The things you can accomplish on a basketball court giving maximum effort are really pretty incredible, as those of us who watched the Cavs-Blazers game tonight couldn’t help but realize.
Exhibit A: Anderson Varejao, who had a vaunted 20-10 game (22-10 game to be exact) while irritating LaMarcus Aldridge to no end on defense.
After the Cavs had two bad losses in Memphis and Houston, we lamented in this space some of the failings of the entire team this year - almost every players’ overall production was down besides Boobie’s and Andy’s.
We’ve talked about some possible reasons here like age and injury while analysts from other places have blamed Shaq for clogging the lane or Mike Brown for not being able to draw up an offense. I’m beginning to wonder, however, if the big-time number one reason the Cavs are on pace to win 54 games is lack of effort.
Now while I get that this sounds like something Jim Donovan might say, I think there’s some truth to it. Let’s look at the different areas where effort can have the biggest impact on a game:
Turnovers
Rebounding
Defense
Moving the Ball
Getting to the Line
Overall, the Cavs are the #6 rated team in the league at this point, based on efficiency differential. Last year they were 1st. So let’s look at where the Cavs rank in each category this season so far versus last season in full.
09-10 08-09
TOV 19th 6th
TRB 9th 7th
DEF 6th 3rd
AST 10th 21st
FTA 9th 15th
These numbers aren’t perfect because they’re not adjusted for pace, but they do give us a pretty good idea of the Cavs’ position in these areas.
Other than free throw attempts and assists, the Cavs are playing worse than they did last year in comparison to the rest of the league.
Turnovers have been the biggest problem. Maybe this stems from a lack of focus. Maybe it’s a result of the new pieces. Maybe the Cavs have simply played a bunch of teams early in the season that are good at creating turnovers …
In other categories that aren’t necessarily as related to effort, here’s where the Cavs rank:
09-10 08-09
FG% 7th 6th
3P% 2nd 2nd
A lot less of a discrepancy in these areas.
If the Cavs truly are playing with less effort, and it’s affecting their overall production, then it’s fair to ask why they aren’t trying as hard as they should. I’ll save that for another time though, whenever the monstrosity known as “poor effort” shows its face again.
I do think it’s safe to say that the “will to destroy” I wrote about after the Cavs pounded Milwaukee was an aberration.
OKC on Sunday. Chad Ford of ESPN will be salivating, I’m sure, to write some kind of article badmouthing Danny Ferry while putting a crown on top of the head of Sam Presti, Oklahoma City’s GM.
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