Cleveland Cavaliers Better With Kyrie Irving On The Bench?
The Cleveland Cavaliers are heading for the NBA Playoffs, and as some stats indicate, the team plays more efficiently with Matthew Dellavedova on the floor, and Kyrie Irving on the bench.
I don’t want to be the crazy guy hollering about Kyrie Irving sitting on the bench. But so much in the NBA depends on fit, and that should be the focus for the Cavaliers heading into the playoffs. Find the best fit that gives the team a chance to win the NBA title.
The team is in first place, and is closing in on the No. 1 seed in the East, yet there’s an aura of inconsistency. This team has failed to develop winning habits, and at times, has fans fearing for the worst.
A lot of it has to do with Kyrie Irving. The Cavs’ point guard hasn’t provided the boost many thought he would when he returned from knee surgery in January.
Take at glance at these stats from Tom Pestak from CavsTheBlog. The numbers indicate the Cavs are more efficient with Kyrie Irving on the bench, and Matthew Dellavedova in at point guard.
Delly also brings out the best in James, as the King has a net rating of 16.5 with the Aussie on the court, compared to 6.2 when he’s on the bench.
Cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto examined the Cavs’ best lineups before the team’s win over the Hornets on April 3. Here’s what he discovered about the Cavs’ best lineups…
“To find what three-man combination on the court is most effective for the Cavs, I set the parameters to playing at least 250 minutes together. The stats are per 100 possessions.
Here we go:
- James, Love, Shumpert: plus-22
- James, Dellavedova, Love: plus-20.5
- James, Love, Thompson: plus-19.3
- James, Dellavedova, Shumpert: plus-19.2
- James, Dellavedova, Thompson: plus-17.6
- Dellavedova, Love, Thompson: plus-16.5
- James, Dellavedova, J.R. Smith: plus-15.6″
Delly’s name appears in five of Cleveland’s most efficient lineups.
Pluto immediatley asked where Kyrie Irving was on this list. “He doesn’t appear until No. 12 for the Cavs: It’s James, Thompson and Irving: plus-12.7,” Pluto wrote.
No, Delly isn’t a better player than Kyrie. But the stats don’t lie about who makes the Cavs better.
But before we make Delly the starting point guard for the playoffs, we need to ask, how would Delly hold up playing 35 minutes per game? It’s one thing to have him come off the bench, it’s another to ask him to start, while playing starter’s minutes. Delly is currently averaging 25 minutes per contest.
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Pluto also wrote that coach Ty Lue will have some tough decisions to make come playoff time. Will he have the fortitude to split playing time between Kevin Love and Irving, because when the two are on the floor, the Cavs are very weak defensively. Love, Irving and James ranked as the Cavs 26th best three-man combo.
Going back to above tweet from Pestak, it’s worth noticing the lineup that features, Delly, Smith, Thompson, James and Love. That group’s defensive rating is 96.9! That’s the type of defense you need to play to win a title.
Next: The Moment That Could Be The Cavs Turning Point
Playoff basketball can’t get here soon enough. It’s a different brand of basketball…a better brand of hoops. These questions will be answered during those two months, as the Cavs’ title hopes rest on Lue forgetting about contracts and guys with the bigger shoe deals, and playing the players who fit the best together.