Lee Jenkins: LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

[Swedgin]

 
I'm not sure what you mean by the former statement. By positioning himself to grab rebounds rather than position himself between penetrating players and the hoop, Kevin Love pads his rebounding numbers at the expense of his team. If he stops doing that and tries to play defense, then his rebounding numbers will drop.
 
If you mean you believe he does offer solid help defense . . . His disinterest in defense is the reason his coaches didn't want to give him many minutes early in his career and tried to use playing time a carrot for making an effort on defense. You don't have to believe me, but surely Coach K and Kurt Rambis know what their players are/were doing.

I don't think of any of us should give much credence to what Kurt Rambis does as a coach.

 

[moly99]

Pretty interesting thought on Love, that he pads rebound stats with shitty help D.
 
Gotta say that his boards-and-blocks stats seem to support the theory.
 
Last year he was third in the NBA at 12.5 per game in rebounds but was 101st in blocks at a meager 0.45 per game. A 6-foot-10 guy who's a couple names after John Wall on the list plus swats fewer balls than dozens of guards overall. Pretty suspect.

 
The one big counterpoint to my argument is that he has done well in drawing charges. Unfortunately there aren't many sites that track this, and offensive fouls drawn are low incident events. But he has done a pretty decent job of picking up fouls. One explanation is that he might be drawing a lot of fouls from his own man. (He is a satisfactory on-ball defender.) Alternatively he might simply be getting superstar treatment from the refs.
 
But there's no getting around the fact that he lets opponents shoot 57.4 percent at the rim against him last year despite being a solid space eater.
 
And for the record, I don't have a problem with Love. Put him on the right team next to someone like Larry Sanders or Nerlens Noel and his lack of rim protection wouldn't be a major issue. But the Cavs don't have anyone like that. The closest is Varejao, and he is always injured and more of a solid overall defender than pure shot blocker.

 

[DJnVa]

 
I'm not sure what you mean by the former statement. By positioning himself to grab rebounds rather than position himself between penetrating players and the hoop, Kevin Love pads his rebounding numbers at the expense of his team. If he stops doing that and tries to play defense, then his rebounding numbers will drop.
 

 
I think the point was that in your first post you said he'd let them have "free layups". NBA players generally won't miss "free layups" so there won't be more rebounds.

 

[moly99]

 
I think the point was that in your first post you said he'd let them have "free layups". NBA players generally won't miss "free layups" so there won't be more rebounds.

 
I don't know how many times I have to repeat this. He lets penetrating players drive to the hoop, which frequently turns an 8 foot shot into a layup.

 

[Devizier]

How frequently?

 

[zenter]

I don't know how many times I have to repeat this. He lets penetrating players drive to the hoop, which frequently turns an 8 foot shot into a layup.

 
You have to repeat it zero times. It has certainly been said here and elsewhere that he avoids challenging players driving to the hoop in order to avoid fouls. I don't know if it's true, but it makes intuitive sense in a context where he's basically carrying the team.
 
If you have content, videographic evidence, or SportVU data, etc, that enhances your several related claims about Love and positioning, it would be swell. Can't say if you're wrong or right on something as hard to determine (from standard stats) as positioning and contesting.

 

[nighthob]

How frequently?

Frequently enough that he has one of the worst oFG% in the league.

 

[jon abbey]

This is huge for them IMO:

https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/status/501021726311190528

 

[Blacken]

I love that signing. They can put out a stopper lineup that will hurt you with this roster. Even at his age, Marion can contain almost anybody at the three not named LeBron (convenient), Durant, or Paul George (also convenient) and might give LeBron some time on the floor where he doesn't have to guard the best wing.

 

[PBDWake]

And just imagine what they could do if free agents would sign there!

 

[Auger34]

The team is basically all in place now with the exception of a rim protector. Unfortunately for the Cavs there aren't many of those available. There's also the question of what the Cavs actually have to offer. A lot depends on what pick(s) they have to give up in the Love trade (the rumor is that it is the MIA pick). If that is the case the best they have to offer is roster filler, the Brendan Haywood contract (which basketball writers a lot smarter than me seem to think is pretty valuable), Waiters, and the Grizz 1st round pick they own.
I wonder if that would be enough to get Larry Sanders? Another interesting possibility would be Roy Hibbert, but I don't know if Indy wants to blow up that core or give the Cavs the final piece to their championship puzzle. Will be interesting to see how David Griffin handles the issue

 

[Yore]

The team is basically all in place now with the exception of a rim protector. Unfortunately for the Cavs there aren't many of those available. There's also the question of what the Cavs actually have to offer. A lot depends on what pick(s) they have to give up in the Love trade (the rumor is that it is the MIA pick). If that is the case the best they have to offer is roster filler, the Brendan Haywood contract (which basketball writers a lot smarter than me seem to think is pretty valuable), Waiters, and the Grizz 1st round pick they own.
I wonder if that would be enough to get Larry Sanders? Another interesting possibility would be Roy Hibbert, but I don't know if Indy wants to blow up that core or give the Cavs the final piece to their championship puzzle. Will be interesting to see how David Griffin handles the issue

 

Maybe they could offer Tristan Thompson in a deal for Sanders? I imagine he won't get many minutes behind Love (especially with Lebron getting minutes there in small lineups).
 
SF: James
PF: Love
C: Sanders
SG: Waiters
PG: Irving
 
Bench: Miller, Marion, Varejao, Allen?, Dellavedova

 

[Auger34]

That's where the Haywood contract comes in.
http://www.hoopsrumors.com/2014/07/brendan-haywoods-contract.html

 

[moly99]

I'm not sure why Milwaukee would want Thompson given the fact that their best lineup will probably be going small with Jabari Parker playing power forward.
 
Thompson might be better bang for buck going forward than Sanders. But Sanders plays a more valuable role than Thompson, they don't really need a player like Thompson and Thompson doesn't have the star potential to make such a gamble worth it.

 

[Devizier]

If the Cavaliers are looking for shot blockers at a depleted trade value, Javale McGee is probably a better look. He's also better than Sanders, albeit with a lower ceiling.

 

[ALiveH]

Plus McGee would make the cavs even more enteraining.

 

[moly99]

Varejao for McGee works.

 

[jon abbey]

Not for LeBron it wouldn't, Varejao is his boy and pretty much untouchable. 

 

[bowiac]

If the Cavaliers are looking for shot blockers at a depleted trade value, Javale McGee is probably a better look. He's also better than Sanders, albeit with a lower ceiling.

?!?!