Cavs New Head Coach's Offensive plays are "Spurs-esque"

[MilesTeg]

You can't just decide you're going to be like the Spurs. It takes a lot of time to build, and the right guys. I think Blatt is a good coach, but without the pick and roll aggressive defense, the Cavs probably won't be as good as the Heat.

[Gagnrath]

The Cavs allowed 99 poimts/game last season. Surely that will improve with LeBron and Marion. Irving isn't a great defender but with less pressure on him to carry the offense, he'll be able to use more energy on the defensive end. I don't think this Cavs team is going to be as poor a defensive team as people think. Certainly not 2010 Spurs

Love Doesn't play defense save for rebounding....

Marion is only on the court when Lebron isn't (maybe some rare subbing at power forward for love) and isn't even half the player he was 3 years ago.
Waiters is also a sub-par defender for his position.


Maybe with a dedicated Verajao and Lebron leading system defense it gets Love waiters and Irving to try on that end but defense is a team effort and most likely with the majority of the team not being interested in their previous situation they won't suddenly decide to play on that end.

[Mikeanaro]

Because it is so easy to just land the NBA and play like the Spurs to win 459302 championships, these reporters are so serious about riding Lebum.

[DAF86]

The truth is Spurs' offensive plays are "FIBA-esque", tbh.

[DAF86]

You can't just decide you're going to be like the Spurs. It takes a lot of time to build, and the right guys. I think Blatt is a good coach, but without the pick and roll aggressive defense, the Cavs probably won't be as good as the Heat.

That "aggressive pick and roll defense" actually worked to the Spurs advatange, imho. It constantly made the Heat players get out of position and hustle their asses off for a lost cause (trying to prevent a wide open look for the Spurs). The Mavs did much better playing the complete opposite of an "aggressive pick and roll defense", basically daring the ball handler to beat them out of the pick and roll.

[testies]

That "aggressive pick and roll defense" actually worked to the Spurs advatange, imho. It constantly made the Heat players get out of position and hustle their asses off for a lost cause (trying to prevent a wide open look for the Spurs). The Mavs did much better playing the complete opposite of an "aggressive pick and roll defense", basically daring the ball handler to beat them out of the pick and roll.

this, I couldn't believe no one copied the switching everything defense from Dallas, making us play 1v1

[Chillen]

Watched the nba tv game, they look Finals bound if they can stay healthy but the Bulls are gonna be their toughest opponent. I don't know if they can beat the Bulls in a 7 game series or not yet. I think the Bulls will be the Cavs only obstacle in the East from reaching the Finals. They looked great for only 1 preseason game and I loved the passing, it's fun to watch. I don't know if they will be able to deal with the Bulls size (Noah, Gasol, Mirotic), but congrats the Cavs fans they are gonna have a fun year regardless, that team is fun to watch like the Spurs.

[hyhy]

Watched the nba tv game, they look Finals bound if they can stay healthy but the Bulls are gonna be their toughest opponent. I don't know if they can beat the Bulls in a 7 game series or not yet. I think the Bulls will be the Cavs only obstacle in the East from reaching the Finals. They looked great for only 1 preseason game and I loved the passing, it's fun to watch. I don't know if they will be able to deal with the Bulls size (Noah, Gasol, Mirotic), but congrats the Cavs fans they are gonna have a fun year regardless, that team is fun to watch like the Spurs.

Their starting 5 "ball movement" consists of 4 players standing on the 3-point line and Kevin Love standing in the post. The ball "moves" without any off-ball movements, and lots of gambles by throwing alot of cross-court passes. Then, it ends on a iso when they decide its time to score.

Sounds like Miami offense? Spurs-esque my foot.

[admiralsnackbar]

Passing the ball is fine, but marquee players recognizing they may not be as open as no-name perimeter shooters or well-positioned bigs is another story. If there is a criticism of Lebron, it's that he cares more about his own statistical legacy than his team's achievements. This may be the season he changes course, but I somehow doubt it. He's played under too many coaches and refused to submit to any of their systems to change at this point. The Cavs will be good this year, but they won't be a team any more than the Rockets (with their glaring lack of leadership and glut of talent) will be. As a fan of basketball, I hope Bron proves me wrong... but I'm skeptical.

[look_at_g_shred]

What I saw yesterday, and mind you it was just a sample size, yet there was ball-movement; however, I saw Kyrie, Waiters, and even James himself wanting to go one on one too much. Especially Irving and Waiters. You can tell they want to be "the guy". Everytime Irving went to the cup, waiters wanted to show him up. What i'm getting at is, there's only so much you can implement from the Spurs's system. You can preach ball movement, but if you don't have the selfless players the spurs do, it's not going to work. When Kyrie, Waiters, Love, and James care too much about individual stats, that "spurs-esque" system will go right down the drain.

[hyhy]

What I saw yesterday, and mind you it was just a sample size, yet there was ball-movement; however, I saw Kyrie, Waiters, and even James himself wanting to go one on one too much. Especially Irving and Waiters. You can tell they want to be "the guy". Everytime Irving went to the cup, waiters wanted to show him up. What i'm getting at is, there's only so much you can implement from the Spurs's system. You can preach ball movement, but if you don't have the selfless players the spurs do, it's not going to work. When Kyrie, Waiters, Love, and James care too much about individual stats, that "spurs-esque" system will go right down the drain.

Yup, and once ball movement seems to fail for abit, and each of them thinking that they can drive past their own defenders, its iso time.
Especially during crunch time.

[exstatic]

The Cavs allowed 99 poimts/game last season. Surely that will improve with LeBron and Marion. Irving isn't a great defender but with less pressure on him to carry the offense, he'll be able to use more energy on the defensive end. I don't think this Cavs team is going to be as poor a defensive team as people think. Certainly not 2010 Spurs

Old stats. Analytics now use what is called defensive rating. That's how many points you surrender per 100 possessions. Cleveland came in at 107.7, 19th out of 30 teams.

[Chillen]

I liked what I saw from that Cavs team, so perhaps a little Spurs-esque with a nice dose of Miami offense mixed in, sound better? BTW, Blatt can coach, they have a heck of a coach there.

[exstatic]

this, I couldn't believe no one copied the switching everything defense from Dallas, making us play 1v1

Because once we figured it out, we finished the series 3-1 and literally blew them off the floor in Game 7? Were you also befuddled that we didn't back off LeBron again this year? Once a team has seen something, it's easier to solve.

[313]

Old stats. Analytics now use what is called defensive rating. That's how many points you surrender per 100 possessions. Cleveland came in at 107.7, 19th out of 30 teams.

Still, not the worst. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Johnny RIngo]

Hopefully a sign that the Iso-ball era is coming to an end. The league would be a of a lot more entertaining if more teams played like the Spurs.