Cleveland Cavaliers: The Kyrie Irving trade didn’t cause this crisis
The Cleveland Cavaliers can’t blame their recent turmoil on the Kyrie Irving trade
Following the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 117-115 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst offered his reasoning behind Cleveland’s disappointing 4-6 start to the season:
"“What I think we’re really seeing from the Cavs right now is how badly they miss Kyrie Irving.”"
Seems right.
Irving, playing the best non-June basketball of his life, has led the Boston Celtics to the best record in the league so far this season. Meanwhile, you have to squint to see anything from the trade that’s helping the Cavaliers win games right now, and they received a laundry list of assets.
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Although the Cavaliers front office knew Isaiah Thomas would miss time, it anticipated heavy contributions from Jae Crowder. A three-and-D utility player who was a big part of the Celtics’ identity, Crowder was supposed to add fire to Cleveland’s defense. But Crowder’s performance has been puzzlingly poor. He’s connecting on just 38 percent of his field goal attempts and hasn’t been any better on defense. Smaller players sprint past him; bigger ones bully over him.
Center Ante Zizic, one of Boston’s 2016 first round picks, also went to Cleveland in the deal. There seems to be a fit for Zizic in Cleveland – he’s a young player who is energetic and rebounds, and the Cavaliers are an old team that’s lethargic and small. Zizic, though, has yet to play meaningful minutes, even with Tristan Thompson injured.
Cleveland, of course, received draft picks from Boston, but they’ve been on the court as often as Thomas has. For the time being that leaves Cleveland with only Crowder and Zizic from the transaction, and that feels rotten with Irving flourishing.
But the trade with Boston isn’t the reason for the Cavaliers’ struggles. Last season, with Irving, Cleveland had the NBA’s third-best offense behind Golden State and Houston, according to NBA.com. This season, without Irving, the Cavaliers again have the third-best offense behind Golden State and Houston.
Cleveland moved Irving, replaced him with Derrick Rose, and hasn’t lost for it. That’s incredible – Rose is averaging less than two assists per game! And the Cavs’ backup point guards are Dwyane Wade and Iman Shumpert, not point guards at all, who have to play often with Rose dinged up.
But are we shocked? Filling in the gaps is LeBron’s forte. Cleveland needed more playmaking after losing Irving, so LeBron pried open his hard drive and tinkered with the settings. Voilà – he has three separate games with 13 assists; Rose has 12 on the season altogether.
Still, father time doesn’t lose, even to robots. Though in spurts LeBron is as marvelous as ever, at 32-years-old his motor can’t churn consistently enough to anchor both the offense and defense for forty minutes a night. Forced to choose between the two he has made the choice superstars make: his numbers on offense are as good as ever, including career highs in field goal percentage (58.6%) and free throw percentage (80.7%) and his highest points per game (28.1) since the last season of his first Cleveland stint.
Defensively, however, there’s slippage. LeBron is no longer the spry 27-year-old who played omnipotent help defense and still recovered in time to contest shots. His quickness has atrophied, and he’s late to challenge shooters. Unfortunately for LeBron, the Cavaliers roster isn’t suited to compensate for a version of him that’s only so-so on D.
After the Irving trade, the Cleveland Cavaliers had an opportunity to upgrade their perimeter defense and elected not to. Evaluating defense with statistics is a hazard, but ESPN’s real plus-minus gives it a go. Among 79 point guards last season, Irving ranked 69th. Cleveland replaced him with the 71st (Rose) and 79th (Thomas). The numbers don’t lie – Rose is absentminded; Thomas is small.
Shooting guard? Not as bad. Still bad. Of 81 shooting guards, Cleveland already had JR Smith (44th) and Kyle Korver (77th) and added Dwyane Wade (31st). Each is growing grey. Smith especially has been a disappointment this season, and Wade, a 35-year-old with sand block knees and a rickety motor, is the best of the bunch.
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You’ll find no defensive help lower on the roster. Kevin Love’s venture at center has gone predictably poorly. Jeff Green is athletic but adrift. Channing Frye is determined but not athletic. Crowder and LeBron were supposed to be the best of the bunch but have been as bad as the rest.
It’s unclear why Cleveland built its roster this way. LeBron provides an easy blueprint: surround him with defense and shooting! The Cavaliers opted for lackluster defenders that also don’t shoot well – the team is 19th in 3-point percentage after being 2nd last season.
Adding Isaiah Thomas will improve that number. Better still, Thomas anticipates chemistry with LeBron, saying he’s going to be able to adjust quickly.
There’s no reason for him to be wrong. Thomas is a sleeker fit for LeBron than Irving was, who in Cleveland did most of his work out of isolation and languished when without the ball. That’s a far cry from Thomas, a manic off-ball mover who navigates screens to receive hand-offs, mismatches, and spot-ups. Thomas and LeBron will get along snugly.
And, as good as the Cavaliers’ offense is, there’s room for improvement. Cleveland has the third best offense in the association but there’s nevertheless a chasm between it and Golden State – the difference in offensive rating between Golden State (116.2) and Cleveland (108.2) is larger than the difference between the Cavaliers and the 25th ranked Suns (100.3).
The move from Rose to Thomas will vault Cleveland’s offense ahead of Houston’s and into second place. There isn’t a thing that Rose does better than Thomas on offense – not moving or shooting or passing or fetching foul calls. Most importantly, Thomas is a hell of a lot more energetic. With six rotation players who are 31 or older, Cleveland needs some on-court vitality.
Plus, Thomas is only a whisker worse than Rose on defense, if he’s worse at all. Rose has the worst defensive rating in the league among those who play more than fifteen minutes per game (118.5), or just a nudge ahead of 39-year-old Dirk Nowitzki. Rose isn’t vocal, which hurts on a Cleveland team that needs more communication, and he defense doesn’t come naturally to him even when giving full effort.
But the upgrade that Thomas provides won’t make Cleveland a threat to Golden State. Even after Tristan Thompson returns, the roster will be too old, too emphatic on offense over defense. Once Thomas displaces Shumpert, every lineup will feature some combination of Thomas, Rose, Smith, Wade, and Korver with slim rim protection behind them.
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Cleveland, if desperate, could part ways with the Nets’ pick to bring back a defensive anchor to provide rim protection behind their leaky perimeter defense. It would be a gamble – LeBron won’t be giving Cleveland any assurances about his impending free agency – and there’s not an obvious target. The first-tier centers like DeMarcus Cousins and Marc Gasol won’t be available with their teams in playoff contention, and the second-tier centers aren’t worth the Nets’ pick.
It’s hard to come up with a viable deal that makes Cleveland better to the point it’s worth the risk. One trade, no matter how clever, won’t solve all the Cleveland Cavaliers’ problems. And one trade certainly didn’t cause them.