The Cavs And
The Cav-Nots
Recognize your strengths ...
The Cavs' biggest strength last season? Defensive rebounding. The team grabbed 75.8 percent of opponents' misses, sixth best in the NBA, despite a trio of wings who contributed little to the cause: C.J. Miles (10.1 percent DRB rate), Luol Deng (12.2 percent) and Alonzo Gee (12.8 percent). Those three are gone; James, with his 18.8 percent rate, slots into their position. Now he'll team up front with Love (29.8 DRB%, second in the NBA among players who averaged at least 20 mpg) and Anderson Varejao (28.6, seventh). In other words, it's not a stretch to imagine the Cavs as the league's best rebounding squad.



... And build off them.
And after all those defensive rebounds? The Cavs want to run. Although the team ranked just 18th in pace last season, PF Tristan Thompson and PG Kyrie Irving were above average in transition play, ranking in the 87th percentile and 67th percentile, respectively, according to Synergy Sports. And they'll certainly be better with James. "LeBron is as good in transition as you can possibly be," says Cavs GM David Griffin. Last season he was in the 88th percentile with 1.32 points per play in transition. Plus, the Cavs will now have Love fueling the break with his signature outlet passes, then serving as a perfect trail option. With Minnesota last year, Love averaged 1.29 points per play in transition (85th percentile), including 1.44 PPP as the trailer, ranking in the 87th percentile. Not bad.


