Three things I like

 Three Things I Like:


  1.  Evan Mobley’s learning curve is a flat circle.  I don’t know what that means, but he looked like a 3 year offensive project in the summer league and even game 1 of preseason and now he looks polished at times.  He also has shifted from getting pushed around to holding his own physically and actually bullying guys.  Some of that is the 11 lbs he claims to have put on, but a lot of that is body positioning and leverage.  He’s looking like the best player in the draft, and has ‘best player out of the past two drafts’ potential by the end of this year.

  2. Lauri Markkanen’s D.  It’s not elite, or particularly good, but its a mile better than his reputation.  The bad is obvious at times, he was battling Vuce under the glass last night and was being held off with one arm while fouling, and Vuce got the rebound, putback and 1.  However he has good feet on the perimeter, he doesn’t chase blocks and he plays with effort.  

  3. JB Bickerstaff’s rotations.  Contrary to fan belief you can’t just figure out the best rotations most of the time.  Sure if you have an MVP caliber player, and an all-star already you can work knowing those positions are filled, but for young teams, young players and new teammates you have to get creative to get the best results.  The Cavs starting 5 of Allen/Mobley/Okoro/Sexton/Garland has been terrible so far, but I like that they are playing as a group and showing what they can do and what they need to work together, and we have a bunch of different lineups as well showing how they work.  Certainly a common refrain was ‘don’t put Markkanen and Love on the court together’ but that hasn’t looked bad, Lauri at the 3 has looked good, Rubio with anyone has looked good, and the Cavs have had good stretches of quality basketball (and entertaining as well!) without either Garland or Sexton playing well.  



Play of the Game:  Markkanen crosses over DeRozen for a dunk.  This works because the Cavs generated a pair of mismatches due to their size.  Troy Brown Jr is on Love, and DeRozen is on Markkanen.  Instead of putting Love in the corner and Allen under the basket they drag Vuce to the corner on Allen, and Vuce doesn’t have the foot speed to get back inside quickly, while Love gets under the hoop and Brown has to lean his full weight against him to fight for position.  This play attacks the two weaknesses on the Bulls lineup, LM is attacking their worst on ball defender and Love is attacking their lack of size at the 4.  Even with two weak shooters the Cavs get an open lane and dunk from a guy not known for his dribble penetration.  Play starts at 17 seconds, going to have to learn how to embed better :)

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