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Pursuit of ultimate goal hurt by one-dimensional offense
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Sunday, Apr 13, 2008
In a few days, LeBron James will probably become the first Cavaliers player in history to win the NBA scoring title.
Since scoring is the most resonant basketball statistic, James' win in that category probably will be celebrated in many corners. When he retires, it will be listed among his career accomplishments.
Taken with some perspective, however, his averaging so many points actually might be a failure. Not a personal one, but in the area James says he cares about most: from a team standpoint. And it is a failure that can be shared across the board.
One of the main goals of the Cavs' offense, installed during training camp by coach Mike Brown, was to get the ball out of James' hands in an effort to make everyone more effective and efficient. The idea was to get more teammates involved and make the Cavs tougher to guard; to increase movement by having plays that kept the defense from being able to tilt toward James.
Brown went to Europe to learn these concepts in a drive-and-kick offense, when the ''first drive moves the defense, the second drive kills it,'' as Brown said
in the preseason.
At the time, the idea was for this to cater more toward Larry Hughes, who wanted so badly to get his hands on the ball with a chance to drive, and to use Daniel Gibson, whom the Cavs hoped would develop into a better ball-handling guard with the ability to score inside and out.
Brown even created a new stat for the Cavs to keep an eye on: the hockey assist. The point was to stress everyone moving the ball, with players rewarded for making passes that led to assists.
Yet, here the Cavs are, seven months later, having an offense that still relies almost solely on James and repeatedly stalls with little or no movement in the halfcourt. On so many possessions, he dribbles and dribbles, the opposition sending two and three defenders his way without much fear of the consequences.
When the Cavs are on the break, they can be potent. But when the game gets into the halfcourt muck, as it usually does in the playoffs, there doesn't appear to be too much difference between now and what happened against the San Antonio Spurs in last year's NBA Finals.
There are a few things that work, but their best weapon seems neutralized quite often.
Much of the blame can be put at Brown's feet. He is responsible for getting the team to run the system. A defensive coach at heart, and a good one at that, he has refused to allow anyone to run the offense but himself since he was a rookie head coach, even when it was clear it was his weakness.
Last summer he indeed sought help, but at practices and during games, he is still the one who is doing the teaching and it just hasn't gone well.
It will be interesting to see after a third different offense was a letdown whether he will actually hire an assistant who specializes in offense, which he has staunchly refused to do the past two summers.
But some of the fault, too, can be put on James. Ultimately, he is the one who stops the ball, the one who dribbles on the outside, where he is so much easier to guard, the one who sets the tone for his teammates.
This has been a classic issue with NBA stars over the years. Sometimes their talent skews the way the game is supposed to be played, five-on-five.
Perhaps not trusting his teammates, all of them lesser and few of them proven clutch providers, is the smart move. But part of it is not trusting his coach, as well. His basketball intelligence is unquestioned and sometimes he correctly decides that he is the one who must make the plays. So many times it works, his late-game heroics in last season's playoffs and this season are many. But overall, the Cavs' offense has grown weaker, and part of it is because James has shouldered too much of the burden as others depend on him as a crutch.
The rest of the team has responsibility, too. The talents around James have constantly changed in the past five years, yet the same problems seem to be in effect offensively.
James will get his scoring title and the Cavs will have significantly fewer wins than a year ago, which puts quite a damper on the party. Someday, though, if James wins something else he is capable of, the assist crown, the Cavs might have a great deal more to celebrate.
Dribbles
• According to stats Web site http:www.82games.com, James is the leading scorer in the NBA in so-called ''clutch time.'' That is defined as in the fourth quarter or overtime, with less than five minutes left and neither team ahead by more than five points. With all of the stats projected over 48 minutes to standardize the numbers, James averages 57.5 points and Kobe Bryant averages 52.4 points. But perhaps more remarkable and a sign of just how many close games the Cavs have played this season, no player in the NBA has played more ''clutch time'' minutes than James. It isn't even close. He started the weekend with 30 more minutes played in ''clutch time'' than any other player this season.
• The Web site revealed something else with its clutch stats. The two players in the NBA with the best plus/minus rating, the difference a player makes on the scoreboard when he is on the court, in clutch time are Damon Jones (+48 in 89 total minutes) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (+36 in 134 minutes). That's 1-2 in the entire league. James, by the way, is fifth at +32 in 210 minutes. It speaks to how well the Cavs have played in close games. However, Jones and Ilgauskas often are not on the floor, despite their good numbers.
• Earlier this season, Anderson Varejao got a little unnerved when he was asked about Chicago Bulls rookie Joakim Noah. Varejao said people unfairly compared them just because they had similar hair. Of course, it is much deeper than that. Both are high-energy big men who rely on rebounding and defensive positioning. But Varejao really doesn't want to be compared now. After meeting three times, Varejao is averaging just 2.7 points and 7.0 rebounds and shooting 22 percent against the Bulls, mostly against Noah head-to-head. Noah is averaging 13.3 points and 12.3 rebounds and shooting 46 percent and has outplayed Varejao in each game.
Brian Windhorst can be reached at bwindhor@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/
In a few days, LeBron James will probably become the first Cavaliers player in history to win the NBA scoring title.
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