The deep emotions during LeBron James' official return to Cleveland may have something to do with the Cavaliers' 19 turnovers on opening night, but so do the expected growing pains. Miscommunications between the new-look Cavs popped up during a 95-90 loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday night.
LeBron James’ turnovers weren’t only his fault
LeBron James’ eight turnovers are definitely a problem, but several can be explained by miscommunications with his new teammates.
Jason Miller
Even though it’s a one-game sample size, there are reasons to believe the fixable issues will pop up now and again as the Cavaliers grow together.
James of course led Cleveland with eight of those 19 turnovers. A few of the team’s miscues had to do with the nerves for one of the most ballyhooed season openers in NBA history. At times, the Cavs were forcing passes on pick-and-rolls when Knicks defenders were quite clearly in passing lanes. It’s hard for coach David Blatt to complain about his team overcompensating because of unselfishness.
The rest? James and his teammates share the blame.
Take this play, where James runs a pick-and-roll with Kevin Love on the left wing.
The Knicks trap James, and he sends a perfect bounce pass into an open space about 12 feet from the hoop. But as Ricky Rubio can probably attest, Love often likes to pop out above the three-point arc. It's as simple as Love going the other way.
New York did a fine job trapping James on Thursday. A number of times when James was more aggressive with the dribble, the Knicks successfully pushed him baseline. It’s not like James doesn’t know how to handle these situations. He’s strong enough with the ball and savvy enough as a passer to turn these successful traps against the defense.
The other Cavaliers just haven’t learned how to make themselves available tools in James’ already deep toolbox.
Here, James runs a pick-and-roll with Anderson Varejao and gets trapped along the right baseline. Maybe he could have done the safe thing by dumping it off to Varejao, who rolls into the post. But James has other ideas. Dion Waiters is left alone as the New York defenders sink in to protect the paint against Varejao and Shawn Marion, but the third-year pro reacts too slowly.
James has an angle at a bounce pass to the left corner, yet Waiters is essentially hiding himself behind Marion and a defender rather than creating a passing angle. He eventually floats to the left wing, but by that time James has tossed a bounce pass to the corner, past Marion’s ankles and to nobody but the Knicks bench. A mistake like this doesn’t fall squarely on LeBron.
Learning the ins and outs of Blatt’s offense will likely be a process for Cleveland that goes beyond one season, all things considered. What the Cavs can do much sooner is communicate, learn one another’s tendencies and understand that playing with James (and Love for that matter) won’t inherently make them better.
Learning how to play with him will.
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