NBA after week 1: Cleveland Cavaliers

After one week into the NBA season, it’s become rather clear that a completely healthy Cleveland Cavaliers team is, at worst, the second best team in the Eastern Conference.

For the first time in his career, Lebron has a real team

Offense

Anyone who has seen the Cavs play at any point prior to this season knows how anemic and underdeveloped their offense has been. Most play sets revolved around Lebron running an isolation play at the top of the key, waiting for a big man to come out and set a screen, before he gallivants towards the rim, violently drawing contact and either finishing from up close, or violently drawing contact and kicking the ball to an outside shooter. But not this year.

The addition of Mo Williams would not have been a dealbreaker for most teams, but Williams is an excellent fit with Lebron not just because he can shoot, but also because he can take over ballhandling duties, allowing Lebron to receive the ball in other places besides 30 feet from the basket.

The Cavs have James playing about 8 minutes per game at power forward, which not only gets him the ball in scoring position, it has also been an attempt to cover up their low post scoring deficiencies. So far this move has worked very well, as James is fast enough that he can beat his man down the court, and get into an advantageous position on the low block. Plus he’s strong enough that opposing big men can’t simply back him down on the other end.

Moving Lebron to the 4 hasn’t been the only change for Cleveland this year, as it’s pretty clear that Cleveland emphasized ball movement and passing during training camp.  Making the extra pass has been a priority, and so far, the Cavs rank second in the east in field goal shooting percentage, third in scoring per game, and first in the east in points per shot.

Almost down to a man, Lebron’s supporting cast has improved from a training camp of offensive coaching. G Daniel Gibson has developed a nice catch-and-shoot move from the corners of the foul line, G Delonte West’s field goal percentage is over nine percent higher than last year , and Zydrunas Ilgauskas is taking a greater advantage of his 7′3″ height, which has improved his passing considerably. But the biggest improvement has been made by Anderson Varejao, who has lost at least 20 pounds, and can now finish around the basket with considerable force, shooting over 60% from the field; a 14% improvement from last season. He has developed his jumpshot as well, to the point that he is able to bring his defender out to 17 feet, which clears up the lane to either put the ball on the floor, or pass to a cutting Lebron.

Anderson Varejao has improved on offense

Defense

The Cavs have continued to defend well by outrebounding their opponents (5th in the NBA), rotating well, and cutting off the three point shot. Their rebounding differential is +4.4, and their point differential is +6.6, which ties them with Boston for 5th in the league. The major difference between this season and last, has been the aggressive use of Mo Williams as an on-ball defender. Head coach Mike Brown is still in the process of teaching Williams how to use his quickness to consistently pressure the ball, but so far, the 7.9 steals per game that the Cavs are putting up, is higher than the 7.1 from a year ago.

And although Lebron has been playing 4.4 fewer minutes than last season, his rebounding numbers have gone up, and his defense has gone from very good to elite. He’s now one of the 10 best defenders in the league, and has become extremely difficult to score on, due to his size, and his ability to swat layups off the glass from behind.

Intangibles

Lebron sacrificed a summer of mid-range shooting practice in order to win a gold medal with the USA olympic team, but the mental fortitude gained from training and watching game film with the likes of Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant has helped James understand the role that an MVP must play on his team. So far, Lebron has been getting his stats, but he’s been effective at “managing” his team; content to let his teammates score when the offense is clicking, and taking the game over when they need him. This has resulted in a 5-2 record, with the only two losses coming on the road in Boston and New Orleans.

So unless an injury derails this Cavs team, it’s a safe bet that the Detroit Pistons switching out their starting point guard will result in enough transition losses for Cleveland to swoop in for their first division title in over 20 years. And considering that the Cavs have improved, all it takes is for a slight slip by Boston for Cleveland to claim its second Eastern Conference title in three years.