

1. With the likes of Mike Miller, Shawn Marion and others signing on to join the Cavs, it's fairly clear James has had some real success recruiting free agents to Cleveland. That wasn't exactly the case during his first stint from 2003-10. "I guess I had to prove I could win a championship," James said. "I was able to do that twice (with the Miami Heat)."

2. Oklahoma Thunder star Kevin Durant has already committed to be a member of Team USA for the 2016 Olympic games, but James hasn't put much thought into the idea. He said Monday he's "nowhere near" committing. Given his historic summer, you probably can't blame the guy.

3. University of Akron coach Keith Dambrot was among the many college coaches who watched Cavs practice Tuesday. Dambrot coached James in high school during James' freshman and sophomore years. Coaches from Kent State, Ohio University and several other programs were also in attendance.

4. New center Brendan Haywood has heard the talk about the Cavs' need for someone to protect the basket -- but the 7-footer says such an individual may already be on the roster. And that individual, Haywood believes, is him. "My goal is to be the rim-protector for this team," Haywood told the News-Herald. "I've proven I could do that my whole career and I'm looking forward to proving I can be that again."

5. The Cavs annual Wine & Gold Scrimmage tips off at Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena. It will be streamed live on cavs.com.