Z plays his first game in Cleveland after re-signing with the Cavaliers. Cavs beat the Kings by 7.
Whatever.
We’ve seen this movie before. What’s more important at this stage of the season is that Coldstone figure out his rotations.
They are a disaster.
Now, tonight is not a perfect game to examine because Anderson Varejao was injured, which threw things further out of whack than they already are, with Shaq being out as well, and Z just coming back. It is clear, however, at this point - post-Jamison - that certain players and situations are, well, playing and being used a little bit differently.
Subject #1: Jamario Moon, who hasn’t played for a week.
Earlier in the season, when the Cavs were destroying the Lakers on Christmas Day and winning back-to-back road games in Miami and Orlando, Moon was a key component. His length bothered the opponent on the perimeter, particularly on closeouts at the 3P line. His athleticism was a great compliment to LeBron on the break. He rebounded exceptionally well (18.5 Defensive Rebounding Rate | 11.1 Total Rebounding Rate | LeBron is 18.3 and 11.1 respectively, just for the sake of comparison).
When was the last time Moon received significant minutes? March 14 against Boston. The Cavs won that game by 11.
Moon was often featured in the Cavs end game line-up, playing the 3 in a front court with Bron at the 4 and Andy at the 5. Over the course of the season that lineup, with Delonte and Mo in the backcourt has an Adjusted +/- of +21.76.
Recently, Coldstone seems to be experimenting with playing Jamison at the 3. I’m struggling to understand this decision, based on the idea that Jamsion was added because the Cavs needed a player who could stretch the floor from the 4 position.
So why play Antawn at the 3?
Tonight, this decision resulted in LeBron playing the 2 for a period of time … which was more confusing.
Meanwhile, Nocioni was lighting up the Cavs from behind the 3P line, but Moon couldn’t get off the bench, despite the fact that he was signed in part to run out and contest the shots of long perimeter players like … Andreas Nocioni.
On Friday, while Manu Ginobli was torching the Cavs in every direction … Moon was stuck making “Gooseys” thirty feet from the scorer’s table.
This wouldn’t be as bothersome if we hadn’t seen how effective Moon was against the money teams earlier on.
The playoffs are coming and the money teams are coming back.
One additional product of the Jamison trade is that Bron is playing a less time at the 4. Again, before the trade, the Cavs’ best lineup - according to APM - was with LeBron playing the 4.
Mo-Delonte-Parker-Bron-Andy: +61.58.
We’re dealing with small sample sizes, for sure, but it’s definitely something to consider. To be fair, the Varejao-Jamison-Bron-Parker-West line-up is currently the Cavs’ 7th best at +28.77 … so it’s not exactly a bad thing, just not as good of a thing.
Subject #2: Mo Williams
Mo, frankly, has looked terrible of late. Tonight, he was 2-6. He missed both shots he took from behind the arc. While he did have 7 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal, he also delivered 4 turnovers and came up with only 2 rebounds.
Mo, as we’ve all seen, is not a traditional point guard. He’s a (streaky) score-first guard who functions best playing off of LeBron or Delonte. Since the addition of Jamison, Mo has not seemed to be himself. He is shooting only 40.7% from the field and 38.2% from 3P. He’s taking 1.8 shots less per game and making 1 less.
So what is the overall effect?
Surprisingly, Mo is +6 in March, in comparison to +4 for the entire season.
Funny, right? Is it possible that a streaky Mo is actually a better fit for the Cavs when he’s taking less shots and more efficient players like Varejao and Hickson are getting more touches?
It is very possible.
A side note: Mo is a slightly more efficient shooter than Jamison. 53.8% eFG% (accounting for 3P shots being worth more) versus 51.0% eFG%.
The ultimate ramifications, I suppose, won’t be clear until the playoffs. If anything is certain, it seems that the Cavs are much more prepared to deal with Mo missing shots in the post-season this year than they were last year.
Milwaukee on Wednesday. The playoffs are near.
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