Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron’s greatness won’t always be enough

The Cleveland Cavaliers have struggled early in the season, despite strong play from LeBron James. They’ll need to fix some big flaws in order to compete

A few days ago, LeBron James willed the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 130-122 win over the Washington Wizards.

In a statement win over a fellow Eastern Conference contender, LeBron scored 57 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter, along with 11 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks.

LeBron’s highlights vs Washington would rival the career mixtape of many NBA stars, with great defensive plays, scoring from the post, bruising drives to the basket and a multitude of tough jump shots.

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It was as dominant and complete a display as you will ever see, and it was a timely reminder that any team with LeBron will be dangerous.

But this Cavaliers team wants to be more than just dangerous. They want to win the Eastern Conference and compete for the title.

With the East further weakened during the offseason, Cleveland were the presumptive favourites to make the Finals. Gordon Hayward’s injury on opening night appeared to strengthen their hold on the conference.

And yet the Cavs are 4-6, sitting in 12th in the Eastern Conference, with losses to the supposedly weaker Pacers, Nets, Knicks, Pelicans and, most recently, Hawks.

Ten games is a big enough sample size to start drawing some early conclusions. Cleveland’s start to the season has revealed some major issues that could derail their season.

Defense

By most measures, Cleveland is one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

They are giving up 111.7 points per 100 possessions, which ranks 30th in the league. Their opponents are shooting 47.7 percent from the field (28th) and 41.7 percent from 3 (30th).

Even in Friday’s win against Washington, their defense was suspect at best, as they allowed 122 points on 53 percent shooting from the field. Bradley Beal torched them for 36 points, while Kelly Oubre Jr. (a career 32 percent shooter from deep) hit five 3’s.

Every Cleveland player, at one stage or another over these nine games, has struggled defensively. Below is a play from their match-up with the Pelicans last Saturday.

That’s an easy layup from one screen. There’s no help defense, no communication and, it appears, no real effort on that end of the floor.

To understand why that’s the case, all you have to do is look at Cleveland’s personnel. Their roster is the oldest in the league, and they look even older when trying to stay in front of their defensive assignments.

Most of their players have never been known for their defense, even in their primes. All of Derrick Rose, Kyle Korver, Channing Frye, Kevin Love, Jeff Green could objectively be viewed as below-average career defenders.

Even players capable of defending at a high level, such as JR Smith, Iman Shumpert and Tristan Thompson, need a good defensive system to be successful. That simply isn’t there in Cleveland in the early stages of the season.

The players are aware of the problems. Kevin Love admitted:

"“We’re not talking, we’re not getting back in transition, we’re not pointing.”"

But he also said that those issues are “easily correctable.” Well, they still haven’t been corrected, and with so many sub-par defenders on the roster they may never improve.

Spacing

Cleveland’s offense has been solid so far this season. They’re scoring 107.3 points per 100 possessions, good for seventh in the league.

However, much like on defense, their roster has some fundamental flaws.

The Cavaliers currently have 10 players averaging more than 10 minutes per game. Of them, only three have shot better than 35 percent from 3 over their careers; Kevin Love (36.4), JR Smith (37.2) and Kyle Korver (44.4).

Because of this, Cleveland are currently 25th in the league in 3-point percentage, hitting just 33.4 percent of their long balls.

In the regular season, this may not be a huge issue. Playing against weaker defenses has allowed them to shoot a fantastic 55.1 percent from inside the arc and still run an efficient offense.

But Cleveland’s goals doesn’t end in the regular season, and a lack of spacing could be fatal in the playoffs. LeBron can create shots no matter what the scenario, but he can only do so much if the defense is able to collapse on him in the paint.

And when he goes to the bench, their second unit won’t survive without decent spacing. Rose and Dwyane Wade are still capable of leading the reserves, but they can no longer do so without room to operate inside.

Isaiah Thomas is a proficient 3-point shooter, coming off a season where he hit a career-high 245 threes at 37.9 percent. But, despite making progress in his injury rehab, there is no set date for his return, with the Cavs hoping to see him suit up in January.

Even when he does return, he won’t be able to turn the tide alone. Cleveland will need to get creative with their lineups or find some reliable perimeter threats before the playoffs.

Coaching

Can Tyronn Lue actually coach?

It’s hard to look bad with one of the best two players of all time, but Cleveland’s start to the season doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Take Lue’s use of Jae Crowder, for example. Crowder has a reputation as a tenacious and versatile defender, the kind of player Cleveland badly needs given their struggles at that end.

So far this season, he’s playing less than 27 minutes per game, and has played under 22 minutes four times. And while his defensive prowess may be exaggerated slightly, he’s certainly better than the alternatives.

I don’t know about you, but I would take Crowder over Jeff Green any day.

Personnel decisions such as that, alongside the apparent lack of a system on either end, have some doubting Lue’s coaching ability.

Remember, Lue had little coaching experience when hired. He won a championship in his first season, but that was more LeBron’s doing than anyone’s. And he only coached that team for half the season anyway, so really, poor David Blatt deserves half the credit.

Lue has been forced to learn on the job, and in one of the highest-pressure jobs in the sports world.

Now is his chance to prove himself as a coach. The best leader’s are born from adversity, and Cleveland’s current roster is certainly facing it’s fair share.

If the Cleveland Cavaliers want to make it through the Eastern Conference, let alone challenge the Warriors, they’ll need to make some progress soon on overcoming their flaws.

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Friday’s win was a reminder that, sometimes, LeBron’s greatness is enough.

But his dominant play can only paper over so many cracks. And with Cleveland’s foundations starting to crumble, he’ll need some decent support soon.